ATV rule enforcement is difficult, Franklin County hears

Jessica Collier

MALONE - The committee working to create an all-terrain vehicle trail system from one end of Franklin County to another may run into problems when they try to enforce the rules they plan to establish for it.
State police Sgt. Kevin Mulverhill, who is a member of the county Traffic Safety Board, and state Forest Ranger Lt. Gary Friedrich spoke to the committee last Thursday, explaining how ATVs are policed now and what may happen if the trail is put in place.

There is no one agency that is designated to head up enforcement of ATV laws in New York, so enforcement is fractured and spotty, Mulverhill said.

Department of Environmental Conservation police do what they can, but their jurisdiction only covers state lands, he said.

The Traffic Safety Board also sets up checkpoints at trailheads a few times a year, and state police stop ATVers when they see them riding illegally, but no agency has the manpower, equipment or other resources to deal with ATVs properly, Mulverhill said.

"The biggest issue is funding for enforcement," Friedrich said.

In Michigan, Mulverhill said county sheriff's department have ATV enforcement units, which he said would be well fit to the Franklin County trail system since it is a county undertaking, but that would require finding money to pay more people in the sheriff's department.

In New York, the state puts the responsibility on snowmobile clubs to police their own membership, Mulverhill said, which is what committee members said they were hoping to be able to do.

Mulverhill noted that 95 to 97 percent of ATVers are responsible riders.

"There's 3 percent out there that cause a problem, and those 3 to 5 percent are the ones we're going to have problems with," Mulverhill said.

The number of ATV fatalities are on the rise - an average of 3 to 5 a year in recent years in the region his troop covers - and most of the time they are due to speed, alcohol and a lack of safety devices like helmets, Mulverhill said.

Mulverhill said one of the biggest problems with ATVs in the area is that there are currently no places where people are allowed to ride them except for their own private land. The DEC has determined that ATV cannot use the state Forest Preserve.

"ATVs are an issue here in the state of New York," Mulverhill said. "We've got literally thousands of people that own ATVs and literally no place to go."

Mulverhill and Friedrich both said they support a trail system that will give ATVers somewhere to ride, as long as it's done correctly. Mulverhill said the Traffic Safety Board would like to see uniform trail system markings with signal stop signs, and the board also hopes there will be no racing on the trails.

The Traffic Safety Board and state police are "not out to do away with ATV riders or snowmobiles or anything else," Mulverhill said.

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Source: http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/510116.html?nav=5008

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