If Flin Flon ATVers hope to preserve limited access within city limits, they may be off to a bad start.
City council announced in May that operators of ATVs and other off-road vehicles have until May 2016 to prove they can drive responsibly within the community.
“There’s still quite a number of people that aren’t paying attention to all the rules,” Coun. Tim Babcock said last week.
Right after the city announced the year-long review of ATV routes, he said, there was an improvement in his neighbourhood, with operators slowing down and wearing helmets.
It was “almost to a point where if there was a teenager driving through the [Northminster Memorial] United Church parking lot, they were going so slow they were barely moving,” Babcock said. “I’m hoping that that’s because some parents had some conversations about proper usage.”
But such improvements have not lasted, as both Babcock and Coun. Colleen McKee pointed out.
McKee said that earlier this month she witnessed two children who looked to be between 10 and 12 years old riding quads in a park.
“Number one, they’re not old enough to ride [ATVs],” she said. “Number two, they’re not supposed to be in the park.”
Coun. Karen MacKinnon said that about two weeks after the city announced the year-long review, she saw three dirt bikes zip down her road.
“They had to be going 60,” she said.
Mayor Cal Huntley said he hasn’t noticed ATVers speeding so much as failing to wear helmets.
“I ran into – and I’m not going to say who, it’s tempting to say who – [an ATVer travelling at the] end of Green Street, down the Perimeter, across over to Trout Lake,” he said. “No helmet, no nothing.”
While members of council have observed such offences, Huntley said he has received perhaps one complaint from the public since the year-long review began in May.
“That’s a good sign, too, that it’s quieting down a little bit,” he said.
Coun. Leslie Beck said the RCMP say they are receiving more calls from the public about off-road vehicle operators.
“So I am going to say that people actually are stepping up to our request that if you see something, let the police know in a timely fashion,” she said.
Mark Kolt, the city’s chief administrative officer, said police reported at the city’s latest Traffic Commission meeting that there have been prosecutions related to off-road vehicle offences.
Coun. Bill Hanson suggested that people take photos of offending operators if they are able to do so.
As for the future of the city’s off-road vehicle routes, Huntley said things could go either way: “It’s still an open conversation” and “it’s in the hands of the operators.”
McKee reiterated her preference to leave the access routes in place.
“I think it’s a privilege and I want it to continue, but I mean, at what cost?” she said. “Do we wait for someone to get killed? Do we wait for someone to get hurt? That’s too big of a cost for me.”
Limited ATV access became legal in Flin Flon in 2009. The intention was to let off-road vehicle operators travel in and out of the community using the shortest route available to them.
But over the past six years, the city has fielded numerous complaints of operators traversing across parks, schoolyards and other prohibited areas.
Maps of designated ATV routes are available at city hall. ATVers may obtain from their insurance provider or the Internet a copy of the Off-Road Vehicles Act, which spells out the rules for using the vehicles.
