Dear Editor,
I was so pleased to read that various officials will be addressing UTVs.
Charlene Nicholson’s letter to the Grand County Council really hit home, as did subsequent letters in the newspaper. I too have been extremely irritated by the noisy UTVs (I call them “gnat cars”) the last few years.
Not only do they keep me awake at night, but I have seen traffic violations and speeding that I would get ticketed for if I did that. Their continued presence makes me forget I live in a family neighborhood. I feel like I live on a busy highway – not a tree-lined, residential district. I live on Spanish Valley Drive and they are buzzing up and down our neighborhood street all day long, sometimes with a police escort, but mostly not.
For those who do not live on Spanish Valley Drive, you may not have seen the convoys of these vehicles – I swear at certain times of the year 100 at a time drive in front of my house. If these vehicles are street legal, perhaps they should use Highway 191, and if they aren’t street legal, why are they driving at all?
I support Charlene’s plea to the council “to put your community and quality of life before the tourist dollar,” and encourage event organizers and sponsors to consider local residents when organizing events and traffic patterns. I also encourage various businesses that rent UTVs to inform their customers that Moab is not just their playground, but our community and neighborhood as well, and to be respectful of such if they have to drive by our houses.
