ORV pilot project made permanent
A trial program that permitted ORVs (ATVs) to access certain paths in different Kawartha Lakes areas will be made permanent.
The submitted report indicated that the Kawartha Lakes Police Service got 12 complaints in the first year (May 2022 to April 2023). Only two of them were relevant to the pilot project though. One more was reported in the second year (May 2023 to January 2024). And although the Kawartha Lakes OPP also received many more ATV complaints, none of the problems appeared to be roads relevant to the pilot project.
Peter Petrosoniak, representing the Green Trails Alliance which promotes active transportation and trail development in Lindsay, had several recommendations for council regarding the future of ORVs on city streets and trails.
“Council should do nothing further to promote ORV usage on roads,” Petrosoniak said. “The pilot has now expired. Nothing needs to be done and this idea should be sunsetted.”
In the end, a majority of council followed the numbers they saw in the reports and the data on hand to make the trial permanent.
There’s no reason whatsoever to allow these things on our streets and walking/biking trails. If you’re too lazy to walk or ride a bike, take your motorized toy and go find a field, where there’s no one walking, to drive around in. We don’t get much snow these winters, so more and more man-children will be buying ORVs instead of snowmobiles. Soon the trails and will be taken over by the loud, obnoxious things. This whole idea is absurd and should never have been allowed to become a ‘trial run’. Let’s not allow this to become a ‘I told you so’ issue after someone, going for a walk, gets injured by one of these man-children riding his toy recklessly.
I guess the reason to make the pilot permanent is the democratic process. Council reviewed the data and made the decision based on that. Opponents to this will need to gather evidence that is sufficient to convince councils of the future to make changes. In the meantime, Happy Trails to you … 🎶 🎶 🎶
Wrong ,Joan. Having every resident of the area vote on the matter, would be a democratic process. Having people that will never be affected in any way, making the decision, is not a democratic process.