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Jan. 21, 2007 - 1:46 a.m.

Putting an age restriction on kids riding ATVs is ridiculous. The first thing a 16-year-old kid is going to do when they're old enough to drive an ATV is go out and buy a banshee or 450r (both are hi performance racing ATVs). After they sit through a few-hour course and regurgitate some information onto a test paper about safety that the instructor just fed them and drive through some cones, then they can go blast around their 45 hp ATV. If you let them start when they wish they will be younger, more impressionable, so the information will stay with them, and the parent will have more say on what atv they get.

And to you, J. Blair Arsenault, do you know anything on the subject other than what you've read in a newspaper? Injurious to natural habitat? Are you serious? Well I'm truly sorry for re-arranging some dirt and running over some daisies. If you think ATVs are bad for the habitat, wake up. there are so many more relevant threats to the environment it's illogical to even look at ATVs in this manner.

Noise is a problem in some areas and should be addressed: 94 to 96 db would be completely reasonable as a limit and I would be happy to see this put in place.

As far as them being huge machines, the average sport ATV would be in the range of 350-400 lbs. Yes they're beefy, but not huge, and youth ATVs are lighter still, weighing only around 250 lb for a 90cc.

ATV riding is a recreational sport. We ride OHVs (off highway vehicles) to have fun and some for work. They are not useless as I for one guarantee that if I didn't ride an OHV, as with many other youths, and love it so much I'd be spending my weekends stoned or drunk to pass the time. Recreation isn't knitting or bowling for everyone.

I am 17, ride a hi-performance OHV, and compete in races across the Atlantic Provinces.

Brandon Spencer
Auburn, N.S.

Jan. 19, 2007 - 12:40 a.m.

From what I've seen, most adults are too immature to properly drive an ATV; so how can you expect a child to act responsibly, let alone physically handle such a machine?

Jack Langille
Dartmouth, N.S.

Jan. 4, 2007 - 11:37 a.m.

I believe that each parent should be the one to decide whether their child is responsible enough to drive an ATV, with certain conditions. They should never go out alone and should stay on well-known paths. Children die in car crashes but are still in cars. So long as the ATV they ride is made for their weight limit it shouldn't be a problem!

Trish Shaw
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Oct. 20, 2006 - 5:05 p.m.

Any parent who allows a minor child to drive an ATV unsupervised or supervised should be charged with child neglect. Any parents whose child is killed while driving such a vehicle should receive a serious criminal sentence in a court of law as well as having the Children's Aid Society investigate their fitness to continue to parent any other children they may have.

There is absolutely no justification for such parental irresponsibility.

Wendy Ferroni
Panmure Island, P.E.I.

Oct. 20, 2006 - 8:26 a.m.

Only on P.E.I. would ATV owners be lobbying for use of ATVs by children. Out to lunch. Look at the bloody record of the high school students with vehicles (usually after a high school graduation) and transpose that same attitude to ATV operators. These are huge machines - noisy, wasteful of resources, injurious to natural habitat, and an insult to peace - in the same camp as skijets and snowmobiles and Harley Davidson motorcycles.

J. Blair Arsenault
Summerside, P.E.I.

Oct. 19, 2006 - 9:10 p.m.

I can only express my personal opinion! No, it is not based on driving an ATV, nor is it based on media, surveys, and community debates. My opinion is based on knowing simply that parents and children both must use common sense when it comes to machines and how to use them.

Years ago, in rural areas, kids learned how to drive tractors, ski-doos, motorcycles and bicycles under the direct supervision of their parents. And parents tended to make sure that strict rules were in place to ensure kids were well aware of risks and how to use these machines safely. That's how my brothers and I learned.

The old adage is that children are expected to know the difference between right and wrong by age 12. Obviously, this also suggests that under the age of 12, children are not necessarily going to make the right decisions so the parents have to play that role. Training courses can go a long way to help this. I do not agree to only allow age 16 and up to use ATVs, however, I do believe that under the age of 12 parents should be on the back of the ATVs with their kids not letting kids ride solo.

M. Rooney
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Oct. 19, 2006 - 8:03 p.m.

I want to talk about the statistics that you don’t hear about in the media, that is, the accidents that are happening out there that due to the grace of God don’t end in tragedy, but could just as easily have ended terribly.

On September 11, around 6:40 in the evening, I left the Trans Canada and took the exit to Bedeque. Up the road on my right I spied an ATV carrying two people, who turned out to be teenagers aged maybe 15 and 12. Another vehicle was approaching me, and I saw the driver of the ATV slow down to allow that driver to pass. What the young ATV rider didn’t do was look left towards me - instead after the other car passed he very suddenly hit the gas and pulled out to cross the road directly in front of me.

