Off-Road Vehicles Take a Destructive Turn

Re “Two Visions of the Countryside Clash,” May 8: Your article hit a nerve with many. All-terrain vehicles are rampant and ruining every kind of terrain across the country.

The in-your-face attitude and total disregard of laws and personal and public property are appalling. I am sure if I ran my car over the home of one of these outlaws, I would be shot.

ATVs need to be licensed and their drivers licensed as well, and educational courses mandatory. Corporate manufacturers such as Honda and Suzuki have to take responsibility and be forced to pay into government funds to create this licensing and new policing units.

With visible licenses, property owners would be able to identify and document the outlaws and turn the information over to law enforcement.

Our local, state and federal representatives need to come to the plate immediately and enact such laws.

Randy Winbigler

Cathedral City

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The May 8 article about the increase in illegal off-road-vehicle use couldn’t be more timely. Spokespersons for the industry say illegal use is just a handful of “bad apples.” With the explosion of ATV and dirt bike sales, the small percentage of outlaws claimed by industry and user groups has also exploded.

Besides the misery trespassers cause residents, resource damage on our public lands is so significant as to be called a “systemic blight” by a retiring U.S. Forest Service deputy chief.

Rural residents and our public lands were again victimized by the off-roading community recently when the industry, riders and lobbyists turned out en masse at the state Capitol to oppose AB 1086, off-road vehicle reform legislation. Apparently there are enough “bad apples” out there as to have significant influence over the California Legislature.

Karen Schambach

California Director

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

Sacramento