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The Problem With ATVs

Dean Swope
/
KYUK

The Bethel Police Department's crackdown on ATV use, as directed by the City Council, will be examined again at tonight’s meeting after public outcry. Research shows that ATV use is a major cause of injury in the area, but law enforcement may not have the authority to deal with it.

Ask for a description of ATVs on the roadways in Bethel, and you might get this:

“Kids riding with their parents, or no helmets, no insurance, no drivers license," Vice President of Bethel Search and Rescue Fritz Charles said, "doing about 50, 60 miles per hour down the road.”

Charles hasn’t heard many ATVs since enforcement began, but he remembers the constant buzzing of engines at all hours of the night.

“Here in Bethel, the underage people mainly use them as toys," Charles said. 

Underage driving is the biggest issue here, says Charles, but the bigger issue is really that Bethel is changing.

In villages where there are no cars, people use ATVs for subsistence. Charles says that’s no longer the case in Bethel, a city that looks less and less like bush Alaska every year. These days, four-wheelers are more likely to be used to go to the store than hunting, which means that they spend more time on roads and less on trails.

According to the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics, off-road vehicles were the third highest cause of death in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta from 2002-2011, with 28 deaths in nine years. In the same span of time, snowmachines were the third highest cause of injury with 295 people hospitalized, and ATVs the fourth highest at 193.

In 2013, Bethel adopted existing state regulations that many thought made it illegal, except in certain cases, to drive four-wheelers and snow machines on the road. The problem is that Bethel’s legal counsel doesn’t agree.

“This piece of legalization, is it meant to incorporate city roads?” said City Attorney Patty Burley. She’s not convinced that ATV users are actually breaking the law. If you get a citation, it references statute 13 AAC 2.445.

“If you go to that piece of Alaska statute, it specifically refers to the Commissioner of Public Safety, who has no authority to set law for municipalities," Burley said. 

Burley believes that the law only applies to state highways, which would negate the 30 or so citations police have given out in the last two weeks.

The Department of Public Safety referred this question to the state troopers, who say this is a local jurisdiction issue, not a state issue. 

“When you look at other communities that have dealt with ATVs, you look at Kodiak, you look at Wasilla, you look at Houston, they come at it from the premise that four-wheelers, ATVs, are legal within the city," Burley said.

Clearly Bethel police disagree, as citations continue to be issued. Police Chief Andre Achee could not be reached by phone or email for comment on this story. Council will reexamine the issue tonight, 6:30 p.m., at City Hall.