114 ,

Mr . BARNARD . We will now hear from Mr . Mike Bishop , chair man of the California Off - Highway Motor Vehicle Commission .

Mr . Bishop ?

STATEMENT OF MIKE BISHOP , CHAIRMAN , CALIFORNIA OFF

HIGHWAY MOTOR VEHICLE RECREATION COMMISSION Mr . BISHOP . Dear Chairman Barnard and members : On behalf of our commission , I am pleased to be present to help you come to a resolution of the problem at hand . I have been working intensively since 1982 to further ATV safety programs . In February 1982 , I formed the Pismo State Beach dune patrol . I , personally , have over 6 , 000 hours of time actually operating ATV ' s , and I am presently the safety editor of 3 - Wheeling magazine and a safety coordinator for the California All - Terrain Vehicle Association .

In 1983 , I was appointed to the Off - Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission by the senate rules committee of the Cali fornia State Legislature , and I am now chairman of that commis sion . The commission reviews and approves all capital outlay ex penditures and sets policy for the director of the Off - Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation for the State . The Division has six off - highway areas , known as SVRA ' s — State vehicular recreation areas . We have ex perienced 1 , 358 , 206 visitor days of usage during the calendar year 1984 .

A majority of the ATV accidents at our parks were caused by ex cessive speed , unsafe turns , or drunk driving . Also , many of the casualties did not have any safety equipment ; and out of 252 major and moderate injuries , 109 were from overturning , whether from excess speed , unsafe turning , or jamming on the front brake , as de tailed in the “ Reason ” column on the enclosed sheet . A definite pattern exists between experience and accidents . A majority of the accident reports indicated that inexperience with the vehicle was a major contributor of accidents .

Many of the riders were first - time users that did not know the handling characteristics of the ATV and experienced a problem . Some were renting the vehicle and had little or no safety equip ment or knowledge — a bad combination . One of the benefits of having parks like ours are the availability of highly trained rang ers that can assist the injured people . Not only are we able to offer assistance to the victim , but we are also able to document the cause of the accident they were involved in at the scene and cor roborate the story with witnesses .

The enclosed accident statistics I am making available to you are probably the most concise in the country and should help in arriv ing at more realistic estimates .

One other thing I keep hearing is talk of a recall . I see a recall as a poor way to deal with the problem . A need has been generated by the American people and the manufacturers are merely filling it . If you remove this supply point from the American citizen , he will try to fill the vacuum with converted motorcycles , et cetera , which are not designed to be ATV ' s . They will be too heavy , have too large of an engine , and be a safety problem in themselves .