Editorial: Regulating ATVs / Better than nothing

After dawdling for years with the issue of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes causing destruction in the Pine Barrens and other natural areas, the Legislature finally approved a new, comprehensive bill during the lame-duck session.

The bill, which was signed Sunday, toughens registration and insurance requirements for snowmobiles, ATVs and dirt bikes, including a requirement that some type of numbered registration decal or license plate be prominently displayed. It increases registration fees and toughens penalties for riding these off-road vehicles on state-owned land such as parks, refuges and wildlife areas. It requires any rider younger than 18 to take a safety course.

That's all good and should help discourage illegal riding, which is both rampant and quite harmful to the environment. Racing through the woods on these machines destroys vegetation and habitat and tears up trail beds. Under this measure, violators will be easier to identify due to the requirement that these vehicles be both registered and numbered.

Unfortunately, these tough new requirements are linked to another requirement in the bill: The new rules will not go into effect until the state Department of Environmental Protection finds and designates state-owned open land that would be available to off-road vehicles. The bill's requirements would not go into effect until three months after the DEP finds the first of three required sites for off-road use.

That's a big win for the ATV crowd.

Under current law, it is illegal to ride ATVs on state-owned land. It is, of course, illegal to ride them on private land without permission. This means there are only a handful of places to legally ride these vehicles.

But we've never bought the argument made by ATV enthusiasts that the state has a responsibility to provide legal places to ride if it is going to collect registration fees for these vehicles. The fact that there is just about no place to ride an ATV legally in New Jersey always seemed to us to be a good reason for not buying an ATV in the first place.

Even legal riding poses problems. In an earlier editorial we said, "If you want to buy one and tear up you own backyard, have a ball." We then got several letters pointing out how unpleasant it is for neighbors when someone does exactly that - these are not quiet machines.

But we give up. If providing some state-approved places to ride ATVs is what it takes to enact the other aspects of this bill, so be it. It's better than the status quo.

We just wish we understood why ATV riders have so much clout with the Legislature.

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Source: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/editorials/article_426e89e7-5859-55e0-946e-f52fa9ac03bb.html?mode=print

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