A DRIVER has opened up about his fear for an elderly pedestrian and other road users when a "giant pack" of dirt bike riders took over a Newcastle road in broad daylight on the weekend.
The man, who asked to stay anonymous for his safety, called police just before 3pm on Saturday to report seeing what appeared to be a swarm of unregistered motorbikes.
He told the Newcastle Herald he was heading north along Turton Road towards McDonald Jones Stadium when he noticed the group coming the other way.
"There was just a giant pack of dirt bikes riding across all sides of the road, they were doing wheelies and doing jumps over the footpath and people's grass verges," he said.
"They were risking their lives doing what they were doing, but they were risking the safety of the public and other road users by doing what they were doing."
The man said he did not notice any number plates on the motorbikes and saw some people riding without helmets.
He guessed there were up to 20 riders grouped together, but told the Herald there may have been more.
He said cars were pulling over to give them space and there was traffic "banked up" behind them where they were taking over the road.
But it wasn't just drivers at risk - the witness claimed he saw bikers mounting the curb and tearing along footpaths as well, near an elderly woman who "almost got collected".
"She was literally just standing still on the footpath ... there in the middle of it all just frozen in shock," he said.
The man said the scene was like something he'd only ever seen come out of the United States on social media.
He said he alerted police and was told highway patrol officers were aware of the situation.
The man told the Herald he knew unregistered motorbikes riders had been causing problems across Newcastle and the Hunter, but hadn't seen it on that scale before.
"I knew it was a little bit of a problem but didn't realise it was that big of a problem," he said.
Residents have told of their fear and frustrations recently, with trail bike riders accused of hooning through parks, suburban streets, on footpaths and performing dangerous stunts.
In May, a three-year-old girl was playing in Raymond Terrace when she was "t-boned" by an unregistered motorbike which careened "straight through the middle" of a children's park.
That same month, Lake Macquarie police made a public appeal for information after trail bikes tore up turf throughout the popular Green Point Reserve.
It came before Gateshead resident Owen Brady spoke out, fearful someone would be killed by the bikers in his neighbourhood.
In February, a 19-year-old boy was arrested at Belmont after sparking an alleged police pursuit on an unregistered motorbike.
Also that month, a cyclist was hospitalised with suspected spinal injuries after a motorcycle being ridden on a Glendale bike path crashed into him then fled.
Video footage seen by the Herald shows riders tearing along a footpath at Broadmeadow and doing wheelies in Merewether.
Police urged anyone who witnessed anti-social behaviour at any location to call police immediately, or share information with Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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