Tauranga youngsters displaying delinquent and unsafe behaviour on bikes are placing themselves at the center of public and police attention.

Western Bay of Plenty road policing manager Senior Sergeant Ian Campion says ‘countless' numbers of complaints have been voiced by concerned members of public in recent weeks.

He says the behaviour displayed by these young people is becoming an increasing road safety concern.

'Anyone that rides without a helmet is a safety concern to us, but a lot of the antics these young people are getting up to involve pulling wheelies, riding on the wrong side of the road, riding into oncoming traffic and generally disregarding any safety rules about the use of bicycles on roads.

'It is a concern to police, and those riders can be expected to be spoken to by police and explained their behaviour.

'There are a number of options to us in terms of having a robust discussion in the communication between us and these young people and outlining the safety issues concerning their behaviour,” says Ian.

'It can go further to delivering young people back home and explaining to parents that what risky behaviour they've been up to and further down the continuum is an option for police to issue an infringement notice.”

He says safety comes down to being sensible.

'Use your common sense,” says Ian. 'If you fall off a bicycle, bang your head on the road, then you're likely to end up with brain injury or worse.

'There's a reason for the legislation, it has been brought in to protect cyclists, but also the delinquent-type behaviour with people doing wheelies on their bikes and riding down the road the wrong way is simply high-risk behaviour and we can't tolerate that.”