On October 31, 2020, a dirt biker died in the hospital after being involved in a head-on collision with a pickup truck in Durham. The driver was operating his dirt bike illegally on a dark road with no headlights and no helmet. On Damascus Church Road in Chapel Hill, a group of people regularly drive their dirt bikes and ATVs in the road, no helmets, no tags, no headlights. They engage in extremely reckless behavior, popping wheelies, crossing the double line into oncoming traffic, tearing up grass on other people's property, entering other people's driveways and speeding around without permission and making offensive hand gestures to anyone who dare question their right to engage in such behavior.
NC Leaks has reached out multiple times to the owners of the residence from which these dirt bike/ATV operators typically emerge. We have been told that the behavior will cease. Months later, nothing has changed. We are not currently planning to post the address of their home base. We will revisit that plan should this behavior continue.
On January 7, 2021, NC Leaks contacted various folks at NCDOT, Orange County Sheriff Blackwood and NC Department of Highway Patrol. We have provided photos and videos of months of this behavior.
We expect all agencies involved in this situation to take action immediately. None of the residents of Damascus Church Road, including the many horses boarded at Rolling Hills Stable, should have to endure the noise, recklessness and absolute disrespect of these ATV operators. It is a matter of time before one of these drivers (or an innocent pedestrian, auto operator or cyclist) is killed.
