They just passed an atv ban where I live in Minnesota because of to many complaints. It used to be legal to ride the ditches and even the shoulder of the road if need be, But not anymore. To many people complained about Atv's and now they are not allowed anywhwre in North Branch except private land. The city council said there were to many complaints about people racing up and down the streets so they voted for an all out ban instead of restrictions. Until the first of the year it was legal to ride on the shoulder of the road to get to the trail or lake, But tose days are gone. It mostly because of a few bad apples that run the ditch in front of someones house when it is still wet and soft from springtime and leave ruts in the grass and the people racing on the street. I see it coming for snowmobiles as well because the sod fields by my house have big problems with them. They put up snow fench at the entrances and stack pallets with no tresspassing signs around the perimeter and snowmobiles run the snow fence over and go across anyway. I don't think Atv's and Snowmobiles would come under as much fire if it weren't for the bad apples, And I don't think places like the sod fields would mind snomobiles crossing if they only did it when there was plenty of snow, But they rip across even if there is grass showing and tear it up. All of us need to respect the privledge we have to ride on public land and deter the bad apples or there is going to be no place to ride. I am lucky enough that the bans boarder is my house so I can still cross the road and ride, But a couple people at work are S.O.L. and want to park at my house to ride. I know this is kind of pointless rambling, But I just felt like venting.

 

we have bans like that in faribault also. I am an atv enthuseist yes, but I agree that they should not be run in town, or at least in the ditchs because the tires do rip the grass up ALOT and it is an eye sore.

 

It is too bad that it only takes a few careless people to ruin it for everyone. I see people around here doing some pretty inconsiderate things on there wheelers...It makes me mad because it casts a negative light on the rest of us as well. The majority of people around here drive there wheelers responsibly..but I am sure it will not be long before people start to get fed up with the bad apples and begin to make a fuss

 

I agree it is an eyesore when the grass gets ripped up, But if people are considerate when they ride on the edge of someones yard there would be minimal damage. I can see it being a problem where peoples lawns are nicely groomed out to the road, But it is even ban in the ditches on county roads where it is only weeds. I don't think they should ride the ditches in the spring when the ground is super soft, But in the summer I don't see any harm. If someones yard is maintained out to the street use the shoulder. Most ditches and yards around my house are seperated with a small wooded area along the road and are not maintained. I wouldn't want my yard ripped up, But I don't agree with an all out ban except maybe right in the main part of town where it is all city type developments, But most of it is not.

 

Thunderbolt,

That is too bad what happened and I am sorry to hear about it, especially living in the same state. They are not to strict up here yet. I doubt they ever will be, at least not in my town being right next to a very advertised atv park. I guess when you want to ride you will have to go north now.

Ryan

 

This ban is a predictable result caused by the few jerks that insist on doing dumb things. You see these posts all the time about rideing in restricted areas, running loud pipes, outrunning the police and doing other things the poster thinks is "funny".

Now a lot of folks who have been using good rideing habits and not causing any problems have to suffer. Maybe the time has come for us to police our own ranks and do what we can to bring the few jerks into line.

What do the rest of you think about this? Is it time to start reporting the extream violators to the authorities? Do we need to rat these idiots out to keep what areas and privilages we have left open and available? Personally I've had about enough of them. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

I have never been one to rat someone out, But when it starts to infridge on my privledges I have a different feeling about it. It is just like hunters that ruin the sport and I don't know if they should be confronted personally because I don't think it would do any good, However an anonymous call to the authorities with a registration number may help if they recieved the same registration number several times. I was young once and did some stupid things so it is hard to be judgemental, But if something isn't done there will be no where to ride without trailering to different specified parks. The trouble with that is it would get old having to travel just to go for a quick ride after work. I wish the bad apples could see for them selves the damage their activities create. I think at this point the ball is rolling and it is going to be one ban after another because of the bad apples and the shear fact that there are many more atv's sold each year along with the fact they can be riden year round so people get tired of them.