After the recent tragic death of a 4-year-old boy who was driving a pint-sized all-terrain vehicle on a farm east of Greeley, there will doubtless be more calls for regulations, especially as pertains to ATV operation by children under 16.
My libertarian impulses resist the notion. For one thing, the boy drowned in the river, and the ATV may not have been a factor. For another, if the concept of “private property” has any meaning, then people should be able to do as they will on their own land, and if that includes allowing 4-year-olds to drive motor vehicles, that’s their decision, not the state’s.
But I feel other impulses, too, starting with the whole concept of ATVs. I know contractors and ranchers who use them for work, and I have no problem with that. Although my traditional Western aesthetic sense is gratified by seeing a cowboy on horseback tending the steers as I drive by, I know that horseback may be the most dangerous form of transportation ever devised. Horses delight in finding ways to maim and kill their riders.
However, when I see ATVs at large on our public lands, I remember the late Sen. Barry Goldwater’s comment that their dirt-bike ancestors represented Japan’s revenge for losing World War II. The scarred hillsides are bad enough, and the noise is awful. Throw in a few 12-year-old brats zooming around without adult supervision, and I start wishing I knew how to train our dog to go for the throat when he wants to chase an ATV in the woods.
While there might be some merit to the argument that these motorized contrivances allow disabled people to enjoy the outdoors, all the ATV drivers I’ve seen in the back-country looked fully capable of walking. Further, of the people I’ve known who needed crutches or wheelchairs to get around, not one has promoted ATV use to me, and several have written that they resent being used as poster-children by the motorized-recreation lobby.
To make matters even worse, local ATV promoters are working on our county commissioners, trying to get them to open certain county roads to ATV use. Part of the argument is that most of the ATV drivers are tourists (just look at the number of pickups pulling ATV-laden trailers on Colorado highways) and tourists support our economy. Thus we should make them feel welcome.
But that logic means we should encourage tourists to do disturbing things that we’d sue our neighbors for, and so it’s not the best rationale for more ATV zones.
Granted, there are a lot of responsible ATV users who follow the code of ethics of the Blue Ribbon Coalition. And in my recent pedestrian experiences, mountain bicyclists have been the rudest people on the trails. Often they come from behind with no warning and seem to expect you to jump aside – or else. Apparently, it would detract from their thrilling single-track experience if they shouted, “Behind you!” or, “Four bikes coming!”
Perhaps that’s one merit of ATVs and trail motorcycles – their noise means you know when they’re coming. And I’m always glad for any excuse to step aside and rest (the louder the vehicle, the more notice I get, and the longer my refreshing breath-catching pause).
Clearly, I’m no fan of ATVs. But I don’t like regulations, either. Indeed, I wondered about the sanity of our country’s regulatory systems after I read that the boy who died in Weld County was driving a mini-ATV designed especially for small children.
Consider some recalls by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission listed in a recent edition of “Good Housekeeping.”
One was for some two-bit children’s rings sold in vending machines. They had lead paint. Lead isn’t good for children, but just how much could there be in a layer of paint on a small ring? Another was for jackets where “the zipper pull can come off, posing a choking hazard to young children.” Was there ever a zipper pull that couldn’t come off?
Teddy bears don’t have button eyes any more, and you can’t use a real potato with Mr. Potato Head because kids might poke themselves. And with all of these regulations, it’s legal to sell ATVs designed for the 6-and-under crowd?
Well, why not? America as we know it depends on gasoline addiction, and as with any addiction, an early start works best.
Ed Quillen of Salida is a former newspaper editor whose column appears Tuesday and Sunday.
