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Mr . BARNARD . Gentlemen , would you say , then , that it does take an unusual amount of skill to safely handle a three - wheel ATV ?

Mr . BISHOP . Some people can ' t even drive a car . We ' ve got three - -

Mr . BARNARD . Yes ; but that is not the question . Let us stay with the ATV ' s .

No , I won ' t interrupt you . Go ahead . Some people can ' t drive a car , fine .

Mr . BISHOP . What I am saying is , is you can have a 25 - year - old male that can ' t operate an ATV . He doesn ' t have the capacity for it . But then on the other hand , you can have a 4 - year - old child op erate an ATV very well . It is all in the motor coordination that the individuals have developed , and it is in the training that they have .

Mr . BARNARD . Do you think an individual has that - do you think any 4 - year - old in the country would know whether or not he would have that type of ability ?

Mr . BISHOP . No , unfortunately not .

Mr . BARNARD . Well , then would you say that it takes some spe cial skill to operate an ATV ? Mr . BISHOP . Yes , I would have to agree with that . Mr . BARNARD . Mr . Janson .

Mr . JANSON . Yes , I would say that there are specialized skills , and in the case of young people , those skills obviously are a func tion of the parental responsibility and supervision .

Mr . BARNARD . Well , that is true . I don ' t want to get away from that , but now let me ask you this . Both of you gentlemen have ex cellent rates from the standpoint of rider hours , or whatever it is , and accidents . But aren ' t you all under a controlled atmosphere ? For example , you ever have a park that specializes in the use of ATV ' s ?

Mr . BISHOP . No , sir . None of them specialize . Mr . BARNARD . But they are primarily used , people who use that park primarily are riding ATV ' s ?

Mr . BISHOP . In the Pismo Dunes Park that is true , yes . Mr . BARNARD . Exclusively ? Mr . BISHOP . No . Mr . BARNARD . They can ride other things as well ? Mr . BISHOP . Yes . Mr . BARNARD . What other kinds of vehicles ?

Mr . BISHOP . There are dune buggies , four - wheel drives , motorcy cles , hang gliders .

Mr . BARNARD . I misunderstood . I thought that this particular park and the others were just for the use of ATV ' s .

Mr . BISHOP . No ; as I said before , we had 1 , 200 accidents through the year . Approximately half of them were ATV accidents . But ATV ' s account for about three quarters of the use out there , so the indication isn ' t that ATV ' s are an overt problem . ATV ' s have seemed to have brought a different type of person into our areas . They are not actual off - roaders , they are just a different breed of people . We are trying to accommodate them now .

Mr . BARNARD . Mr . Janson , the problem I am wrestling with at this time is children . I mean kids under 14 . Even 15 or 16 for that matter , but primarily under 14 , who are supposed to be able to op erate these vehicles safely .