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Bill introduced to ban ATVs on paved roadways

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  <h1>[b]Bill introduced to ban ATVs on paved roadways[/b]</h1>
  <h3>

    Mannix Porterfield

    Register-Herald Reporter</h3>
  

[url="http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_036223333.html"][b]Go here for the full story[/b][/url] 

    

    CHARLESTON  — Removing all-terrain vehicles from all paved roads in West Virginia,  except to cross or when a city or county wants an exception, is the  sole focus of this year’s ATV safety bill.

    

    Introduced Tuesday by  Senate Judiciary Chairman Jeffrey Kessler, D-Marshall, the proposal is  the latest model to roll off the Legislature’s assembly line.

    

    A  year ago, safety advocates were dismayed when an ATV safety bill was  left parked in the Senate Rules Committee over a dispute that centered  on banning passengers from four-wheelers not made to accommodate them.

    

    In  the previous bill, language was inserted to bar counties and  municipalities from allowing ATV riders, but this one addresses  exceptions. The only exceptions now are counties that have  comprehensive planning commissions, but the new bill would extend the  discretion of allowing four-wheelers in all 55.

    

“It’s not like  we’re recommending there be joyriding in the middle of the street,”  emphasized Karen Coria, an official of the Specialty Vehicle Institute  of America, the prime supporter of ATV safety legislation.

    

“But  there are going to be special circumstances where a municipality or a  county may want to address having an ATV pathway, something they can  enforce, something where there’s a safety environment where the public  is aware of this.”

    

    Coria pointed out at least six towns already  allow ATVs within their limits, such as Gilbert, which permits them as  part of its linkup with the Hatfield-McCoy Trail.

    

“And according to their folks, they haven’t had any incidents,” she said.

    

    Last year, ATV accidents were blamed in 45 deaths, while the state recorded 54 fatalities in the previous year.

    

“It’s  still too high,” Coria said of the annual death toll. “If getting them  from the paved roads can have the effect of just one person not being  killed, then it’s all worth it.”

    

    Kessler was joined in  sponsoring the bill by Sens. Jon Blair Hunter, D-Monongalia, Dan  Foster, D-Kanawha, Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, and John Unger, R-Berkeley.

    

    Half of the accidents are known to occur on paved surfaces, Coria said.

    

    Current  law bans four-wheelers from roads with a centerline stripe or more than  two lanes, but that doesn’t cover some 20,000 miles of unlined, paved,  so-called “country roads.”

    

“This legislation would end joyriding on those roads,” Coria said.

    

“Existing  law says you can drive from one trail to another, or one field to  another, on the shoulder, not to exceed 10 miles at 25 miles per hour.  That would still be in place.”

    

    Nor does the bill attempt to revise the current law on headgear.

    

“All we’re trying to do this time is to create a safety enforcement on the road,” Coria said.

    

    Actual story is here: [url="http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_036223333.html"][b][url]http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_036223333.html[/url][/b][/url]</p>
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I don't think it will have much effect here in Jackson co.
At least they are not making helmets mandatory
The bill died YEEEEEEEHHAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!
Yea I see the garbage all the time,those idiots are gonna ruin it for us. I drink beer out riding and always pack out what I pack in and I will pick a few straglers along the way too. I ride out along foster ridge area, the people out there have been pretty good this past year about picking up their garbage.
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