The Road-RIPorter, Summer Solstice 2007
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Enforcement, Safety and Thinking Out of the Box
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few years ago the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition (NTWC) issued a series ofreports about the safety threats posed by off-road vehicles. At the time, lots ofconservationists asked us why we would focus on rider safety, when, after all, wewere mostly a coalition of conservationists. They had a point. It can seem odd to starttalking about the dangers of these vehicles to humans, when our missions are focusedon the threats these vehicles pose to nature. That said, a lot of conservationists, myselfincluded, work on protecting and restoring nature precisely because we want to live on aclean and healthy planet. Perhaps the desire to keep the planet nice for humans is not sofar off from keeping the woods safe for humans, as well.Over the last few months, there’s been increasing attention paid to off-road vehiclesafety issues, specifically by a new group, Concerned Families for ATV Safety. They hopeto establish a minimum age under which children would not be allowed to drive ATVs.(Tens of thousands of kids are injured or killed on ATVs annually.) They recommend thatanyone driving an ATV should have a driver’s license – e.g. 16 years old (though licens-ing age varies from state to state). We agree that children under 16 should not be drivingATVs, even ATVs that are smaller and lighter than full-sized adult vehicles.But even if we did limit ATVs to people aged 16 and older, we’d still have to enforcethat regulation. After all, it’s not just riders themselves who are at risk, but also pedestri-ans/equestrians they encounter on mixed-use trails, or nonmotorized users they encoun-ter when driving illegally. Numerous hikers, bikers, equestrians and hunters have beeninjured by careless and/or illegal off-road vehicle use. So what’s a land manager to do?Enforcement is one of the most problematic things about off-road vehicle manage-ment on public lands. While the agencies always seem to be able to find the money todesignate off-road vehicle routes, they never seem to be able to find the money to enforceoff-road vehicle regulations and designations (nor do they ever seem to have money toconduct monitoring efforts).But enforcement is possible, and that’s what Wildlands CPR and NTWC’s new report,“Six Strategies for Success” is all about (see our cover story). If agencies are going to al-low off-road vehicle recreation, they need to have real regulations to control it (e.g. mini-mum age, use on specific roads/routes only), and they have to enforce those regulations.This begins with effective route designations, not just allowing off-road vehicles to travelhelter-skelter across the landscape. Unfortunately, enforcement is rarely a priority for theagencies, but perhaps it could be a higher priority if it didn’t seem so daunting.The Six Strategies report doesn’t focus on problems with off-road vehicle enforce-ment. Instead, we focused on creative enforcement ideas, and changing the attitude oflawlessness that pervades this sport to one of lawfulness and respect. In addition to thisreport, we’re also completing a set of Best Management Practices, which should be avail-able this fall. While working on our long-term wish-list, we think it’s simultaneously ourresponsibility to point agency staff in the right direction regarding management.Perhaps that’s a good segue back to the safety issue. Maybe if kids weren’t allowedto ride ATVs until they had a driver’s license they would consider motorized recreationmore responsibly. And with more responsibility (including, for example, having penaltiestied to your regular driver’s license for violations), there’d be a little less yahoo culture.And maybe, just maybe, through safety regulations that are truly enforced, off road riderswould develop some respect for land use regulations… Okay, that’s probably wishfulthinking, but every little bit helps.
© 2007 Wildlands CPR
Wildlands CPR works to protect and restore wildland ecosystems by preventing and removing roads and limiting motorized recreation. We are a national clearinghouse and network, providing citizens with tools and strategies to fight road construction, deter motorized recreation, and promote road removal and revegetation.
P.O. Box 7516Missoula, MT 59807(406) 543-9551 www.wildlandscpr.org
Director
Bethanie Walder
Development Director
Tom Petersen
Communications Coordinator
Jason Kiely
Restoration ProgramCoordinator
Marnie Criley
Science Coordinator
Adam Switalski
Legal Liaison/Agency Training Coordinator
Sarah Peters
Montana State ORV Coordinator
Adam Rissien
Program & Membership Assistant
Andrea Manes
Membership/Web Marketing Associate
Josh Hurd
Utah State ORV Coordinator
Laurel Hagan
Journal Editor
Dan Funsch
Interns & Volunteers
Carla Abrams, Mike Fiebig, Ginny Porter
Board of Directors
Amy Atwood, Greg Fishbein, Jim Furnish, William Geer, Dave Havlick, Chris Kassar, Rebecca Lloyd,Cara Nelson, Patrick Parenteau
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