Just got a ticket this weekend for riding on snowmobile trails/crossing on railroad tracks on a 45 deg. day.

What a bunch of bull NY state.

The trails were closed for snowmobilers because we had a nice little warm front so why can't us ATVers go out and have some fun. Well after we got our tickets I figured we had a free pass for the day. HAHA. What a great day thanks to the "DEC".

Just a warning for you western NY riders. The cops are starting to crack down on riding on the railroad beds. Its the only ticket that my buddy and I got. It will be interesting to see what this will cost us. I heard that it could be a total of 150 bucks but no more.

We were near Evengola state park cruzin a section of the railroad bed to get back to my buddies house and out of no where, behind a stainless steal box, jumps out a "DEC" cop. I was doing about 50 mph and almost took the guy out. That would have taught him a lesson. You should have seen the look on his face when my p700 was all locked up coming straight at him. Wish I had the guts to keep on going. After throwing out a few jokes they became a little more easy going. But what a bunch of bull.

While they were checking our registration they ended up catching another 3 people for riding.

Have any of you WNYers have the same problems?

Would love to hear what you guys think about this one.

Well thanks for listening........I feel a little better now........

 

Hey there. Yes, to some extent. We are not allowed on our main trail fron Dec 15th to April 15th because it is clsed to sledders. However, the railbeds are heavily used by us to get places and thus far we have been lucky.

But, I know that they are out there and those DEC doodes will give you a hard time and a ticket. To be honest, if the guy is in a car/truck or on foot, then screw him, I'm outta there. If he's on a 4x4 quad, then I'll stop.

As for the railbeds, you can blame the cracking down on lawsuits that are filed by pissed off parents because their unruly drunk & stoned teenage kid was hit by the train..... which in turn they claim was the trains fault and win a billion dollar settlement.

We are going to stay off the railbeds for a while though and try other methods. Hell, I might just drive down the damn road if I have to.

Mike

 

i live downstate in eastern NY, about 100 miles north of the city, still very rural here. my friends got tickets in the summer for riding railroad beds. old railroad beds at that, no tracks. all the explanation they got was it is illegal, active rail or not. it was the DEC and a local cop on brand new artic cat and polaris all decked out. evryone around basically hates atv's, we have to go to penn. to ride. even the hunting clubs dont want you riding even in the summer even though they are from the city and dont even live around here. i'm really starting to hate NY.

 

DEC? I didn't see the definition?

You don't obey the laws, you give us a bad name, and ruin it for us and yourself. You want to change the laws, do something about it, join a club, write your law makers. Whinning and breaking the law will do nothing but make it worse.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

write letters? why so they can raise registration costs and still give us no trails to ride. i would be willing to clear trails or make trails for nothing and pay for them with my registration fees. i would join a club if there were any. there is nothing here to join. there are no public trails for anyone but hikers. if your not a tree huger you are not welcome in my part of the state. my registration fees go to the DEC(Dept. of Environmental Conservation) so they and local cops can buy decked out atv's, cruisers, F-350's, and such(which is overkill already) to keep you from riding. dont let the letter thing fool you, they get filed in the trash can dept. A club would be nice except it wold consist of a bunch of people sitting in their driveways with nowhere to ride. obey what laws? no one informed me of any laws about riding on land not posted ever that people have been riding for years long before i was alive. the state owns millions of acres that are off limits to all motorized vehicles(except theirs). they say they are for hiking, biking and wildlife watching. let me tell you what this land is like, it is 95% logged and destroyed land unsuitable for a hiker, unpassable by mtn. bikes, and because it is logged(looks alot like anuke went off) there is "NO" wildlife. this land is so PRISTINE its uninhabitable. you most likely have public trails to ride and clubs to join. You obviously dont live in this state. it cant get worse already cant ride anywhere. "ruin it for the rest of us and yourself". you have no ******* clue. i know you write aletter and join your club, i'll go to work so i can pay the taxes that buys the "law enforcement" recreational vehicles. and i'll act like the new yorker everyone thinks we are or i'll act like the tree and bunny huger environmentalists, the bikers,the hikers, and wildlife watchers and WHINE ******* day[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] you make me sick.

