Keep your ATV's off my land

[RebeccaRYoung]

I don't understand why people are so rude to farmers. I'm not a farmer myself, but a few of my neighbours are. They have huge fields nearby. Whenever the fields are empty (either the fields have been planted or harvested) the ATV's think they can drive all over the fields. This causes ruts all over the field, meaning that the farmer has to spend time and money repairing the fields before he/she can plant. It's expensive to run the tractor needed to fix the fields, and it's so noisy. As the neighbour I then get to hear the ATV's all night long, and then the tractor the next night repairing the ruts. No wonder I'm grumpy, I haven't slept in two nights!

[jasperandchar]

I know what you mean, we own 72 acres and in the winter people think they can just go ahead and drive through our fields with their skidoos....which if they got hurt would be a liability, I could get sued.

Hope the madness stops soon!

[matrix82]

That is frustrating. I know I have been thinking when the time comes I want a house with a good amount of land, at least 5 acres, but my worry is just that, people atving all over it. I think it would be expensive to fence in that amount of land.

[benmackmom]

We have a couple of acres in the country and snowmobilers are constantly running through our property in the winter, doing quite a bit of damage to our landscaping.

On the other hand, the farmers in our area do more damage to the roads by running their machinery between the multiple farms they have acquired. Not only road damage, but when they run their manure spreaders that "sh!t" is everywhere. When I drive home it ends up on my tires and ultimately in my garage. 17 years ago, when we moved out here each of these farms where owned by individual farmers, now they have been bought up by one family and hence the mess.

[kashkoush]

this might not be related but whenever i go for long rides or out of the city, i come across huge lands with farms and houses ,animals . it makes want to live such a life, i really love the way they live, very simple and stress free. but how do they cope with all this distance from the city, hospital, schools all other necessities in life!

[DaveP]

That is frustrating. I know I have been thinking when the time comes I want a house with a good amount of land, at least 5 acres, but my worry is just that, people atving all over it. I think it would be expensive to fence in that amount of land.

Land mines.

[kerrylj]

I was thinking more along the lines of barwire, lots of it. Along with piles and piles of No tresspassing signs.

If you have up No Tresspassing signs and they are on your property breaking the law then they can not hold you liable for anything that happens to them while engaging in criminal activities.

[DaveP]

I was thinking more along the lines of barwire, lots of it. Along with piles and piles of No tresspassing signs.

If you have up No Tresspassing signs and they are on your property breaking the law then they can not hold you liable for anything that happens to them while engaging in criminal activities.

That wil work for liability, no doubt. This is more effective for immediate results:

[coupongirl99]

Unfortunately IMO the answer is that a large #, not all but a large # of people have a lack of respect for others and their property.

[Ciel]

Time to get some calls into your area's chapters of outdoor ATV associations plus the local politicians and the tourism board. Let everybody know the problem and dates of occurrence. Maybe chime in on a local call-in show and let listeners know the issues as well.

From my understanding of signs, for signs to be legal, one has to apply through municipality to pay and to post signs. The ones from the dollar store/hardware store don't qualify as legal. It is like plazas/parking lots putting handicapped logos on pavement spots for handicapped parking but if the little metal signs are not staked and posted in front of each spot, the spots are open for anyone to use.

On the other hand, just chaining off access roads/points to properties have a danger too-if the chains do not have some visible banner to alert an ATV rider to the chain's presence, death can occur. In Ontario's cottage country this year, a toddler met that fate as his parent had not realized there was a chain on someone's property as the ATV was driven into it. Of course, the chain itself became a point of discussion-residents/regulars understood the road to be public but the family that had put up the chain considered the road to be private. http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...rieving-family

Ontario does have associations promoting trail safety and addressing the matter of crossing properties but it seems the average weekender or joyrider ignores all courtesy/respect for property owners.

http://www.gorideontario.com/en/atv/travel_tips/rules
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/orv.shtml
http://www.ofsc.on.ca/trail-use.html

[RebeccaRYoung]

Unfortunately, no amount of signage is going to keep people off the land. My neighbours have found people growing pot in their fields, people ATVing and ruining their fields, and people giving them the finger when driving down in the road in their tractor. Without the farmers none of us will eat. It seems counter-intuitive to give the people that produce our food a hard time.

[wolfwoman]

Land mines.

[***Kimura***]

We finished fencing our 22 acres this year with sheep fencing for our sheep. We don't have a problem with people ATVing in our neighborhood, they mostly do it on the main roads. Everyone knows everyone out here and if someone doesn't know who someone is, it's easy to find out. My big issue out where I live is the hunters trying to shoot deer in/near my neighborhood. You can always tell who the hunters are, they drive down the roads slowly looking for deer, slowing down traffic (pissing everyone off). Or they'll park on the side of the road. I have nothing against hunters, in fact we need to keep the deer population down, just don't do it in my back yard. A$$holes are too lazy to drive in the woods and put my community in danger.