So, which kid is yours?
My wife walks our dog in our neighborhood. And, like many other Santa Claritans, she has noticed lately that there is a preponderance of kids out riding motorized bikes – mainly e-bikes – without much regard for anyone or anything around them.
A couple of weeks ago, one kid on an e-bike mistakenly thought my wife had questioned his behavior. She had said nothing.
The kid – about 13 or 14 years old – stared my wife square in the eye and said:
“What the F— did you say to me?”
A week or so later, she was again walking the dog. Two kids on electric scooters approached her.
One of them turned his scooter into the street to avoid coming up opposite my wife on the sidewalk. Maybe it wasn’t the safest maneuver, but he was wearing a helmet and he was trying to keep the sidewalk clear. So, points to him for courtesy.
The other kid moved aside on the sidewalk and made sure there was room for Erin and our dog to pass by safely. As she passed, the kid smiled and said, “Have a nice day!”
So. Which kid is yours?
The polite kid on the scooter who was considerate of the lady walking her dog? Or the rude kid on the e-bike who dropped an F-bomb on her?
Parents tend to view their kids through rose-colored glasses. I know, because my kids were perfect angels.
OK. I know they weren’t perfect angels. However, at least, I know they turned out great, so I have no qualms about saying, with confidence, that my wife and I either did something right or we at least didn’t screw them up. Much.
But you get the point. When my kids were teenagers, I can say with some degree of confidence that they weren’t out obstructing traffic and tormenting ladies walking their dogs in the neighborhood.
Right now, I think there are a lot of parents out there in Santa Clarita who either are oblivious to the havoc their kids are raising on their e-bikes, or simply do not care.
Either way, shame on you.
Last weekend, a mob of them — by some estimates there were as many as 150-200 of them — toured the streets and sidewalks of Santa Clarita. For the most part, their behavior didn’t break any laws – except when they disrupted vehicle traffic, pulled wheelies in traffic lanes, obstructed intersections and nearly caused cars to crash.
Yeah, I know. I sound like the old guy saying, “Get off my lawn.” But the “e-bike thing” is becoming a real “thing.”
Some of the bikes are gas-powered, some are “e-bikes” with pedals, and some are “e-motorcycles” without pedals — but the advent of the easily accessible electric bikes seems to have been the catalyst for these “takeover-style” mobs of kids on bikes not giving a damn about the rules of the road, or even just common courtesy.
Regardless of which type of bike your kid is using while traipsing around town, I think parents around town need to get a handle on it.
Mom and Dad, this is squarely on you. Figure it out. Fast. It’s already too late. People are saying it “will” get someone killed. But here’s the thing: It already has.
Most recently, in January, a group of kids rode their motorized bikes through the Valencia Town Center food court – INSIDE the mall – in a moment that was captured on video and went viral on social media.
Soon after that, one of them was dead. That same night, the 14-year-old was struck by two different vehicles while riding his dirt bike on Railroad Avenue.
Clearly, the potential consequences here are much more severe than offending a lady walking her dog.
So again, I ask you, fellow parents of the SCV:
Which kid is yours?
Tim Whyte is the editor of The Signal.
