Yukon off-road vehicle report draws criticism

Some Yukoners are wondering why a legislative committee's report about off-road vehicle use does not call for helmets to be mandatory.

A committee of four Yukon MLAs could not reach consensus on whether helmets should be mandatory for those who ride on all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobiles.

The committee's report, released on Thursday, recommends more public education about using off-road vehicles safely and responsibly. It also calls for restrictions on the use of such vehicles in environmentally sensitive areas.

Lake Laberge Independent MLA Brad Cathers, who took part in the committee, said he disagreed with the idea of a mandatory helmet law because a significant minority of off-road riders raised some valid objections.

"One is the issue of personal freedom and how far the state should intrude into people's lives," Cathers told CBC News.

"The second is, in fact, safety issues," he added. "There are a number of examples given by Yukoners of cases where wearing a helmet may be impractical or less safe for either the riders or those around them."

Helmets a public health issue: group

But Chris May, a founder of the Yukon Off-Road Riders Association, said it's clear that most Yukoners, including riders, believe helmets are necessary.

"This is a public safety issue and it's a public health issue," May said. "Let's look at the numbers of what head injuries [cost] to people without helmets."

Cathers argued that a lack of exercise and poor eating habits puts far more costs on the health-care system than helmet use, but nobody is talking about regulating exercise or diet.

Perry Savoie, a Marsh Lake man whose 17-year-old grandson Chase was killed in an ATV collision, said helmets should be as mandatory for off-road vehicle users as seatbelts are in cars and other motor vehicles.

"I can't believe people would vote out such a great safety feature," Savoie said. "I mean, geez, we wear them on bikes up here. We wear them on snow sleds. What's the difference with ATVs here? They go damn near as fast."

Savoie, who has also lost a close family friend in an off-road vehicle accident, said he wonders if those who oppose mandatory helmet use would feel differently if they had experienced a similar kind of loss.

"I guess it just hasn't hit those people close enough, you know," he said.

Restrict use in environmentally sensitive areas: report

Cathers and the three other MLAs on the Select Committee on the Safe Operation and Use of Off-road Vehicles toured the territory last year to gauge public opinion on how ATV and snowmobile use should be regulated.

The committee's report also recommends restricting off-road vehicles in environmentally sensitive areas.

MLAs found that while the issue of regulating access to Yukon's backcountry is an emotional issue for many people, giving snowmobile and ATV users unrestricted access to the wilderness could lead to immense damage, particularly as the territory's population grows.

Paul Deuling, a longtime Whitehorse-area hunter who has raised concerns about ATVs tearing up some of Yukon's alpine lands in the summer, said the committee's recommendations are a good start.

The committee recognizes that ATV users should be allowed in areas where they won't damage the environment, Deuling said.

"I think they've really tried to strike a balance here and I'm pleased to see this. I hope it comes to fruition," he said.

May said all users, motorized and non-motorized, should have equal access to the backcountry. He said he prefers a system already being used in British Columbia, in which anyone caught damaging the environment has to pay to fix the damage.

"It would be a significant deterrent for people who are out there ripping up the land for no reason whatsoever," he said.