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the outdoors with summer at
its peak, ATV and side by

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side vehicles are out in
force across thousands of

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miles of trails in
Wisconsin, and we have the

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most registered off road
vehicles of any state at

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more than half a million.
The explosion in rioters

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comes with a steady
increase, though, in

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fatality and injury
accidents involving the

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vehicles. A new law went
into effect in June that

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requires seatbelt use, part
of work to enhance the

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safety of ATVs and utvs.
DNR conservation Warden

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Jake Holsclaw oversees the
Off Highway vehicle program

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and joins us now from Eau
Claire. And thanks very

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much for being here.
>> Absolutely look forward

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to it.
>> So how busy is it out

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there on the ATV routes?
>> Yeah. Great question. It

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seems like it's getting
busier every day. Wisconsin,

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like you said, we have over
half a million registered

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machines. It seems like
that number is going up

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every year. And we have
about 2500 miles of off

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road trail routes. And then
we have over 65,000 miles

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of on road routes. So
basically roadways, you

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know, roadway routes shared
with other motor vehicles.

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So it really does keep us
busy.

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>> As we've said, the
uptick in the number of

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riders, though, also
results in an increase in

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accidents and injuries and
even fatalities.

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>> Yeah, unfortunately, I
think that that's just a

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kind of a byproduct of the
increased numbers. We

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really started to see an
increase around 2020, 2021.

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I think people were just
with everything else going

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on, they were trying to get
outdoors, find something to

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do. And it really has
stayed steadily increasing

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ever since then. And when
you have more people on the

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landscape, you have more
folks potentially are, you

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know, not being safe and
not following the rules.

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And then we have seen an
uptick in crashes because

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of that.
crashes mostly happen?

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>> Well, it's any number of
reasons. A number of our

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crashes are going to be
alcohol or drug related.

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The majority of them would
be alcohol related. When

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we're looking at, you know,
some kind of substance, so

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to speak, that's causing
folks to crash. And so I

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think folks need to
remember that, you know,

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just like the motor vehicle
world, you really need to

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make a smart decision and
realize that even with

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these recreational vehicles
like ATVs and Utvs, maybe

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even more so, they're very
dynamic machine and folks

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have to be you want to be
on your best, right? You

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want your mind to be
working the best. You want

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your body, your reaction
time to be working the best

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when you're out operating
these. One of the other

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things is that people need
to remember. I think they

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sometimes forget that these
machines handle differently

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roadways. The original
design of these machines,

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in fact, that's what the
you know, you'll see

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manufacturers
recommendations is that

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they are only operated off
the road. So I think folks

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need to remember that the
knobby or softer tires on a

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lot of these machines, they
tend to grip pavement

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really well. And if people
drive them like they would

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drive their car going to
work, it can cause some

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problems. They tend to tip
easier if people aren't

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slowing down into their
curves and really

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anticipating their stops.
So a number of the crashes

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we're seeing, a little over
half are occurring on

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roadway routes.
>> So as to the operation

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of these vehicles while
under the influence of

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whatever it is. What are
the penalties for that? I

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mean, you can write
citations for that, but

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what are the penalties that
someone would face for that?

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>> Yeah, ultimately it
would be it would be a

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citation or a couple
citations. Typically, you

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know, the citation is
issued for the operating

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while intoxicated. If
they're operating over that

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0.08 level, they would be
issued an additional

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citation for that. And then
sometimes they're issued to

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other citations for other
violations that may have

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occurred because they were
intoxicated and not not

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really thinking clearly and
and violating some other

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safety issues. So yeah, so
a number of citations can

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be issued. But typically,
you know, most of what

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we're running into is a
first offense. And in

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Wisconsin, like any, oh, to
be a first offense is just

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a civil forfeiture. It's
really just a fine. There's

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typically typically no jail
time or extra fines

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associated with that unless
unless there is something

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more major, like somebody
dies in the crash or

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something like that happens.
>> And so people could be

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right back out there on, on
those vehicles after that

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kind of a citation. Now, I
took a look at your annual

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report, and it says that
95% of fatal accidents are

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among operators who have
not taken a safety course,

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but those are that course
is only required for people

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born after 1988. Why is
that? Yeah.

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>> Yeah, you're spot on.
Well, back when the law was

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created, they they decided
to. My understanding is

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that they decided to set a
date. They had to set a

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time frame where they
wanted everybody born on or

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after that date to complete
the course. Like you said,

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it's one one of 88. And so
the idea behind that then

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was that folks born before
that are essentially

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grandfathered in their
older age. But what we are

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seeing, like you said, 95%
haven't completed a safety

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course, but also the
majority of our crashes are

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happening with folks that
are older and grandfathered

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in. So folks that were born
before that one, one of 88

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date. And so I think it
really points to the fact

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that you're never really
too old to learn safety.

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You're never, you're never
too old to know the rules

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and regulations. And we
just want folks to remember

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that the majority, the vast
majority of our regulations

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are there for your safety
and for you to continued

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enjoyment of that sport.
>> All right. Well, we

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appreciate it. Thanks very
much for joining us from

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Eau Claire. Jake Holsclaw.
>> Thank you.