In the comments on my last post Arlene and Billie mentioned ATV problems with neighbors. I've had more than enough problems with ATVs and dirt bikers here. When I first moved here almost 9 years ago, it seemed like almost every kid on this street had a dirt bike. Of course, I didn't find that out until AFTER I moved in. This is a "quiet" dead end road, or so I thought. During the summer and on weekends and school holidays, the ATVs and dirt bikes would be speeding up and down the street.
Not only is it illegal for these vehicles to be on the road (they're not insured or registered) most of the kids were well under 16yo. Nine years later, since I still saw the 2 youngest at the school bus stop last year, that means they were under 10. Mass. law regarding dirt bikes and ATVs states that children under 16 years of age are supposed to be accompanied by an adult! It makes me so angry. Even if it weren't for the danger with the horses and dogs (Lyca seems to think they're noisy deer) I hate listening to the noise all day long and smelling the diesel fumes when I'm out hiking in the woods with the dogs. What is it with the parents letting their kids do this? It's illegal! And, it's illegal because it's not safe for all concerned!
My riding ring runs right along the road and at about the mid-point of the ring the road starts to drop down hill. I swear the kids would come speeding down the road trying to "catch air" there. Doesn't make for calm riding. If I wanted to hack out, I could only safely go out when the kids were in school, or else very early in the mornings. It wasn't safe to be out after 9:00 am on weekends or holidays.
Jeeves, being the perfect horse that he is, was pretty good about most of it. Unless they're going really fast and popping the clutch, he doesn't spook much, but even he gets upset when they're being idiots. Lance is high strung anyway and it's dangerous for her to ride him with the dirt bikes around. So, we started calling the police every time we heard them. I felt bad bothering the police, but fortunately, one of the police officers is a horse person, so he understands. It took awhile, but they started nabbing the kids and slowly things improved. Also, most of the kids have grown up and have either moved away or are in college or working, so they're not around. There's only 2 left and they're manageable. It's so nice now to be able to hop on Jeeves on a hot afternoon and just hack him down the street. I keep my ear out, especially around the 2 houses that still have the kids that ride, but so far, I haven't had any problems. Phew!
Now, if I could just convince Terri that it's safe for her to venture out with Lance, maybe we can actually go out on the trails together.
5 comments:
I'm glad the bikers are sort of under control now. How nice that one of the cops was a horse person and understood your dilemma. I hope you get in a lot of trail rides before the summer is over. Although fall is the perfect season and they should be back in school then.
As for the parents, well I won't even get started on them. They remind me of the parents who think nothing of putting a child on a horse without a helmet. I have no clue as to why it's a good idea to give your child a motorized machine either.
One of the arguments that the ATVers and motorbike riders had for putting the motocross track in across from our horse riding arenas was that it would keep the motorized vehicles off the horse riding trails. However, I still see them racing around on the trails and near the horse arenas. The track hasn't contained them at all. They go where it is interesting to them regardless of the intended purpose of trails.
Our main problem with the ATVs in our neighborhood was that they used our private road as a sort of raceway.
We have to pay for the resurfacing of that road, and they were destroying it a little bit every time they careened up and down and around, in addition to the annoying dust and noise and might I add doing ridiculous things like riding w/o helmets, standing on the seat and using their feet to steer, etc.
The final straw though was when they drove on the back of my property, knocking down my gate and then riding over it! They never asked permission of anyone but rode wildly all through the surrounding properties as if they were public property.
It was MADDENING.
Near the end I resorted more than once to screaming "private property" at them, and since I had posted signs, they knew my next call was to the sheriff, who was already annoyed at their ongoing trespassing. It helped when two other neighbors complained.
The yuckiest part for me was that I lost all respect for them. I don't like feeling that angry at people who actually live right across from me! My husband used to laugh b/c when they started the ATVs up, I would walk around saying "I am sending them white light." And I was, but sometimes I wanted to send something else instead. :/
Hope your riding continues to get back on track. Horses & riders have more to deal with than they should.
I have also had a terrible time with ATVs on our place. They would tear up and down our driveway. We have a very long driveway so we would jump in the car to try to catch them and by the time we got there they would be gone! Uuugh so frustrating. We finally found out who it was and got it stopped.
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