The law enforcement community prepares to deal with outlaw horsemen on Martin Luther King Jr.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. — Martin Luther King Jr. Day is five days away and already the South Florida law enforcement community was warning dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle riders to avoid hitting the streets or suffer the consequences.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers and Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies gathered at a press conference Wednesday to address the MLK Rideout tradition on South Florida’s highways.

“It is illegal to ride ATVs and dirt bikes on the roads…We will outnumber the cyclists as we always do,” FHP Maj. Robert Chandler said at a press conference.

If caught, riders risk fines and authorities will temporarily seize their bikes or mountain bikes. Chandler said the Florida legislature will pass laws that will make it a crime for groups to cause disturbances on the road.

“To do more than just a traffic violation,” Chandler said. “It gives law enforcement a bit more power. It also gives us the possibility[…]to confiscate the vehicles where they do not recover them. »

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Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said deputies have a strategy in place to monitor, track and arrest runners without putting drivers at risk.

Tony’s advice to drivers: “If you get stuck in traffic as these daredevils and daredevils pass by, we want you to pull over, we want you to pull over to the side of the road, and let us do it.” our work. . You may not see us, you may not hear us, but we are there.

For years, groups of ATV and dirt bike riders have included thrill seekers performing dangerous stunts on highways and streets.

The tradition began as the “Wheels Up; Guns Down,” which organizers first promoted on social media, as a truce in honor of the Baptist minister who led the peaceful protests of the American civil rights movement until his assassination in 1968.