Battleford Town Council recently discussed a prevailing problem, ATVs. I’ve been ranting against ATVs for years. The fact that operation of these destructive machines is against the law anywhere but on private property doesn’t seem to penetrate the minds of the operators.
I’ve seen fathers driving their children down my street and into the valley, nary a helmet to be seen. Obviously teaching children about respect for the law and the environment aren’t high priorities in that family, let alone safety.
A walk along the Battleford side of the North Saskatchewan River will reveal how repeated and intense visitation by these machines and their riders can damage the natural environment to a point where it will never recover.
Considerable effort and expense goes into maintaining the Town’s walking trails and trails on Finlayson Island, including the grooming of cross-country ski trails on the island by the City of North Battleford in the wintertime. All it takes is one gleeful ATV jockey on a rampage and that hard work is erased.
The Town is proposing the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association lobby the provincial government to create a registration process for ATVs. Presumably this would give enforcement authorities a tool in tracking down those operating their machines illegally and make them accountable. Snowmobiles are registered, why not ATVs?
I think that’s a really fine idea and about time.
