It’s doughnuts down Long Street
City safety head shrugs off bikers’ display, says focus is on street racers
AGROUP of motorcyclists chewed up their tyres performing doughnuts and revving their engines in one of Cape Town’s busiest nighttime spots in Long Street while law enforcement appeared unconcerned.
Members of the Freedom Riders motorcycle club entertained crowds outside Bob’s Bar in the hour before midnight on Thursday. Law enforcement kept watch but judged that the group did not commit any traffic violations.
A Cape Argus photographer caught the bikers on camera.
The footage shows a crowd of people standing on the pavement outside Bob’s Bar, with many spilling onto the street. A cloud of smoke is spewing from a motorbike as the rider revs and spins the back tyre.
The crowd is clapping, whistling and taking pictures on their cellphones. Meanwhile, a rider without a helmet wheels his bike backwards into the frame and closer to the group.
Cars can be heard hooting. The tar is marked with dark circles where rubber has been burnt off tyres while doing doughnuts.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said no fines or charges were issued because nobody committed a significant traffic violation.
Smith consulted the manager of the CCTV control room, who spoke to the officer who was on duty on Thursday night, monitoring footage of the street.
“She said that there was an altercation at Bob’s Bar – they thought they were going to drag race down the street,” Smith said. “But they left without doing anything that would warrant them being charged.
“They were revving engines, there was a little bit of machismo, but nothing that constituted a significant traffic violation.”
Smith said that some groups went down side roads, and it wasn’t possible to surveil them all. However, he said he would pass along the Cape Argus’s footage for review, to
make sure the officers on duty responded correctly.
Spokeswoman for the Freedom Riders, Gail Reagon-Rutgers, said their gathering was a yearly event to celebrate the birthdays of three founding members of the club.
Called the Night of the Legends, it is a fun event for club members to ride into town and enjoy a night out in honour of the three “legends”, two of whom turned 60, and another 61.
“There’s a respectful agreement that we are in town on an annual basis, just a few of us, and we come and enjoy a precursor to our big birthday party which we have at our clubhouse,” Reagon-Rutgers said. “We try to remain within the rules and laws even though we’re bikers and it’s not easy.”
She said that one of the group’s motorcycles had been pushed over where they were parked, and she saw a taxi reverse into another one.
“We’re just out there to have fun and respect everybody around us. If anything untoward happens, it’s because we’re defending our dignity as bikers.”
Reagon-Rutgers said some people were prejudiced against bikers because of the hellion image of the American biker gang, Hell’s Angels.
“Biking in South Africa is very different,” she said. “We adhere to a code of respect and discipline. We don’t become violent.”
Manager of Bob’s Bar, Arthur Lloyd, said the bikers did visit the pub regularly, but that he had never heard any complaints about their behaviour. “We’ve never had any problems,” he said. “Nobody’s ever said to us that they make a noise and carry on. When they’re here they’re pretty peaceful.”
Meanwhile, Smith said he refused to give unnecessary amounts of attention to the inner city, when street racing is much more dangerous and rife elsewhere.
“My resources remain in the Cape Flats when it comes to illegal street rac- ing,” he said. “I try to focus on where the actual crime is and not where the sensation is.”
Smith said that revving of engines and aggressive pull-offs did not warrant the same devotion of resources as the reckless racing on bigger roads at night.
“It’s nothing like what you see on Klipfontein Road at night, and Strandfontein and the N1 and Jakes Gerwel Drive.”
Watch the footage on the Cape Argus YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/longstreetbikers
I TRY TO FOCUS ON WHERE THE ACTUAL CRIME IS AND NOT WHERE THE SENSATION IS