WINNEMUCCA — A Grass Valley resident went before the Humboldt County Commission on Monday (June 14) to express concern over ATV use in the outlying areas and to ask the commissioners to take action.

The Humboldt County DA’s Office is researching the actions that may be taken by the commissioners and the item will appear on later agendas. Roberta Rothwell reviewed some of the activities that have taken place in her neighborhood, which include an instance where young girls raced each down the road, taking their hands off the steering to wave their arms in the air as they went, while their parents cheered nearby.

Rothwell commented, “With the population increasing and the level of maturity dropping, I feel it is time for the community to do something about these riders.”

She has seen ATV riders turning donuts, kicking up dirt and rocks, racing, and crossing private property. They’re frequently young, without helmets, and driving very fast.

In that area, ATV riders are very close to BLM property and why they don’t go up there and ride, instead of harassing the neighborhood, is anyone’s guess.

Rothwell said, “There’s no excuse to use the roadways as raceways.”

Law enforcement has been unable to help much of the time because the ATV’s have no identifiers, such as a license plate, to tie the vehicle to a potential rider. There have also been times when law enforcement has attempted to stop riders driving up and down the shoulders of Grass Valley Road, only to have the rider cut across open property and get away – popping of a one-finger salute as they go.

Rothwell requested the commissioners adopt laws stricter than those under the Nevada Revised Statutes.

She recommended ATV’s and other off-highway vehicles (OHV) be registered with the county, which has two benefits: 1) the county would receive the revenue, and 2) the ATV would have an identifier to report to law enforcement if the rider’s conduct needed to be reported.

She said all riders need to be licensed and meet a minimum age requirement, perhaps 16 years old, and have insurance.

She thought that farmers and ranchers who use ATV’s to get from one area of their property to another could be given certain exemptions -- as long as they still had a visible registration number.

Commissioner Tom Fransway agreed that something should be done. He commented, “It’s long overdue.”

He said he’s seen ATV/OHV’s on the roads within the city limits and nearly missed hitting someone himself.

He suggested the commission take action but include users, stakeholders, and those from the ATV/OHV industry in the conversation.

Commissioner Mike Bell, an EMT with the HGH Ambulance Service, expressed his own concern and noted the ambulance service responds to people who’ve been injured while riding ATV/OHV’s all the time.

Even within the last year the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office responded to a number of fatalities from ATV crashes.