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[–] 21 points 2 months ago (12 children)

Are these things street legal?

Oh, wait, Birmingham.

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  • [–] 14 points 2 months ago (11 children)
  • [+] 9 points 2 months ago (11 children)
  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago* (9 children)

    Sure, but this isnt in Alabama judging by the cars driving on the left side of the road and the tesco express...this isnt in the states

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago

    I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, and I can guarantee you there are no Tesco expresses or left-handed driving.

    Okay, well, there is a little bit of left-handed driving, but it's generally frowned upon.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    No, Ive never lived in Alabama, but I've driven through and can safely say you would never see this on the streets of Birmingham, AL.

    There are enough places people could go and ride in the country, also cops would just shoot them claiming they were putting people at risk...

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (2 children)

    Oh, I see the confusion. He was comparing Birmingham, UK, to Alabama for a point of reference for Americans (e.g. Birmingham is to the UK as Alabama is to the US). But what made it confusing is half the audience is thinking the town of Birmingham, Alabama.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, it's mostly "southern hospitality" and a bunch of people saying roll tide there. Everyone knows a place to go mudding/dirt bike riding /ATVs etc if they have the money for it.

    In the U.S. "country" people who have money have access to land they own. Those too poor, can't afford ATVs to race in the streets nor afford the repercussions.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    And as a brown kid that lived there, I can say that there is a blanket of racism that is so thick that it doesn't look like racism.

    The only way I was able to become aware of it was getting away from it long enough that my normality returned and then I ended up going back to visit friends and family and wondering why the hell people are following me around grocery stores.

    There is still some of the evil angry racism that they portray in movies where they say the n-word and hang people and treat people of different skin colors as if they were subhuman, yes. That hasn't gone away, but it is generally societally frowned upon, and people that are technically racist cheer when people like that end up getting caught for their crimes and suffering retribution.

    The racism that is there is that they "other" people of different skin colors. Even if you are "one of the good ones", you are still only allowed to associate with the group because of your "one of the good ones" status, and your skin color is the reason why you have that status.

    The racism is so deeply embedded into the fabric of southern society that the people that live under it cannot see it. It's like when you go to somebody's house and they own pets, and they think their house smells fine, but all you can smell is the pet smell.

    They've gone nose blind to it.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 months ago

    This is perfectly safe. I know this because I'm watching what appears to be surveillance footage of the event, and as we all know surveillance keeps us all safe and protects everyone shown from any harm.

    /s

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Bit of the old ultraviolent, my brothers.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    According to past experience talking with Lemmy users:

    This is inevitable. You just can't fix this. Shit happens.

    Since the only solution to this is police doing things, but that would be ACAB.

    So just let them break every traffic law and let them run over pedestrians. There's nothing you can do.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    I mean I think this is a good opportunity to discuss what an alternative to cops hounding them down would be?

    and like why would they choose to entertain themselves by putting others in danger? do they feel part of a community by being daring and reckless which they can't get by doing things that contribute positively to society? and if so why is that?

    and would adding more cops actually resolve the underlying issue of alienation or would it just embolden them more by creating more exciting situations?

    i know this sounds super theorethetical but it's not like we live in an anarchist utopia that doesn't have any cops – Birmingham police force has actually increased by over 25% over the last 10 years – how come these incidents have become more frequent not less if all that was needed was more cops?

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    They could make use of all those CCTVs the UK is famous for having everywhere, and just try and track the illegal vehicles to wherever they're being stored when the rides finish, then seize them there. Chasing them while they're riding tends to lead to fatalities and injuries, for either the people riding them, or more often, for the people who just happen to be in the area.

    As far as the underlying issues, I have to confess I really don't get the thought process of people who do this. I was watching a youtube video following some of them in NYC, and they were like "Well, the city doesn't have any place for us to ride our bikes legally, so they should build us some parks and trails where we can go ride if they don't want us taking our bikes out on the streets." Seems a bit backwards to me, like I wouldn't move to Austria and then demand the city build a waterway for me to ride a boat on if they don't want me rocking up to the local swimming pool and launching my sail boat on it.

    I think a part of it also comes down to the people riding them choosing to be assholes about it. We can do soul searching all we want about how they've been oppressed or whatever, but sometimes I get the feeling that "You're being an antisocial asshole, knock it off," is pretty close to the right answer, but it's become taboo to actually attribute any amount of fault to someone who could be categorized as belonging to any sort of marginalized group. The people who do it in NYC could easily just book a train trip upstate and rent a quad for a weekend to ride on approved trails, for example, but choose instead to buy these quads and dirt bikes and ride them on city streets, where they become menaces to themselves and others. I don't see how you square someone being so oppressed and downtrodden that they can't afford to do things the proper way and rent a bike for the odd weekend and ride it on designated trails with them having enough money to purchase a quad outright, store it in a major city and keep paying to put fuel in it.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Motorcycle hooligans are cooler

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Four quads? That is pure mayhem!

    /s

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (8 children)

    It really looks like that's a one way street

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (7 children)
  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Yeah but the double yellow is way on the right side

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    That's not how it works in the UK. Double yellow just means no parking on the side of the road.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago (1 child)

    I am also wondering what indicates the center of the road there. It seems to be separated by a dashed line like the other two lanes.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    The white lines across the width of the lanes where they meet the junction indicate that oncoming traffic has to give way to traffic in the junctions - the fact that the lane on the right doesnt have one shows that no traffic should be approaching the junction through there. The writing on the other end of the road is also oriented so that cars coming in the correct direction can read it.

    In practice, as far as I know pretty much every road in the UK is two-way unless signage explicitly states otherwise. So you don't really think about this as you're driving.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    No helmet? Self-solving problem

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    I'm fairness the one in white in the left seems to be driving normally

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Lol something something spike strips.

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  • [+] -29 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I just can't give a shit. These kids have had their futures stolen from them, and they entertain themselves like this, I say good for them.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    These kids are being taken advantage of by ciminal gangs and endangering regular people. Its a serious problem all over the UK. Yes, they're getting captured by the gangs because they've had their futures stolen, but this is absolutely not "good for them".

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  • [+] -35 points 2 months ago (7 children)

    Looks like the boys are just having a bit of fun.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 months ago (6 children)

    Looks like 4 douchebags who think they're the main characters

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  • [+] -15 points 2 months ago (5 children)

    Well sure, but isn't that the culture these days? Let the boys be rebels, rules are for losers after all...

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  • [–] 17 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    No. They almost killed a pedestrian. Let them go kill themselves if they want to rebel like that alone on a private dirt track.

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  • [+] -11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    Lol cars almost kill pedestrians every single day.

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  • [–] 13 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    And it's crazy we just accept that! It is not normal to simply accept that people die on the streets every day!

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