Course teaches responsible ATV use

BUTTE — With five all-terrain vehicles travelling a small circuit on Gary Lacy’s lawn, you might expect a lot of noise and dust.

You’d be wrong on the first count, though some dust was in evidence Saturday afternoon for the ATV Safety Institute’s safety training course. The safety courses — encouraged by the Institute and rebates offered by ATV industry mainstays — are specifically designed to minimize disturbances for Lacy’s neighbors, a low-impact philosophy he tries his best to impart on riders.

“People don’t like noisy machines,” he said.

It’s not for lack of trying. Riders sometimes come to his courses, either the recreation-focused weekend courses or the business-focused weekday courses, with exhaust systems removed, the better to rattle windows and nerves.

When that happens, Lacy takes action.

“I sideline those machines and make them ride mine,” he said. “They’re sometimes not very happy about that.”

The course, which costs $150, is free to people who’ve recently purchased an ATV. Manufacturers also offer rebates on machine prices for riders who take the certified courses.

Lacy’s place is the only place for miles in any direction to obtain the safety course from a certified instructor. To the south, the nearest instructor is in Homer, and to north, Fairbanks. All of the riders Saturday resided in the municipality of Anchorage.

Lacy has been running the courses for five years, and in that time reckons he’s instructed up to 300 riders on how to safely navigate obstacles, how to traverse hills. He declined to offer an opinion on the proposed Wasilla ATV ban — safety instructors are discouraged from weighing in on local politics — though that didn’t stop a few of the riders from talking about it, though they were diplomatic. Most said they felt a ban went too far, and that they hadn’t seen as many problematic riders as ban supporters often say they’ve seen.

Almost all the riders had some prior experience with ATVs — this is Alaska, after all — but said they had seen responsible drivers and users for the most part. The greater safety danger might be to careless riders, said Bruce Higa, who uses his machine primarily for fishing and recreational purposes, and “always responsibly.”

“I’m a mellow rider myself, but I’ve seen other people swamp their ATVs,” he said. “I’ve seen where the water’s higher than they expect and they have to pull it out or get somebody else to help them pull it out.”

While the $50 rebate Higa received is nice, it’s not the primary reason he attended.

“I’ve ridden before and everything, but I figured the safety course would give me a different approach and dynamic to riding an ATV,” he said. “I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a safety course.”

“A lot of it’s common-sense stuff but it’s an educated approach to it,” Higa added. “I would recommend the course to new riders or even experienced riders to get a different perspective on it.”

Most of the machines present for Saturday’s course lacked the weather-beaten look of ATVs seen frequently in the Valley, in part because almost all of them were purchased within the last year.

Cynthia Salazar was taking the course with her mother, Maria. They typically use their ATVs in the Sutton area and near the Knik River.

She grew up around ATVs, and the two just recently bought their Can Am machines.

“We got ‘em to use ‘em, to have fun the summer,” she said. “Moreso when we go fishing, and just for fun.”

Like the others, she says she primarily uses them for recreation, though sometimes that takes her and other members of her family close to populated areas and roadways. They’ve never had any close encounters of the vehicular kind.

For them, the safety course was about being able to use their new machines, well, safely.

“You feel more comfortable about it,” she said.

Instruction is broken up into sections, with riders learning the fundamental concepts of various topics. Lacy periodically peppers his students with questions.

“Why should you lock your knees and elbows (when going over an obstacle)?” he asked, at one point. “That’s right. Your body is a lot of the suspension.”

Other parts of the course focus on the environmental impact of the machines, what gear to include, and on knowing municipal ordinances relating to the machines’ use. Lacy uses a guidebook published by the Safety Institute to cover the bases.

Among all the aspects of responsible ATV use, learning how to safely negotiate hills and turns is the most critical. Failing to distribute weight correctly can lead the four-wheeled machines to tip over backward, putting the rider and the machine in motion with often grave consequences, Lacy said.

“I hate to phrase it this way, but those are situations where if you’re lucky, you’re dead,” he said. “If you’re unlucky, you’re paralyzed for life.”

Still, the course isn’t necessarily only focused on the potentially grim consequences of ATV use. Lacy related a story about a time he bought an ATV on a classified ad which claimed the vehicle had 500 miles on it. The speedometer was digital, and when he checked the owners manual, he discovered a switch which toggled the speedometer (and odometer) between miles per hour and kilometers per hour. When he flipped the switch, he discovered the vehicle only had 300 miles on it.

“Always read your owner’s manual,” he admonished his students. “Be courteous.”

Participation in the courses can be booked through the US Consumer Safety Commission web site (www.atvsafety.gov) or ATV Safety Institute (www.atvsafety.org) websites.

A public hearing for the proposed Wasilla ban is set for Aug. 25.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com