 

Werd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But next time tell us how you really feel.... LOL

 

no clubs in NY? I've seen a lot of people on here from NY, you could easily start a club with the resources here. Then why don't you start one? No trails? There was a day when we had no ATV trails here too, how do you think they came about? They didn't just pop out of nowhere, people formed clubs, worked with existing snowmobile clubs and lawmakers and created them. Join the Blue Ribbon Coalition, get some things done.
We must have over 20 some clubs here in MN and we have power, we create trails by making friends in legislation, or we put the right people in by educating ourselves on who to vote for. ATV trail issues are not just a state issue, its a country wide issue (i.e. Yellowstone). I understand New York is very limited to rural land probably, well I guess you can continue to break the laws and keep giving them more money, or do something proactive and get something done.

Or I guess you can always just keep whinning and someone will hear you and do something for you.....or maybe you can just move.

{Grizzkiller}"You obviously dont live in this state. it cant get worse already cant ride anywhere. "ruin it for the rest of us and yourself". you have no ******* clue. i know you write aletter and join your club, i'll go to work so i can pay the taxes that buys the "law enforcement" recreational vehicles. and i'll act like the new yorker everyone thinks we are or i'll act like the tree and bunny huger environmentalists, the bikers,the hikers, and wildlife watchers and WHINE ******* day you make me sick."

If you're calling me a tree hugger, your way off there pal. Just trying to suggest some things you can do if you love your NY and can't deal with the laws man, your reply tells me enough about you, I don't want to waste anymore of my time.

 

EXCUSE ME Mr. YAMIHOO......

I take great offense to you stating that I am giving all of "us a bad name". I am not one of these stoner kids that go riding on the tracks and run from the cops. I don’t blame them for running because we don’t get crap from NY State except for a bill in the mail every year. If you respect them like I do then you also get a ticket and court appearance date.

In my OPINION as long as you are REG and Insured, just like the snowmobilers I should be able to ride and access the same trails. I am also a posted land owner and respect other peoples posted property.

Where I access the tracks there is no signage that states that it is posted and/or no one is allowed on the tracks. You find out when the DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) cops write you up.

"Whining and breaking the law will do nothing but make it worse." I disagree. WHINING makes me feel better and allows others to come together. Just look how it has brought us NYers together in this forum. So in this case it does not make it worse.

O and another thing...yamihoo

I am a member of a club. Don’t get too excited NYers. I became a member to a club in PA. That’s how bad we NYers have it. We have to travel outside of our state to get any respect.

yamihoo.... I hope this did not offend you in any way. If so I apologize.

It is just one of those subjects that we NYers can’t understand. We pay registration and insure on our machines and don’t have a place or club to ride on. Our money just goes towards the snowmobilers pot of gold. What makes them so special? Well it makes me happy that they are having a bad season this year.

I agree with grizzkiller. I would def. help maintain and create new trails. That one reason why I have an ATV. I like to get out of the office and get my hands dirty and at the same time have some fun with people who share same interests.

Till later

 

Perhaps a better place for this thread would be the "land, trail enviromental" group. I'm sure some good knowledge and resources could benefit this discussion there.

Goodguy, no offense taken here. Perhaps i may sound offensive with a few remarks as well. but over all, I guess I"m just offering my opinion on maybe what you NY guys could do. I guess I feel offended to read about any ATV rider ignoring laws.
"Grizzkiller" may think he is not doing any harm to me here in MN, but obviously going on a World Wide Web forum like this admitting to intentionally ignoring or disrespecting laws could effect us all no matter what state we live in, giving people in the right places, the wrong impression of us. Perhaps if one takes the opportunity to just back down and move to a different state or country, hey its a right we have.
Sure plenty of laws seem unrealistic and many of us dont' agree with, I can relate to that. But as Americans and ATV enthusiasts we need to stick up for ourselves and do something instead of sitting back. Thats all I'm saying, debating is always fun, whinning may feel good, but wouldn't it feel better to stick it in their faces and do something to change it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

Well,

Things here in NY are not going to get any better for us any time soon. Our registrations are going from $10 to over $40 per year and there are virtually no legal places to ride on state land. I have a friend that is a NYS assemblyman who told me that the state has no plans to open additioinal state land to ATV's. While Snowmobile clubs get state funds, town funds and member fees, they have a more powerful lobby than ATV's. In addition, the Adirondack Mountain Club spends literally millions of dollars yearly to lobby for banning all motorized vehicles from all state land. Something has to give at some point. With the number of new ATV's being sold, things will come to a loggerhead sooner vs. later. I just hope they legalize the trails that I have been riding on for 40 years now. Most of the trails that I ride on are in the middle of noware and I rarely see anyone when I am riding. If snowmobile's get access, why can't we!

ED