Imagine that... give the ATVers a way to ride legally, and the amount of illegal riding goes down. Must be that new math. The town of Pownel recently had a debate about opening a few roads to ATVers to give them access to trails.

There were lots of complaints from residents of the roads before the ATVs were allowed on the roads. Noise, speeding ATVs etc. Why the noise and speeding? Because the ATVers had to ride fast to get through so they wouldn't be as identifiable is my guess. But now that they're allowed to ride there, they've slowed down and are more appreciative of the residents now that they've been acknowledged.

Mike Lynch, a member of Bennington Trail Conservancy, a local ATV club, said this about the trial system that the use of the roads has given access to:

"If there is a legal place to ride, they tend to take care of it. It's in our best interest to have a good relationship with the town."

"They" meaning the ATVers. And he's right. Go look at some of the places in So Cal. Most of us know how quickly we're losing places to ride, so we tend to take care of it. That means getting on people who are breaking the law, littering, etc.