An eastern Kentucky lawmaker says they need to extend a pilot program for limited all-terrain vehicle travel on state roads. He says it is necessary to further adventure tourism. Legislation to that end has gained unanimous backing in the State Senate.

Pikeville GOP Senator Phillip Wheeler said many counties operate independent ATV trails. He noted the pilot expansion would allow traveling on state roads to go from one trail to another. Wheeler added four-wheeled ATV recreation is attractive today.

“In Pike County alone…they have identified and geo-mapped over 700 miles of trails which is more than in the entire Hatfield McCoy system in West Virginia,” said Wheeler.

Wheeler said it brings some order to chaos regarding the four-wheeled vehicles on roadways. And there are provisions in the measure tied to safety issues.

“One of the things that is in SB 125 is that it does specify certain types of safety equipment to be on these ATVs utilizing the roadway to try to minimize that risk. I mean clearly we can’t eliminate risks from this sportsman activity,” said Wheeler.

Wheeler said, in a similar way, all concussion risks can’t be eliminated from football.

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