I had just come off the highway, so I was moving at a good clip, although I automatically had started to slow down when I saw the ATV up ahead on the shoulder. But still, even though I screamed and headed my vehicle into the opposing lane, I hit those kids, hard enough to send bits of their ATV and chunks of my car flying into the air, enough to cause $2753 worth of damage to my car - a small Pontiac Sunfire - enough to find what was probably boot marks on my driver’s door afterwards, enough to propel that huge ATV carrying two boys a number of feet down the road before coming to a stop.

By the grace of God I hadn’t bought an SUV, a used big Buick Envoy that I’d been looking at a few weeks earlier. Instead today I am thankful for the small Sunfire I call “Spunky” for its resilience and its get-up-and-go. By the grace of God I caught the back end of that ATV and those boys are alive today.

The first thing I said - well, yelled - to the boys when I got out of the car, shaking, was, "Do you know that a boy was buried today because of a collision with a cement truck?" I wanted to hug them but I thought they would think it was inappropriate so I didn’t. But I thank God every day that they are alive and I wonder if, if some weird way, maybe I saved their lives because I understand that that accident wrote off their ATV, so they aren’t driving it anymore.

My own 16-year-old son says that kids should be allowed to drive ATVs if they are supervised - well, these kids were under instructions from their father to "go to the pit, and no further," so they were in some manner being supervised, but they had to cross two roads each way, including the Trans Canada highway, to get there and back.

Would an older teenager have remembered to look both ways? Give teenagers machines to operate and many will lose themselves in the moment. Remember World War II and the thousands of Canadian flyers who flew airplanes - many were older than the kids we're talking about here - 18, 19 - but, heroic as they were, they were still just boys - and in those days the more impulsive boys occasionally came back from training flights on the Island with broken wing tips, buzzed cottages, and photographs featuring shrubbery lodged in their airplanes.

Should we decide at what age teens and children are responsible enough to be given control of powerful off-road vehicles? You’re damn right we should. Although some kids are more responsible than others, and some parents' supervisory skills are superior to others, accidents can happen at any age. Who knows exactly what that determining age is? It’s probably different for every child. I, for one, recall that children are supposed to learn to look both ways when they are in pre-school. If you want to draw the line at 16, that’s at least a place to start. At least the kids under 16 might have some legislation, safety rules and appropriately sized vehicles to ride. Maybe they'll be okay if they also learn to stay off the roads.

S Rodgers
Bedeque, P.E.I.

Oct. 18, 2006 - 9:04 a.m.

It's ridiculous to have legislation in place that allows a 10-year-old child to operate a motorized vehicle with out any safety training. Anyone who thinks otherwise is out to lunch. Anyone under the age of 16 should have to take a strigent safety course to operate a vehicle - it's just common sense.

C. Frizzell
Cornwall, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 8:07 p.m.

I'm 15 years old and i have been driving an ATV for almost a year now. My father and I use it for mostly work. For example, we use it for working in the woods and for doing some of our yard work. But we also use it for play. We drive in fields and sometimes we drive on the side of the road, but it's usually me that goes for a ride through the trails. So please don't raise the age on the ATVs. Just make the children under 16 take a closed-course test.

Martin Shaw
Belfast, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 7:43 p.m.

I find it very peculiar that after this discussion is over nothing has been learned. Year after year there are deaths of underage drivers on our roads. Ignorance, inexperience and young age of drivers are reasons for this.

What is frustrating is that these deaths are completely avoidable. Where are the responsible adults when children take to the dirt roads? My wife and I are new parents and we cannot for the life us think of losing our child to an ATV accident.

Bring in a licensing system for ATVs that is uniform to the rules of the road. ATVs can be fun but there has to be a responsible approach to this activity. It is about time we all take responsibility along with our governments to bring on the licence for ATVs.

Loving our children is not just going out and buying them fun things to do. What happened to teaching our children responsibilities that go hand in hand with fun?

Humberto Freire
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 6:37 p.m.

I have experienced an ATV accident first hand and it is no fun experience. I had no experience, and I had no idea what an ATV could do on a sharp turn. Sure enough, the sharp turn comes up and I start to roll for 30 seconds. If we had laws that made it so we had to be educated, maybe less accidents would happen. No offence to the people who are responsible and love ATVs, but today's society is too reckless. There would be too many accidents with younger people because most people don't reach maturity until late. I was certainly not mature when I rode and I regret it muchly.

