Anyone listening to the public hearing during the April 13 Española City Council heard some upstanding, positive, very community-minded folks testify about all the good things riders of All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) and Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) are doing.
The hearing was held as part of the process to pass a city ordinance to allow OHVs, not ATVs, to use city streets. City Councilor Justin Salazar-Torrez made two things very clear during his presentation:
• the ordinance only affects city streets, not county, state or federal roads, all of which criss-cross the city.
• Only OHVs would be allowed on city streets.
The ordinance was brought for several reasons. Probably the most important was to bring city roads into the same rules as state and county (both Rio Arriba and Santa Fe) roads. Right now an OHV rider may drive on the should of state and county roads, but not city. It’s easy to see the dilemma in crossing town and trying to stay legal by avoiding city streets, where you could be ticketed, however unlikely that may be.
The people who spoke in favor of the ordinance at the meeting were likely some of out “model” citizens. They’re talking about cleaning public areas on their time. They’re making toy rides to gather Christmas gifts for needy children. We have not doubt these people follow the law in all of their endeavors, some may even encourage others to be better citizens.
The community doesn’t need an ordinance for these people. They not only follow the law, they support going through the proper procedure to change the law to better serve OHV users and keep safe everyone using public roads.
City Councilor Manny Martinez addressed the elephant in the room. It’s not the people supporting the ordinance we need concern ourselves with, it’s the riders of OHVs and ATVs who will abuse the ordinance and continue to drive their four-wheelers through neighborhoods, at a high rate of speed, without protective equipment and not meeting the age requirements.
He specifically called out Valley Drive, a residential street that carries a lot of traffic between Riverside Drive and McCurdy Road, Española’s de facto bypass route. Martinez was concerned that four-wheelers coming from McCurdy Road would disrupt the residential atmosphere homeowners would expect.
He’s a little too late to be concerned about that. Part of that problem stems from Valley driver residents themselves. But he is correct, unlicensed dirt bikes, four-wheelers of all kinds and mini-bikes routinely use Valley Drive and Sunset Drive as their personal race course. Speed bumps don’t slow them, but encourage them to go faster.
There’s no good answer here. Responsible OHV drivers want permission to properly use the city roads. Vehicle drivers don’t want to dodge bad actors driving everything from a dirt bike to an ATV. We’d call on the police chief to encourage more patrolling and ticketing but that has not slowed scofflaws to this point.
The council’s reaction would lead you to believe they’ll pass the ordinance next month. It probably won’t have an affect on the illegal riders and it should leave the people, such as those who spoke at city council, free to do their community work, legally.