We've seen it so often before. A new technology comes along, changing all our lives ostensibly for the better, only for unforeseen consequences to emerge.
The iPhone, for example. A supercomputer in all our pockets, opening up extraordinary possibilities. But did anyone imagine how it would let guys named Mark or Elon burrow into our brains like worms. Or, even worse, how it would influence what is surely the worst Ferrari car design in history?
Now, thanks to advances in battery tech, electric bikes have become a clean, affordable and fun means of transport. But, did their inventors stop to think they'd enable the rise of baby bikie gangs?
Not since the BMX craze of the '80s has two wheels so empowered kids to link up with other kids and run amok.
I have to admit, they do look like a lot of fun. But, in various parts of Canberra, kids have been menacing their suburbs on these bikes, almost always dressed in black. They've taken a liking to golf courses and sporting fields, which unsurprisingly don't really like them and their tyre treads back.
Melanie Dinjanski reported this week on serious turf damage done at Hawker Playing Fields, as well as an incident at Bonython when 20 youths rode electric and petrol-fuelled bikes through the middle of a game.
They even stole the corner flags, the little buggers. And worse than that, if you can imagine it, up in Wollongong they ruined a history walking tour!
ACT Chief Police Officer Scott Lee told Melanie in a statement the behaviour was "absolutely disgraceful", promising police would target the illegal e-motorbikes.
It's not clear what that targeting will look like, but a colleague passed on some video of a young hoon's car being crushed in Adelaide, suggesting it could be a way of stopping these wannabe kiddy Comancheros.
I don't know about you, but I'd bring out a camping chair for an afternoon watching a few cars or motorbikes being hydraulically cubed.
Coincidentally, this reporting has come in the same week as a survey showing a drop in Canberrans' feelings of safety and confidence in police. One of the people police reporter Bageshri Savyasachi spoke to specifically identified a fear of teens in balaclavas.
Police blamed media reporting and social media for driving these "perceptions" of crime. (We shared our own thoughts on that in an editorial.)
If you read the comments on our stories about the e-bike mischief, two possible perceptions stand out.
Number one, the perception a kid aged 13 might have in Canberra that he's untouchable, when the law was specifically changed to exclude his age from criminal responsibility. Yes, it's not correct to say there are no consequences, and there are valid reasons why this change was pursued, but we can all imagine it from a teen's perspective.
And number two, the strong perception our readers have that parents are clueless about what their kids are up to, or worse, simply don't care.
One of the strongest themes seemed to be that if the law has trouble dealing with young Ollie or Jack, maybe his folks need some encouragement?
How would Dad's HiLux look in a two-by-two-metre cube?
