 Recent Legislative Action2009 HB375: Requires registration and titling of ORVs, creates ORV fund to build/maintain trails, relatively balanced ORV board, requires written permission to ride on private property (2/10/09: Sent to House Environmental Committee) SB547: Requires helmets for all riders (Introduced) SB548: Sets minimum operator age requirements, requires safety training for riders under 18 (Introduced) HB817: Requires the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Board to establish criteria for all-terrain vehicle safety programs and approve qualifying programs; establishing specified prohibitions related to the operation of specified all-terrain vehicles by individuals of specified ages; prohibiting specified individuals from operating all- terrain vehicles unless specified requirements related to all-terrain vehicle safety training are met. (Introduced) Community Voices Demand Action in Maryland
Marylanders are increasingly voicing their concerns about a growing contingent of reckless riders who break the law, damage public and private land, injure themselves and others, and ruin hunting, fishing and hiking experiences for the rest of us. - "ATV accidents are the No. 1 cause of head injuries among children in Southern Maryland. Mandating helmet use will help to prevent serious injury." -- Delegate Sue Kullen, "Kullen sponsors ATV helmet bill", Southern Maryland News (2/7/08)
"It's a problem from one end of the county to the other. At Poplar Ridge Park, two winters ago, we had people doing donuts in the middle of the field. The irrigation systems were disturbed."-- Frank Marzucco, director of the Anne Arundel County's Recreation and Parks Department, "ATV riders, county at odds over where to ride", Maryland Gazette (10/21/09)
- "I was riding my bicycle on a Saturday afternoon with friends when an ATV sped around a blind corner and plowed into our group. I was in front and suffered the brunt of the collision...The ATV rider, a man in his late 30s or early 40s, didn't stick around to see if anyone was hurt. Recklessness and blatant disregard for rules are not limited to rural western ranges but occur even in our area." --Stanley Cousins, Letter to the Editor, "The Threat From ATVs", The Washington Post (8/18/08)
Recent ORV-Related Media Coverage
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Written by Baltimore Sun
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Monday, May 17, 2010 |
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Michael Dresser Amtrak has a problem — and it can use all the help it can get. So why is it spurning a good neighbor who only wants to lend a hand in Amtrak's effort to protect its tracks from trespassers? Several times a year, police issue a report of an intruder being struck and killed by an Amtrak train somewhere in Maryland. Occasionally, the death receives extensive news coverage as in the case of 14-year-old Anna Stickel hit by a train in Middle River in January. More often, as in the case of Timothy Francis Jenkins, 41, killed April 6 along the Northeast Corridor tracks south of BWI Marshall Airport, the case gets no more than a brief mention. |
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Read more... [Column: Severn man tries to be good neighbor to Amtrak]
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Written by Maryland Gazette
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Saturday, May 01, 2010 |
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Andrea Noble A Waldorf man convicted of attacking two men, killing one of them who he mistakenly believed was riding his stolen all-terrain vehicle, was sentenced to 32 years in prison Friday. Martinez Witherspoon, 24, was found guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of carrying a dangerous weapon in the 2008 slaying of Greenbelt resident Steven Williams, 28, and first-degree assault against Williams' friend, Matthew Bovell. Williams and Bovell were riding ATVs in a wooded area near Surrattsville High School in Clinton when they were attacked. |
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Read more... [Waldorf man gets 32 years in slaying over ATV]
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Written by The Capital
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Monday, November 02, 2009 |
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Allison Bourg A salesman at Pete's Cycle Co. in Severna Park, John Keough, said he hears frequent complaints from customers looking for places to ride their all-terrain vehicles. They can't find any, at least not within the county, he said. |
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Read more... [ATV riders, county at odds over where to ride]
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Written by Maryland Gazette
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009 |
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Allison Bourg A salesman at Pete's Cycle Co. in Severna Park, John Keough said he hears frequent complaints from customers looking for places to ride their all-terrain vehicles. They can't find any, at least not within the county's borders. |
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Read more... [ATV riders, county at odds over where to ride]
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Written by Cumberland Times-News
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Sunday, September 13, 2009 |
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Kevin Spradlin OLDTOWN — Bretta Reinhard chalks it up to personal preference.
The Allegany County public information officer sat in on an interview with code enforcement officers Jerry Michael and Pattie Talley on Friday to discuss an Oldtown neighborhood.
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Read more... [Residents want a cleaner Oldtown]
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Written by The Bay Net
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Friday, April 10, 2009 |
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On April 4, at 5:13 p.m., TFC M. Koock responded to the 26000 block of Baptist Church Road in Mechanicsville for the reported malicious destruction of property to a metal gate. Upon arrival, contact was made with the male complainant, 68 of Mechanicsville, who advised unknown suspect(s) drove an ATV through the gate causing damage to the gate. |
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Read more... [ATV Driven Off the Beaten Path Damages Property Gate]
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Written by Cumberland Times-News
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Friday, October 31, 2008 |
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Michael A. Sawyers CUMBERLAND — From the elevated deer hunting stand where Fred McMillan hunted on Collier Mountain you could see magnificent views of Western Maryland and West Virginia, even the power plant at Mount Storm on a clear day. And, according to McMillan, it was a great place to see deer, including some nice bucks. |
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Read more... [Vandals destroy Hunting Area]
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Written by The Frederick News-Post
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Friday, October 17, 2008 |
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released the most recent nationwide statistics in February. They were from 2006 and reported 555 deaths for the year from ATV accidents, 20 percent of whom were children under 16. Fifty of those had not reached their 12th birthdays. But the numbers are moveable feasts. |
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Read more... [ATV Tragedy]
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Written by Southern Maryland News
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007 |
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Alan Brody ANNAPOLIS — Hoping to reduce a leading cause of child head trauma injuries, state lawmakers are pushing to require children under the age of 16 to wear helmets when riding all-terrain vehicles. ‘‘ATV’s are just an accident waiting to happen and considering an out-and-out ban on ATV’s is not practical, a helmet law is more palatable,” said Del. Sue Kullen, the bill’s lead House sponsor. The legislation came at the request of Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. |
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Read more... [Kullen sponsors ATV helmet bill]
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