Another news article on ATV use in NL .
Oswald Fudge, of the ATV Federation recently made this statement and did end it with saying that not all the provinces 40,000 ATV users are breaking the laws. Thank you for that part Mr. Fudge! My suggestion would be to go to the so called cabin country and make one big sunday crack down. Any given Sunday in my area you can stop and seize at least a dozen ATV's with kids as young as ten years old operating them with two or more passengers hanging on them and not one of them wearing a helmet or any protective gear. Most wear shorts and the so called flip flops on their feet and know that he who drives the fastest gets the right of way. I dare say the only law not broken on most of the machines is the vehicle registration one. Im sure the majority of those ATV 's are registered and the kids i say are driving the best machines mom and pop can buy.
Mr. Fudge quote""""There's no education whatsoever being done by the province." Will my opinion on that is for the RCMP to start an education program some fine sunday evening. Seize a few of those machines all across the province and videotape the kids travelling at mach1 for mom and dad to view at home on the evening news. Im sure the majority of ATV users know the law but some simply don't care because it's not enforced.
2 comments:
Nice to see you Wayne.
I'm not sure of your position on the matter, but my brother and his neighbors have a terrible time with ATVers. There are designated and clearly marked trails, thousands of miles of them, but the "ATVers" just go where ever they feel like it. Often they tress pass and that's not the big problem. The big problem is destroying the land, land that is private and public. Where my brother lives it's mostly a tourist problem so in that case I believe a "crack down" would be good. For the locals, especially the "ten year olds" an apprhensive training course should be mandatory. Not only because of the wanton ATVing, but because these people young and old, tourists and locals drive on the roads too. The last time I checked, anyone operating a motorized vehicle on any "road-way" needs a license and must be at least 16. 14 if you're a farmer and driving a tractor from field to field.
You guys need to do what we've been doing here in Montana for quite a while now, police yourselves if the authorities aren't going to do it. Unfortunately, it's the only way to save our image and prove to people that most of us follow the rules and have no interest in destroying anything. Environmental abuse such as off trail travel and litter are almost nonexistant in most areas around here just because of the simple fact that if another rider sees someone doing it, they WILL say something to the offender, and likely report the incident to the Forest Service along with pictures and descriptions and license numbers. The Ah Nei riding area near here was closed for a year and a half due to a BS lawsuit, but when it reopened the Bureau of Land Management officials that I spoke with said they'd seen several users flag down others that were bending the rules and give them a firm talking to. The BLM folks said they didn't want to see any fights or anything, but they also added that this spirit of self policing was what would keep the area open hopefully indefinitely.
At any rate Wayne, I hope you guys get it worked out before it becomes too big of a problem. These "bad apples" make all of us look like a bunch of hooligans, and it's a damn shame.
Glad to see you posting again! Keep up the good work.
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