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Hatfield-McCoy Trails “Safest Place
to Ride in the Country”
ATV & SxS Trail Riding
Lyburn, WV (7/28/2009) - Since
opening in 2000, the Hatfield-McCoy Trails has
been one of the safest places in the country to
ride ATVs.
Hatfield-McCoy’s safety record comes against
a backdrop of a recent spate of ATV accidents,
some of the fatal, in West Virginia and nationally.
There were at least two fatal accidents in West
Virginia during the third week of July alone (July
20-24). Elsewhere, Nebraska has had four ATV-related
fatalities and Wisconsin three just in July, with
others in Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas and
Virginia.
“While accidents do occur on the Trails,
they are far fewer and less serious than those
that occur elsewhere,” Executive Director
Jeffrey T. Lusk said.
“We’ve sold about 177,000 permits
since we opened and should sell another 30,000
this year. Figuring an average of 15 days on the
trails for each permit sold, that means we’ve
had well over 2.5 million days of riding and we’ve
only had four fatalities,” Lusk said.
“Although that’s four too many,
we are proud of our safety record and attribute
it to our trail rules and law enforcement,”
he said.
Some statistics:
- More than 95 percent of crash victims are
not wearing a helmet.
- One-third of crashes involve passengers.
- About 40 percent of crashes occur on paved
streets and roads.
- 24 percent of the deaths involve children
16 years of age and younger, with 12 percent
among men 65 years of age and older.
- 22 percent of crashes involve alcohol or
drugs.
Hatfield-McCoy rules address all those issues,
banning passengers except on vehicles (such as
utility-type vehicles) which are designed for
them, prohibiting alcohol, requiring helmets and
setting age requirements for permits.
Additionally, Hatfield-McCoy has a state-trained
and approved Ranger force to patrol the trails
and enforce the rules.
Also, the legislation creating the trails includes
provisions that allow towns to adopt special ordinances
to permit ATVs and similar vehicles on city streets.
Without the special ordinances, ATVs are not allowed
on roads with a center line. The rules were adopted
in 2004 to address West Virginia’s nation-high
rate of ATV-related fatalities.
“The Hatfield-McCoy Trails are the safest
place to ride in the country,” said Deputy
Executive Director John Fekete.
Between March 1 and June 30 of this year, there
have been six accidents reported on the Trails,
none of them fatal, and “all of the accidents
are due to driver error,” according to Ranger
Sgt. John Hall Jr.
While its safety record is already strong, Hatfield-McCoy
is investing another $10,000 to create a database
which will help monitor crashes and where they
occur. The information should help make sure the
Trails themselves don’t contribute to accidents.
The Hatfield-McCoy Trails
was created by the West Virginia Legislature to
generate economic development through tourism
in nine southern West Virginia counties. The system
comprises more than 500 miles of off-road trails
in six systems scattered over southern West Virginia,
each of which is open 365 days a year to ATVs,
dirt bikes, select utility vehicles (UTVs), mountain
bikes, horses, and hikers. Many of the trail systems
also offer community connecting trails that allow
visitors to access “ATV-friendly towns.”
www.trailsheaven.com
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