In conclusion, I believe that maybe ATVs should be banned until 16, because that way the teen would have not only training in safety from school, but maturity of the mind and confidence of the body not to crash.

Chris Gallant
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 6:18 p.m.

I firmly believe that anyone under the age of 16 should not be permitted to operate an ATV of any size.

My reason is this: there are times in a youngster's life when a parent has to just protect the youngster from him or herself. They have many wants and thrills to seek, but to encourage a teenager who has hormones running at high speed, no experience and no permit - well I just think that is a recipe for a family to lose a child. You have to protect your child even as they become older teens.

The remedy: licensing program for a person 16, similar to the drivers test.

The licence must be renewable every year and it should cost the same price as a drivers licence. There could be a one year beginner level, intermediate level and senior level, depending on their tested annual abilities under very strict conditions. I believe if this type of licensing program were put in place, there should also be a designated area where they can get rough and tumble or chew up the dirt. Hills would excite them. I doubt that would fly though because an adult would have to drive them there, load and unload from a trailer, and actually be there and take responsibility for their youngsters, so I can see why complaints would not allow this to happen. It would certainly fix the problem though.

I don't think the politicians should make a policy on this that is able to be manipulated. If someone wants to do something bad enough, they'll do their best to make something happen in their favour. The policy should be clear and unquestionable.

Lorraine Clements
Stratford, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 12:39 p.m.

Our family has enjoyed many years of safe off-road vehicle fun. I believe that when the following conditions receive ongoing support through education and enforcement the incident rate per mile will drop.

1. Enforce the laws that are now in place. ATVs are being used on public roads all over P.E.I. and many of the incidents are happening on public roads. The fine for no insurance and no registration is over $600, so word would spread fast.

2. Enforce the responsible selling of ATVs. Hardware stores should not be able to sell ATVs until they offer a full selection of safety gear: including boots, gloves, helmets, pants, jerseys, knee and elbow protection and eye protection, along with parts and service and safety inspections. Better still, just put these part-time vendors out of the ATV business all together and leave it to the experts.

3. Educate the operators. Proof of a safety course should be required by all operators. There are several organizations, such as the PEIMXA that would be willing and able to teach and certify.

I believe that there would be no meaningful way to enforce a new set of regulations aimed at operators. I also believe that if we can simply reduce the number of ATVs on public roads, provide ongoing education to operators and regulate the sales and service to only include franchised dealers, then we will have a culture change that will save many lives over the coming years.

This is a great sport, so lets lift this growing dark cloud that is surrounding it.

Jeff McLellan
Summerside, P.E.I.

Oct. 17, 2006 - 11:42 a.m.

I must agree with Scott. When ATVs are used improperly they can be dangerous. Having said that, every manufacturer attaches a very visible warning label on every machine they produce that clearly indicates the age limit for that machine. Every machine over 90 cc engine size is labelled "not under 16 years". Even a 50 cc ATV with a top speed of an adult's walking speed is labelled "not under 6 years of age".

There are ATVs designed for every age group and I feel that to take the enjoyment of a youth using an ATV designed for his/her age group away is not the answer.

Every ATV has an ignition switch and key. If your machine has a label saying no one under 16 should use that equipment, it should not take a law enforcement official to tell you not to give your 14-year-old the key.

Jimmy Sherry
Stratford, P.E.I.

Oct. 13, 2006 - 7:45 a.m.

These vehicles such as ATVs require a great amount of skill, maturity and physical strength to operate. ATVs are not designed with safety features; we would not put our children in cars if they lacked they lacked basic safety features. Adults would never buy cars without acceptable safety standards. Stiffer regulations must be applied to the manufacturer of these machines to add safety features, because children will still continue to operate them and some parents will think that it is acceptable to do so.

Margaret Creamer
Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Oct. 11, 2006 - 8:11 a.m.

As a Canada Safety Council certified ATV instructor, I do see the merit in safety training for people of all ages. It is, however, the responsibility of the parent to supervise their children while they are using ATV's.

The Canada Safety Council strictly recommends that ATV size restrictions are followed. What this means is that persons under 16 should operate ATV's no larger than 90cc engine size.

I also hope government consults with the training community before they legislate mandatory safety training, because there will be issues relating to ATV size restrictions, approved training areas, and the capacity of the trainers to handle the large numbers of people needing training.

Scott Anderson
Cornwall, P.E.I.