Get the Facts

What is an Off-Road Vehicle (ORV)?

When we talk about ORVs, we are referring to a variety of vehicles that are primarily used for driving off of paved surfaces.  They are also known as off-highway vehicles. The most common form of ORV is the all-terrain vehicle (ATV), known as a “quad,” but they also include off-road dirtbikes. There are many official definitions, depending on the state. But, the Federal Government defines ORVs as “any motorized vehicle designed for or capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or other natural terrain…”¹

Why is Reckless ORV Riding a Problem?

Burden on Law Enforcement: According to a June 2009 Government Accountability Office (GAO) study, federal land managers cited enforcement as the top challenge to ORV management. In fact, 74% of BLM and Forest Service law enforcement officials in the Southwest said the ORV problem in their jurisdiction had gotten worse over the past five years, according to a 2007 survey by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Rangers for Responsible Recreation. A majority said the problem is “out of control.” To learn more, CLICK HERE 

Increasing Conflicts & Violence: USA Today reported recently that, “Clashes over the sport of off-roading are becoming more violent for riders, property owners and law enforcement officers as conflicts about the use of all-terrain-vehicles (ATVs) escalate, federal officials, landowners and advocacy groups say. Property owners across the country report that they have been threatened and their homes vandalized by off-road-vehicle users.” To read the full article, CLICK HERE

Habitat Destruction: A survey of state fish and wildlife managers from across the nation by the Izaak Walton League of America, a national leader in community-based conservation, found that reckless off-road vehicle use was having a negative impact on hunting and fishing.  Of those surveyed, 61% agreed or strongly agreed that “ORVs negatively impact hunting and habitat in my state,” while 0% disagreed or strongly disagreed with that statement.  To read the report, CLICK HERE

Damage to Private Property: Private property owners are angry that riders tear up their land and cut down fences to ride where they want. These irresponsible riders tore down "No Trespassing" signs and turned the field by Ron Knudsen's 150-acre property in Washington into "their play area." "If they want in, they'll cut the fence. If they want out, they'll cut the fence," said Knudsen, who lives in Spokane County, near the Washington-Idaho border. "They do whatever they want to do." A television news crew in Bakersfield, CA observed about a dozen ORV riders on private property on one day in April 2009. To watch the TV report, CLICK HERE 

Responsible Riders Lose Places to Ride: The habitat damage being caused by the growing contingent of reckless off-road vehicle riders is increasingly causing traditional riding areas to be closed to all riders, even the majority that ride responsibly. As Dan Scholl, President Eastern Morrison County (MN) 4-Wheeler Club, said, "If we have all these bad apples digging up the mud all over the place...pretty soon no one is going to have a spot to ride." In 2008, the Arizona Republic reported that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management banned ORVs from a 55,000 acre area of the Sonoran Desert National Monument because of extensive habitat damage. To read the full article, CLICK HERE

Child Safety: Off-road vehicles are important to many people's lifestyles, for both recreation and work. But as activity grows, too many children are getting hurt - roughly 30% of all off-road vehicle deaths and injuries are kids under 16. Over the past five years, the child death rate due to accidents has increased 24% and the child hospitalization rate has gone up nearly 70%. For more, CLICK HERE 

¹Executive Order 11644--Use of off-road vehicles on the public lands, 37 FR 2877, 3 CFR, 1971-1975 Comp., p. 666, http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/11644.html.

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