Dunedin has once again ascended to the world stage following the surging popularity of a downhill ‘Drift Triking’ video. The 2 minute 14 second clip, filmed on George King Memorial Drive, has reached over 3.5 million views on Facebook.
The video, which was originally uploaded to the Dunedin Drift Triking Facebook page following its March 13 filming, was eventually posted on the Unilad Facebook page – home to over 12 million followers. Since being re-uploaded by Unilad the controversial clip has surpassed 3.5 million views.
Drift Triking is a recently developed sport which involves the conversion of a children’s tricycle to have a “stronger frame and sliding wheels”, according to DriftTrikeMag.com. The website explains Drift Triking has quickly gained popularity since 2009 due to the help of Facebook.
“From about 2009 the sport is gaining on popularity and spreads viral across the globe. You Tube has a lot to do with this. Riders enjoy the controlled drifts while ridding down the hills and the freedom that comes with it. Feeling during controlled drifts is what all the trikers are yearning for.”
However, the new sport isn’t all fun and games according to one Dunedin resident who is concerned the adrenaline-fuelled activity has “inherent danger” to those performing it and to the wider community.
“The problem is these guys aren’t just doing this on back roads where there’s no danger of being hit by a car. You often see them on streets around Dunedin and the risk of just going round a corner and having one of these guys fly into you must be pretty great,” said the Dunedin resident who wished to be referred to only as John.
“It’s all well and good for [drift trikers] to say the risk is theirs but when you’re flying down a hill at 40 or 50 [kilometres] or whatever, on something that low, the reality is drivers have to watch out for you and in the worst case they have to live with experience of having hit someone”,
“This kind of sport, if that’s what you want to call it, has inherent danger to everyone. I’d prefer to see it happen only in controlled spaces like a luge, not on our roads. I just think it’s irresponsible.