Letter to the Editor: Take OHVs off the roads

Bravo, NPS, for refusing to allow off-road vehicles to ruin our national parks.

Now let’s get them off our roads. Even the companies that make the obnoxious skeeters agree they do not belong on public streets and highways.

“Major trade groups representing ATV and UTV manufacturers like Polaris and John Deere oppose laws making their vehicles street-legal. The Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA) . . . has issued formal statements discouraging states from promoting or approving on-highway use. ‘ROHVA emphasizes that OHV’s are not designed, manufactured, or in any way intended for use on public streets and highways and urges that on-highway use of (OHVs) be prohibited, and that law enforcement efforts be strengthened to eliminate this practice.’” (Moab Sun News, Oct. 24-31 issue).

End of story. The reason off-road vehicles were ever allowed to plague Grand County’s roads is unfathomable. At risk of stating the obvious, the use of off-road vehicles should be restricted to off-the-roads, and even then, only allowed in specifically designated areas deemed by public land stewards as of so little value that they may be sacrificed to destruction by noisy motorized pests.

Steve Russell

Moab