ATV bill met with concern

BOISE – North Idaho ATV riders and sheriffs worry that legislation pending in the state House might make some smooth terrain off-limits for off-road vehicles.

House Bill 187 would ban all-terrain vehicles from paved roads unless local officials create ordinances specifically allowing them – a possibility that irks riders and law enforcement officials who say the changes are unnecessary and would hinder participants in a popular Panhandle activity.

But state transportation officials say rules for riding ATVs vary among counties, and statewide operating standards are needed to eliminate confusion.

Shoshone County Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said he tries to keep regulations relaxed to encourage the sport, which is a boon to the county’s economy. Thousands of riders descend on Wallace annually for a summer ATV festival, he said.

“I don’t need an ordinance telling me these people can drive on paved roads,” Reynalds said.

Reynalds said most riders are safe. Among those who aren’t, “no matter what we do with this, it’s not going to stop riders from killing themselves or behaving in a reckless manner. Right now, I’ve got it pretty much under control.”

But Amy Smith, vehicle services manager for the Idaho Transportation Department, said the law would “leave less room for interpretation” about where ATVs may be driven.

“The code is not really clear on what the areas are that you can operate,” she said.

The House slightly amended the bill Monday. Sponsor Rep. JoAn Wood, R-Rigby, said there might be a vote in the House this week.

“It’s not the scary thing that people were led to believe it was” by ATV groups lobbying against the change, Wood said.

Yet Larry Waddell, president of the Northwest Access Alliance, said the bill would cut ATV access to public lands. It might also prevent senior citizens from riding their ATVs to the post office or keep him from plowing neighbors’ driveways, said Waddell, who lives in Kootenai County.

“I don’t see a lot of ATVs riding up and down Highway 95 or the streets of Coeur d’Alene,” Waddell said.

The ATV law changes are part of a larger effort to revamp Idaho’s vehicle safety standards to incorporate more nontraditional and off-road vehicles, Smith said.

While the ITD will issue $9 motorcycle license plates to ATV owners, interpretation differs by county about where it’s legal to ride with that plate, said Steve Frost, a manager for the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Some counties, including Kootenai and Shoshone, allow ATV owners with plates and insurance to drive on paved roads as long as they follow traffic laws.

HB 187 would create new, annual $10-license plates specially for ATVs and utility-type vehicles (UTVs) – four-wheeled vehicles such as the John Deere Gator and the Yamaha Rhino. The plates would allow them on all unpaved county, state and federal roads, unless government agencies took formal action to prevent such use. ATVs would be banned from controlled-access freeways, such as Interstate 90.

ATV riders could still purchase an annual $10 ATV sticker from the Idaho Parks Department allowing them to drive off-highway on state and federal lands.

The decision to allow ATVs on paved roads would be left largely to county commissioners or, in the case of Kootenai County and some others, highway districts that might not even have power to create ordinances, said Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson.

Most Kootenai County roads are paved, or slated to be paved, and declaring every one open to ATVs would be “really burdensome,” Watson said.

While many people believed motorcycle plates allowed them to take their ATV on the same roads as cars or trucks, ATVs do not meet federal vehicle safety standards, according to an e-mail from Dave Claycomb off-highway program manager for the Parks Department.

The bill would allow motorcycle plates to be issued for dirt bikes, as always, Claycomb wrote. But, in a change from current law, those dirt bikes would need equipment upgrades to make them street-legal.

While sheriffs of the five northern counties oppose the bill, some members of the Idaho Sheriffs’ Association support it, Reynalds said.

Although state officials held a hearing on the proposal in Coeur d’Alene last year, Watson contends they did not take North Idaho residents’ suggestions seriously and “still came forward with the same flawed legislation.”

The current situation allows riders to travel from trailheads to businesses on paved roads, a “common occurrence,” said Frank Axtell, president of the North Idaho ATV Association, which represents about 300 people. The change could cause “a loss of revenue in those cities” with substantial ATV traffic, such as Wallace and Harrison, he contends.