Off-road motorcyclists can be prosecuted under new law

nud1e said:
from today's Sunday Times

seems that the Slieve Blooms are off limits, with parts of Dublin, Wicklow and Carlow to follow.
Click to expand...

Something tells me that mine isn't an opinion that will be widely shared on this forum, but here goes anyway :hide

This is probably the only sensible approach to one type of damage caused by recreational use of the uplands. While such damage is also caused by pony trekking, ramblers etc, the use of motorised vehicles is well known to accelerate erosion of off-road areas. It is unclear as to whether or not the law will apply to those using gravelled/forestry tracks - I would have thought that (unfortunately) it probably does - the use of forestry vehicles undoubtedly causes greater destruction on these. Likewise all usage of fragile upland ecosystems needs to be properly managed - that applies to pony trekking, ramblers etc, too.

For personal (environmental) reason I dont, and wouldn't, bring a bike truly off road in such areas - though I enjoy forestry tracks etc. Its especially unsustainable and unforgivable to do so in a designated national park area. I can certainly see the attraction in this type of riding but it needs to accepted that its best reserved for designated areas where the use/potential damage can be properly managed. That such areas do not (yet - to my knowledge) exist, means that this decision will probably be greeted with annoyance and - as has been the case for years - in timely Irish manner, widely ignored.

V
 
Roger Garland of Keep Ireland Open, an access rights group, said off-road users cause severe problems for recreational walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts. “They are usually driven by obnoxious people,” :confused:

Well I'm with Vireo but then I climb mountains. Was up on Carrauntoohil today no obnoxious sorts on wheels - only on foot. I do potter off road but keep to bog and forestry tracks and keep away from self righteous ramblers and their obnoxious spokespersons.
This country has room for all sorts of recreation - I like the sound of designated off road areas (Sleive Felim?) but the NIMBY shite will kick in. Any enterprising owner or rough land out there? The bother is once money changes hands public liability insurance raises it's very expensive head.
 
vireo said:
Something tells me that mine isn't an opinion that will be widely shared on this forum, but here goes anyway :hide
Click to expand...

I think almost everyone here will share your opinion Vireo.

I, along with a large number of others here, do a fair bit of 'off-roading' but none of us do any 'off-track'. The tracks mightn't always be gravel roadways but they're always tracks of some sort. Apart from the fact that riding across bogs & gorse areas is difficult & unpleasant I don't see the need. There's a huge amount of tracks throughout the country that aren't used by walkers & where bikes cause either no damage or, at worst, considerably less than forestry & farm machines. Charging round on 'scramblers' until you've made a 'track' is something else altogether & I would agree it's unacceptable but I don't know anyone on here who does that.

Personally I don't think we'll ever see 'designated' areas because we're too fragmented & will never speak with one voice as the walkers appear to manage :(
 
Maybe it's time to close the mountains then

Dermot posted about this last year.

We met a landowner who had received letters from the park ranger about protected habitats in the National Park Area that he owned.

The letters were about what was permitted (walking only) in these habitats and that derogations were not available even from the minister of the environment as this was EU law.

I used to walk a lot in the Wicklow mountains in the early 90s and I remember wide tracks cut into the land by walkers. Dojce, Lug and the area south of the lakes in Glendalough always had wide furrows of bog ploughed by walkers in the winter. People have a habit of moving further out into the bog for better ground and this created these wide cut up tracks.


If these habitats have be preserved and protected then steps should be taken to ban walkers from these sensitive areas as well. I'm sure some landowners would welcome this as it would reduce their liability as well.


If it’s just about the noise and emissions from bikes in the countryside maybe this is the future.


http://motocross.transworld.net/2008/10/24/ktm-announces-zero-emission-motorcycle-prototype/
 
the celt said:
Just on a side note...
does anybody else find that Donegal turf
is the hardest to burn and gives out the least heat ??? :nenau
Click to expand...

...glad it's not just me that thought that.
mind you - i reckon it's an environmental thing.
the people are the same - tough, hard, cold and they'll give nothing away*. :augie


:hide


*and before yiz start anything;
my Mothers half of the family are ALL Donegal and i spent most of my summers up there as a kid, so - :p
~~
Titus A. DuxasOg :D
 
vireo said:
Something tells me that mine isn't an opinion that will be widely shared on this forum, but here goes anyway :hide
Click to expand...

Not so apparently, I'm more or less with you on this one. Bogs are a definite no no, even on foot, since I joined the IPCC (Irish peatland conservation council). Was in the Alps a while back and the Parc Mercantour bans wheels of all kinds. Also, in New Zealand you can be prosecuted for walking off track in some parks.
Some of our biker brothers (and sisters) are our worst enemies.
 
electric_monk said:
Maybe we could start a STICKY in here listing any areas in the country where we can ride off-road legally..
Click to expand...

I'll show any of ye the spots I know in Kerry but will not post them on any public forum. It's just that they might become overrun and then be closed. Selfish I know but that's the way it is - sorry.
 
Does anyone know the specific legislation under which these charges are brought? Or, how do you know which areas are off limits? Anyone know how to get the specific details of the cases mentioned?

Most of us know the rules of the road but if I was going to be prosecuted going off-road (and not off-track!) I would like to know the legal basis.
 
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