| ATV safety lobbyist Karen Coria says this could be the year that safety issues regarding the riding of ATVs on West Virginia highways is considered by the state legislature.
The proposed law would ban the ATVs from paved highways (with some exception), require helmets and ban double riding, all cardinal sins of ATV riding allowed in West Virginia.
The legislature in a previous year, essentially opened the recreational vehicles to on-the-road use.
Two-thirds of the state's fatalities have happened on paved highways.
Since 1990, West Virginia had the highest population-based death rates when it comes to four wheeler accidents.
Several senators who oppose new legislation, say laws can't override poor judgment, like letting children ride ATVs or riding them intoxicated.
During hearings, proponents for a new bill said such logic is irrational, considering safety and licensing requirements for motorbikes, cars and trucks.
Health care costs are more than $120 million dollars a year in West Virginia.
One-third of West Virginia residents killed in ATV wrecks had a revoked or suspended driver's license.
Sixty-percent of four wheeler deaths on paved roads are from head injuries, many of the drivers were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Opponents to the safety legislation include many of the 500,000 ATV owners in the state.
Coria said ATV manufacturers are opposed to the vehicles being ridden on hard-surfaced roads, saying they have always been intended for off-the-road use.
The current law bans the machines on paved roads with centerlines only, although there are loopholes allowing them to be ridden on most of the state's highways.
With legislators under pressure to not pass restrictions on ATVs, this year's bill could go through since it passes the final safety decisions down to cities and counties.
Coria says the local "enhancement" is the key part of the bill and the reason it has momentum in this session.
The legislature, when faced with problems from large voting blocks, generally takes the easy way out. One glaring example was Sunday hunting, saying counties could decide.
Now the state has a hodge-podge of laws regulating Sunday hunting from county to county.
Coria says police agencies believe mixing and matching ATVs on highways creates a major safety problem, and they want an all-out ban.
The bill has also added UTVs to the bill.
Doctor James Day, an orthopedic surgeon, said, "A lot of this can be done with mandated laws for motor vehicles, you have to be 16 to have a driver's license, but to drive an ATV you have to be able to sit on the seat."
Norbert Federspiel's the director of the Division of Criminal Justice Services says his office and the Bureau of Public Health have complied new research.
Federspiel's said, "It's interesting that in southern West Virginia, where more ATV deaths occur than in any other part of the state, they also have the Hatfield McCoy trail which has had only two deaths the past 5 years on the off-road trail. There's no reason why you can't do safe ATV driving ... It's beyond the trail system deaths that are most dangerous."
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