I did some research, and I am still doing more. There is never a good time for regulations, but last week and this week are possibly the worst time I have seen in a long time.
Johnson Valley FEIS was released on Friday, This UTV law, and the stuff going on with Parks, Eldorado, and Bla Bla Bla.
So far.
The Consumer Products Safety Commission has every intention of shutting down UTV sales nationally. California always leads the way.
ROHVA (which is part of MIC) and its manufacture based membership. (ALL of them, not just Kawasaki) introduced this bill in an effort to save the product line. If you say F Kawasaki, you should say F all of them. How Kawasaki ended up attached to the bill is beyond me, but it was another manufacture that donated money above and beyond the rest.
Now I am going to step outside my comfort level, and give you my opinion.
There is a war being waged every day in our government, from the top down to your local city . The rules have so drastically changed from our nations fathers vision, that it is almost impossible to tell right from wrong. We have become so over run with personal and corporate influence that we now create legislation in an effort to stop legislation. We need to take back our government. IMHO we need a third party
You are going to have to stop complaining on the internet, and start getting involved. You can't expect someone else will do it for you. You can pick any OHV access group, and the story is the same.
"how did this happen?"
We are all understaffed and Under Funded. The Johnson Valley FEIS is over 24,000 pages of documents. Someone has to read it all and comment. That's just one example, there are 1000's. (BTW ORBA has spent over $70,000 on Johnson Valley so far and we expect we will have to spend even more.)
Lawsuit you may say?
Who will pay for it?
The Truckhaven Lawsuit which is funded by ASA, ORBA, SDORC, and AMA D 37, with a small donation from Cal 4 wheel, and the TDS club is over $90,000 in investment right now.
Lawsuits are expensive.
After all that, let me ask you one final question.
Which group represents UTV owners best interests?
Currently not one of these groups represents UTV owners exclusively.
Why would any of them spend valuable time, and money to stop this bill from becoming law? Why would any of them lobby against this, or have the knowledge on how best to correct the language so that it makes sense? Do you expect a Jeep owner to understand safety standards for a UTV?
The only people you have right now is ROHVA. Do you want the manufactures to speak for you? I have met Larry Smith at ARRA he is an very smart guy but he is not a UTV guy. That's who ROHVA suggests you to join.
The ISA has no membership, no money, and no power. It will only be able to do something about things like this if it has a voice, and only people who care about UTV's can give it that voice.
A couple part time people can't do much in their spare time but a bunch of dedicated people can affect change.
Do you want to fix this, or bitch about it?
You have just as much power as ROHVA to create a law, but you can't do it getting angry on the internet. You have to learn how to play the same game that those who want to take away our freedoms play.
I can't promise you I have the answers, I can't promise you that the ISA is the be all end all. But UTV owners need a voice, or this is just the beginning of the end for what I think is possibly the best type of vehicle you can buy. I love my UTV's, regardless of the make or model. I want to continue to go off roading, but I am just one guy.
I can't stress to you enough how important the ISA is for this community. Maybe you don't like the people trying to organize it? That's OK vote them out. But WE have to start somewhere. I will be happy to hand over the articles of incorporation if there is an able bodied leader.
October 21st Glamis North KOH. The First ISA convention. 2 board members need to be added, and we need to create some momentum so our voices will be heard. 5 guys who work nonstop can't do it alone. We need your help to build something like this.
Through ORBA I am learning about how a bill can change some of the content of this law, but frankly I don't even know if that makes sense. All of the standards in this law are in your owners manual as guidelines to operate the machine. Perhaps we are better suited to make an effort to influence the national law that I assume is coming.
Personally my wife can't currently ride in our Teryx4. But I will quickly fix that problem with a small adjustment of the seat. I have already figured out a fix for small children as well. I hate helmet laws. I don't like them on my Harley, and I don't wear a street legal helmet when I ride, but I still ride. That is the message I am trying to get across here. Right now we can still ride, we will overcome this, but we might not be as lucky next time. It is done, now lets talk about how we can fix things.
The UTV market is the fastest growing segment of Off Road. We have the numbers, to sit at the table, its time we took that seat.
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