Committee Refuses To Loosen Off-Road Vehicle Restrictions Measure Would Have Allowed Some Roads To Be Used By Orvs

Not only is Rep. Don Pischner a lawmaker - he’s a lawbreaker.

Each time the Coeur d’Alene Republican hops on his motor bike to fetch the newspaper, he breaks the law that makes it illegal to operate an off-highway vehicle on a county road.

A bill killed by a House panel Friday would have allowed local law enforcement to designate certain public roads for off-highway vehicle use.

Pischner said he doubted the highway district would have designated the 1,400 feet of county road at the end of his driveway for such use.

“I just have a problem that I’m driving illegally now and the fact that if we pass this bill I’ll still be illegal unless I get designated,” said Pischner, who supported Rep. Hilde Kellogg’s attempt to draft amendments to the bill.

Off-highway vehicles, such as snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and unlicensed motor bikes, currently are illegal on all public roads. Riders often use public roads anyway to access trails.

The amendment that died Friday would have made the law less restrictive by allowing off-road vehicles to share certain public roads with regular traffic. The measure also would have required drivers to have liability insurance, follow the rules of the road and supervise underage, unlicensed drivers.

As the popularity of off-highway vehicle riding increases, especially as a family sport, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department is forced to become “backwoods” enforcers, Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

“It’s family oriented, but they can’t do it the way the laws read now,” Wolfinger said. “In order to connect the trail system you have to use roads.”

But some lawmakers said that although the law would have opened up some public roads to drivers, local law enforcement already has too much authority.

“It just seems like we have law enforcement behind us in everything,” said Rep. Shirley McKague, R-Meridian, who moved to kill the bill in the House Transportation Committee.

“There’s some places, when you want to go in the mountains, where you don’t have to worry about a policeman being behind a tree,” McKague said.

Wolfinger isn’t the only one with stalled off-highway vehicle legislation.

The House State Affairs Committee refused Tuesday to even debate a bill by Rep. Jeff Alltus, R-Hayden, that would have allowed off-highway vehicles to use unpaved public roads.

, DataTimes