MOOSIC — The fence lining Jane Sterling’s property at the former Rocky Glen Park doesn’t prevent all-terrain vehicles ripping past her yard.

It’s not uncommon for her to see as many as 60 ATVs a day riding near her property and even hear them at 2 a.m.

They drive up Rocky Glen Road and other public streets to get to the private trails at the park and have knocked down her fence several times.

With 4,761 ATVs registered in Lackawanna County and few public places to ride them legally, keeping them off public roads and from trespassing continues to be problematic — as does curtailing the number of crashes and property damage they do.

Some municipalities, including Moosic, have barred or are considering barring riders from filling up at gas stations. Moosic’s ordinance carries a $600 fine for gas stations and riders who violate the law. However, it doesn’t appear to be working.

Others say there simply are not enough public places locally for ATVs and municipalities should designate more trails for riders.

“If you can take just one person off the road, that’s less of a job for the policemen,” said Dunmore Mayor Timothy Burke.

Deadly rides

With nearly 300,000 registered ATVs throughout the state, Pennsylvania had the second most ATV-related deaths in the country from 1982 to 2014 at 702, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. Texas ranked first with 773 deaths.

Of those nearly 300,000 ATVs, 178,276 have general registration, which means they can be used on or off the ATV owner’s property, said Jake Newton, executive assistant for parks and forestry at the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The remaining 116,726 have limited registration that only allows them to be used on the ATV owner’s land.

In Lackawanna County, 3,236 ATVs have general registration and 1,525 have limited registration, Newton said.

From 2015-17, an additional 59 people died on ATVs in Pennsylvania, according to the CPSC.

This year, at least five people in the state were killed on ATVs, including a New Jersey man riding on a Dunmore trail in May. In June 2018, an Olyphant man died after he crashed his ATV while driving illegally on North Valley Avenue in Olyphant. He wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Police departments often maintain restrictive pursuit policies that discourage officers from chasing riders, so officials seek other solutions.

Enforcing laws against ATVs is frustrating, said Jessup Police Chief Joseph Walsh.

“It would be great if they stopped, but again with the pursuit policy that we have, we don’t chase them, and they know that and they run,” Walsh said.

Chasing riders is dangerous, and police don’t stand a chance catching up to them because they can easily dart into the woods, he said. Both he and Archbald Police Chief Tim Trently deal with riders trespassing in the Valley View Business Park, which spans both boroughs.

Heart of problem

“We have had ongoing problems for the last 25 years with illegal riding in Pennsylvania,” said Don McClure, administrator of the Pennsylvania Off-Highway Vehicle Association, which represents riders, ATV and off-highway motorcycle clubs and dealers throughout the state. “What people need to understand is that if they own ATVs or dirt bikes, they belong on the legal trail system. They don’t belong where they are not authorized.”

McClure attributed the high volume of ATVs on roads and private property to a lack of places to ride legally. Pennsylvania only has about 260 miles of free, public ATV trails, he said.

The trails are few and far between in Northeast Pennsylvania, McClure said. The county’s only free trail is the 33-mile O&W Rail-Trail, which begins in Fell Twp. and runs north through Susquehanna and Wayne counties, according to the DCNR.

“If you took every ATV and lined it up end to end, every inch of the trail system offered in Pennsylvania is occupied,” McClure said. “People want to recreate, they want to ride them, and they’ll take them out where they don’t belong.”

In the private sector, Lost Trails ATV Adventures in Dunmore has a little over 80 miles of trails across more than 2,000 acres, said owner Tony Novak. He chided those who trespass and ride on roads.

“They’re the ones that give a bad name to our sport,” Novak said. “Why buy the machine if you’re going to ride on the road?”

If municipalities create more places to ride legally, they can give riders somewhere to go, draw in tourists and turn a profit, McClure said. They can use state and federal funding, including the Department of Transportation’s Recreational Trails Program funding, to pay for feasibility studies, he said.

“The solution isn’t always restriction,” he said.

Tools already there

Placing the onus of responsibility on gas stations isn’t the answer when just riding an ATV to the gas station is already illegal, McClure said.

Chapter 77 of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code bars snowmobiles and ATVs from driving on streets and highways unless the roadways specifically allow them.

“The answer really is quite clear: Chapter 77 pretty much covers every eventuality that a local government needs to enforce the rules, enforce the law and curtail and contain the illegal riding,” he said.

Trently said he intends to speak to state legislators regarding changing laws to allow for stricter enforcement and penalties.

“It’s gotten out of hand,” Sterling said. “We’ve all (let) it go too long.”