Opinion divided on ATV legislation

Yukon residents are divided about whether off-road vehicles should be regulated in the territory.

An all-party committee of the Yukon legislature is reviewing use of all-terrain vehicles in the territoryeverything from safety issues to possible environmental restrictions.

Yukonersare beingasked their views about on-trail versus off-trail use, safety issues such as helmets and whether there should be age restrictions on the use of ATVs.

On Monday night, a committee of four MLAs met with residents at a local community centre in Mt. Lorne. Only a handful of residents came to the meeting, but they had a wide range of opinions about off-road vehicles.

Longtime resident Al Foster said ATVs and snowmobiles are useful in the North, but added there are too many irresponsible drivers.

"Their use over the last 20 years has reached the point of almost ridiculousness on the way they're used."

Foster said there should be safety regulations and mandatory insurance for off-road vehicles.

Education campaign needed

However, Tim Vincent argued education and rules should be focused on young people, not responsible peoplesuch ashimself.

"Whether it be I'm out cutting wood, I'm out plowing snow, I'm out running my dogswhen a farmer's driving his tractor in a field, he's not wearing a helmet. When I'm out pulling wood from out in the woods I consider it a utility vehicle equivalent to a tractor on a farm."

Dog musher Karine Grenier said there are some parts of the territory they can't use for training on weekends because of ATVs.

"The kids they really go too fast," she said. "They don't hear us, they don't see us with the dogs and we train during the night so my concern is really with an invasion of the bombardier machines around here."

Resident Lisa Chevalier said the government should investigate whether ATVs and other off-road vehicles are damaging the backcountry.

But any regulation is likely a long way off, she added, so officials should focus on education in the interim.

"It can be a very basic campaign," she said.

"It can be such basic things as safe driving, respect the land, respect the wildlife and respect other Yukoners, and that education campaign can start today."

The committee has already visited several Yukon communities to get input from residents. It will next meet with the public in Whitehorse on Wednesday night.

The all-party ATV committee will report back to the legislature in the spring of 2011.