JLWILLYS21 previously posted:
"Good stuff to know. The OHV population is growing and definitely a concern for the state. Many OHV drivers (not all) don't know the off-road rules, ignore which roads they can or cannot be on, and I frequently see them off the trail all together. As a Colorado native and off roader, I long for more regulation and enforcement of these vehicles, especially when there are large groups of them making lots of noise and causing destruction of the wilderness."
Are you including us? By their definition, OHVs include 4x4 SUVs.
You're echoing a lot of their sentiments, but in my experience, it seems grossly exaggerated.
As for noise - Yes I hear UTVs, dirt bikes and ATVs zoom by my house here sometimes (which is what some townspeople complained about) but I don't understand how that's bothersome. That's the sound of people having fun. Plus there's many other noises I hear such as when there's any event downtown or at the sports field, plus the school bus depot where I hear their reversing noises all morning and afternoon as well as their horns every time I bus pulls out. To remedy this I have a white noise machine I turn on to drown out the noise. Boom, problem solved without hindering someone's hobby.
As for destruction of wilderness - I'm just not seeing it around here. As described in the post, the one guy who tried to demonstrate this ultimately failed to do so, IMO. Folks going off-trail could be an issue, I haven't specifically seen it up here, but what regulation and enforcement would you recommend?
I could imagine something like a hunting license - when I got mine in GA, we had to study and take a class on what to do and what not to do. Maybe some sort of license that requires users know what not to do?