Tuesday, March 28, 2006

At 8:44 PM, Anonymous said...

Wow, I think I got a response from someone in the ATV community about 5086.

At 8:44 PM, Anonymous said...

If you had a pond in your back yard you would not have to register your boat!!! if you want to use the river you pay. If there was a state forest to ride in like Mass then we would pay.

Actually, even if the pond is on your property and the pond is named on a state map, guess what? If it [the boat] has a motor, you have to register it to be able to operate it on your pond. Before, I started MTB (mountain biking) I was on the board of directors for the Mianus Chapter of Trout Unlimited and involved with all sorts of different DEP like stuff, so you point Mr Anonymous doesn't really hold water (no pun intended). As for the River, yes, if you have a powered boat, whether its an electric trolling motor or a 4 stroke, electric start, power trim, 115 hp Merc (my next outboard motor for my next Tracker), that boat has to be registered before one molecule of STATE owned fresh, brackish or tidal water comes into contact with your hull. Frankly, I think the same rule should apply to ATVs.

You do have an excellent point, though, and maybe that is what needs to be amended to the bill, an area needs to be set aside for riding, today. Clearly, this bill falls short in that arena, largely in part due to the one-sided opinion of the bill's author and maybe the ATV community should look at this bill as a wake-up call to do something pro-active if you want to make ATV riding legal in the State of Connecticut. Not sure what type of Not-for-profit organization(s) you have but you should be banding together and opening a dialogue with the non-motorized community to work something out, find some middle ground so that everyone can enjoy the State's public property.

Here is what I would recommend: All ATVs must be registered, just like any other motorized vehicle. There should be some exceptions, like farm use, and if you don't use it in the state, but the penalties should remain - just like a car, if its not registered you can't ride on any public property except your own, and that means, you can't just zip down the road to your friend's property or your lower 40. If you want to put that on puplic property, town or State, you have to be registered. The penalties should be strict to ensure compliance.

The registration fees should go into the maintenance and upkeep of the designated riding location as well as into a fund to acquire more land for ATV riding. The registration process would be self policing, too, because if there are not enough people complying with the law to register then it will lead to eventual closure of the riding location due to no funding. It's kind of like a State fishing licenses, if no body bought them this year, the following year the State probably wouldn't have enough money for trout stocking.

So, what do you think?

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