Well, this is awkward: Motorcycle mob stunt rides next to Toronto police on Gardiner Expressway
Members of a motorcycle mob can been seen popping wheelies and engaging in other illegal riding on the Gardiner Expressway right beside a Toronto police cruiser in a video recently posted to social media.
The video, posted Tuesday to Instagram by Toronto Bike Meets, illustrates the increasingly bold behavior of Greater Toronto Area motorcycle mobs as well as how helpless police are when confronted with them. The video has since been taken down.
"It's dangerous, careless and stupid," Const. Craig Brister said on the type of stunt riding seen in the video.
After several riders pop wheelies and others weave in and out of traffic lanes, the police cruiser in the video can be seen pulling ahead of the motorcycles just before the video ends.
Police say it's unclear when the video was shot or if any arrests were made.
In September, a fiery crash in Mississauga capped off a motorcycle mob ride that sped through the GTA. Riders were seen running through red lights and popping wheelies on busy streets.
But police say enforcing the law in a situation like the one in the video is difficult and risky for police.
"It's a tough thing to deal with," Brister said.
Officers encountering a motorcycle mob are often outnumbered by dozens of riders, police say. Their vehicles are also easily outrun by the high-performance machines.
"Motorcycles accelerate faster than any vehicle on the road," said Const. Clint Stibbe with Toronto police's Traffic Services. "You could be looking at a $200,000 sports car and it couldn't keep up with a motorcycle."
Officers also have to consider the potential public safety risk in pursuing a large number of motorcycles.
"The officer is going to activate his lights and we have ten motorcycles travelling at a high rate of speed," Stibbe said.
Instead, Stibbe says officers who run into motorcycles mobs will look for licence plates and other identifying features on the motorcycles.
Officers may also activate on-board cameras in their cruisers. "We can zoom in and obtain all types of information from those bikes."
Stibbe says that information can be used to track down the riders later on.
"It is not a investigation that ends immediately."
