election sites, but said Johnson was welcome to
visit him in DC. Turning to the outdoors with summer at
its peak, ATV and side by side vehicles are out in
force across thousands of miles of trails in
Wisconsin, and we have the most registered off road
vehicles of any state at more than half a million.
The explosion in rioters comes with a steady
increase, though, in fatality and injury
accidents involving the vehicles. A new law went
into effect in June that requires seatbelt use, part
of work to enhance the safety of ATVs and utvs.
DNR conservation Warden Jake Holsclaw oversees the
Off Highway vehicle program and joins us now from Eau
Claire. And thanks very much for being here.
>> Absolutely look forward to it.
>> So how busy is it out there on the ATV routes?
>> Yeah. Great question. It seems like it's getting
busier every day. Wisconsin, like you said, we have over
half a million registered machines. It seems like
that number is going up every year. And we have
about 2500 miles of off road trail routes. And then
we have over 65,000 miles of on road routes. So
basically roadways, you know, roadway routes shared
with other motor vehicles. So it really does keep us
busy. >> As we've said, the
uptick in the number of riders, though, also
results in an increase in accidents and injuries and
even fatalities. >> Yeah, unfortunately, I
think that that's just a kind of a byproduct of the
increased numbers. We really started to see an
increase around 2020, 2021. I think people were just
with everything else going on, they were trying to get
outdoors, find something to do. And it really has
stayed steadily increasing ever since then. And when
you have more people on the landscape, you have more
folks potentially are, you know, not being safe and
not following the rules. And then we have seen an
uptick in crashes because of that.
crashes mostly happen? >> Well, it's any number of
reasons. A number of our crashes are going to be
alcohol or drug related. The majority of them would
be alcohol related. When we're looking at, you know,
some kind of substance, so to speak, that's causing
folks to crash. And so I think folks need to
remember that, you know, just like the motor vehicle
world, you really need to make a smart decision and
realize that even with these recreational vehicles
like ATVs and Utvs, maybe even more so, they're very
dynamic machine and folks have to be you want to be
on your best, right? You want your mind to be
working the best. You want your body, your reaction
time to be working the best when you're out operating
these. One of the other things is that people need
to remember. I think they sometimes forget that these
machines handle differently roadways. The original
design of these machines, in fact, that's what the
you know, you'll see manufacturers
recommendations is that they are only operated off
the road. So I think folks need to remember that the
knobby or softer tires on a lot of these machines, they
tend to grip pavement really well. And if people
drive them like they would drive their car going to
work, it can cause some problems. They tend to tip
easier if people aren't slowing down into their
curves and really anticipating their stops.
So a number of the crashes we're seeing, a little over
half are occurring on roadway routes.
>> So as to the operation of these vehicles while
under the influence of whatever it is. What are
the penalties for that? I mean, you can write
citations for that, but what are the penalties that
someone would face for that? >> Yeah, ultimately it
would be it would be a citation or a couple
citations. Typically, you know, the citation is
issued for the operating while intoxicated. If
they're operating over that 0.08 level, they would be
issued an additional citation for that. And then
sometimes they're issued to other citations for other
violations that may have occurred because they were
intoxicated and not not really thinking clearly and
and violating some other safety issues. So yeah, so
a number of citations can be issued. But typically,
you know, most of what we're running into is a
first offense. And in Wisconsin, like any, oh, to
be a first offense is just a civil forfeiture. It's
really just a fine. There's typically typically no jail
time or extra fines associated with that unless
unless there is something more major, like somebody
dies in the crash or something like that happens.
>> And so people could be right back out there on, on
those vehicles after that kind of a citation. Now, I
took a look at your annual report, and it says that
95% of fatal accidents are among operators who have
not taken a safety course, but those are that course
is only required for people born after 1988. Why is
that? Yeah. >> Yeah, you're spot on.
Well, back when the law was created, they they decided
to. My understanding is that they decided to set a
date. They had to set a time frame where they
wanted everybody born on or after that date to complete
the course. Like you said, it's one one of 88. And so
the idea behind that then was that folks born before
that are essentially grandfathered in their
older age. But what we are seeing, like you said, 95%
haven't completed a safety course, but also the
majority of our crashes are happening with folks that
are older and grandfathered in. So folks that were born
before that one, one of 88 date. And so I think it
really points to the fact that you're never really
too old to learn safety. You're never, you're never
too old to know the rules and regulations. And we
just want folks to remember that the majority, the vast
majority of our regulations are there for your safety
and for you to continued enjoyment of that sport.
>> All right. Well, we appreciate it. Thanks very
much for joining us from much for joining us from