A Philly Extreme Sports Emergency – Philadelphia Sports Nation

ATV Riding Is An Extreme Sport. It’s Also Illegal in Philly.

It’s a clear, crisp, summer evening in Philly.

Visitors and citizens of one of America’s most historic cities are enjoying the best of summer weekends in Center City.

Pedestrians are enjoying a walk around Center City. Restaurants and bars are crowded with people trying to take in a warm summer evening in the City that includes shopping, dining, and nightlife.

Suddenly, the night air is pierced with a roar of ATV engines speeding down Broad Street. Riders go around cars at stop lights, ride up onto curbs, and accelerate down the streets that once accommodated horses and carriages in the days of the American Revolution.

There are many places in Pennsylvania where ATV riding is legal.

Philadelphia’s streets are not one of them. The vehicles were made illegal in the City in 2022.

On Tuesday night, a Philadelphia Police Officer was struck by an ATV around 7:15 p.m. The crash happened near the Packer Avenue off-ramp on Interstate 95 North.

In February of 2023, dozens of ATV’s swarmed North Broad Street.

In Pennsylvania, each ATV must have registration and a title. You must have a numbered plate on the ATV and be at least eight years of age when operating on Pennsylvania state-land. Almost all ATV bikes are illegal to ride in Philadelphia.

Each ATV has an average cost between $6,000.00 and $16,000.00.

In response to incidents like these in the City, the Philadelphia Police have formed the ATV Dirt Bike Detail in order to combat he threat. To date in 2024, the Detail has recovered 75 illegal ATV’s, dirt bikes, and off-road vehicles.

Today, Enduro and Quadcross Racing Sections of Racing Clubs are quite common in Britain and the US. Both GNCC Racing and the ATV National Motocross Championship were both formed in the 1980s. ATVMX averages 500 riders in each weekend of competition.

The street that ATV’s cruise down were first imagined when surveyor Thomas Holme planned Philadelphia at the direction of William Penn in 1682.

It was Broad Street — one of the first streets that was named in Philadelphia actually had a terminus in what then was 17th century wilderness. 

It remains today the longest urban boulevards in the entire US.

On Broad Street, the ATV engines and police sirens have faded into the far-away night air. 

Until the next time that extreme sports takes control of Philadelphia’s streets.