| OPINION AND COMMENT: Bob Weaver
Charleston Newspapers wrote ATVs are to West Virginia what surfboards are to Hawaii and snowmobiles are to Minnesota.
West Virginians love their ATVs.
The WV legislature continues to grovel to one of the state's biggest voting blocks, ignoring safety issues.
The state has the highest number of deaths and likely the highest number of injuries in the USA, an issue of little concern to the WV Legislature, fearing reprisal from angry ATV owners if regulations are tightened.
ATV owners seem to want freedom of the road like bikers, ignoring the fact that ATVs are not road-ready and that manufacturers warn they are not to be ridden on hard-surfaced roads, becoming more unstable when ridden double.
The Legislature opened up most of WVs paved highways to ATV riding, rather than deal with the safety issues. Wimping, they made counties and towns responsible for the road rules.
Only six counties have comprehensive plans, allowing them to pass safety laws.
Few if any legislators have been willing to take-on any reform, mostly pontificating that riders need to be better educated.
The great fact is simply the vehicles were never intended for paved highways, they are off-the-road recreational vehicles.
Now, the WV Legislature is ducking the problem again, suggesting their new rules:
(1) There are several hundred thousand ATVs in the state, and all ATVs should be registered, likely looking at getting the vehicles on the property tax rolls.
(2) Make county commissions responsible for the road rules, which could end in 55 variations of road rule regulations.
A patchwork of laws would continue to create a headache for law enforcement.
The WV State Police is now on record with the manufacturers, saying ATVs are not designed to be used on pavement.
Meanwhile, the WV Legislature is supporting the mixing and matching of ill-equipped ATVs with cars and trucks on the state's highways and failing to listen to the safety rules of manufacturers.
More seriously, they are ignoring the record deaths and injuries.
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