GUYSBOROUGH — When reckoning with rowdy all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders on Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) roads, it’s best to play it by the book: If you know who they are, tell the police.
That was the message at the MODG’s regular council meeting July 17, as RCMP District Commander Sgt. Natasha Farrell offered advice to local reps on how to address the irksome and often hazardous problem of dangerous four-wheeler use in the municipality.
“Usually, people know who it is [and] if there is an issue, we definitely want the calls to let us know what [and where] the problems are,” she said. “The biggest thing that you can do is tell the residents to call us.”
Earlier this month, the issue rose to the fore of the committee of the whole meeting agenda when District 3 Councillor Neil DeCoff – who represents North Riverside, Boylston, Manchester, St. Francis Harbour, Melford and Auld’s Cove – described a recent, harrowing experience while travelling near Canso.
“I was attending a concert and there was a four-wheeler coming down with no lights on and a little bit to our side of middle of the line in the road,” he told colleagues. “There’s been a lot of discussion in the past… The RCMP have said there’s nothing they can do about it.”
At last week’s council meeting, DeCoff told Farrell this apparent inability to respond now worries some residents.
“A week-and-a-half ago, somebody was on the prowl for hours and you could hear it everywhere. That was a concern that night. Everybody was speaking about it, and… saying, ‘Why wasn’t the RCMP going after them?’ I personally didn’t call it in. I don’t know if anybody did… [But] people felt that it wasn’t being responded to.”
Farrell clarified that the law proscribes certain RCMP responses to off-road vehicle drivers, especially younger ones.
“We’re not allowed to chase them [when they try to evade],” she said. “[What if] we have a 14-year-old who’s on an off-highway vehicle? We turn our lights on and, all of a sudden, they accelerate and crash… We don’t want anybody to take off because their trying to avoid getting a ticket, and then end up injured or worse.”
Still, she added, “If we can find out [who it is], we can usually knock on their door and say, ‘Listen, there’s been some complaints about you and we don’t want anything to happen to you.’ Then, it either slows down or they push their luck a little bit. I know people don’t want to call in on their neighbours or they don’t want the [nuisance driver] to know that they were the one who called. But we can also do it anonymously.”
Farrell noted that “no tickets or warnings” were issued to any off-highway vehicle drivers by the Guysborough, Canso or Sherbrooke detachments during the first quarter (April-June) of the year.