Bylaw officers, RCMP crack down on ATV speeders

MIRIAM HILL

IQALUIT — A fire truck speeds down an Iqaluit street, sirens blaring and lights flashing. Suddenly an all-terrain vehicle pulls out from behind the truck and zooms past it.

It really happened, said Neville Wheaton, the city’s head of emergency services.
And that’s just one example of what’s often seen on Iqaluit’s streets: ATVs being driven too quickly, with little regard for safety.

Unlike most cities, Iqaluit’s bylaws permit ATVs to be driven on the roads, said Sgt. Mike O’Malley of the Iqaluit RCMP.

But, as the community’s traffic increases, he said, ATVs are becoming riskier.
“It creates more situations where people are endangered,” he said, citing the recent ATV crash on Apex Road. On July 13, three girls were riding on an ATV when the driver lost control. The vehicle was wrecked and one of the girls was medevaced to Ottawa.

The crash happened on the same curve where an ATV fatality occurred last September.

“They have to be regulated better, the same as snow machines,” O’Malley said.
“Either they’re on the road and they’re a vehicle and they have to behave as any other motor vehicle does on the road… or they’re not allowed on the roads, period, and set up designated trails for them. In my opinion, those are the only two options.”

Dave Buchan, the director of motor vehicles for Nunavut, said the most recent ATV statistics for the territory come from 1999. At that time there were 1,031 ATVs registered in Nunavut — 103 of which were in Iqaluit.

In 1998, there were 86 registered ATVs in Iqaluit.

Two sets of laws govern ATVs: the territorial All-Terrain Vehicle Act, and the city’s All-Terrain Vehicle Bylaw.

Under the city’s bylaw, a first-time speeder can be ticketed between $100 and $250, depending on how fast they were going. The ATV must be registered or the owner faces a $100 fine, and if caught without insurance, they can be hit with a $500 ticket.

Both O’Malley and chief bylaw officer Terry Augustus say they haven’t encountered many uninsured vehicles.

Augustus said the bylaw department and the RCMP are working together to crack down on ATV-related infractions.

Augustus heard about the fire truck incident and said the ATV driver could have been ticketed for speeding and for passing an emergency vehicle.

“Some of these guys just don’t understand that if you operate these vehicles on the roadway you have to operate under the same laws as a person operating a car or a truck.”

Just because ATV operators don’t need a driver’s licence, doesn’t mean they can ignore the rules of the road, he said.

“They have to be regulated better, the same as snow machines.”
— Sgt. Michael O’Malley, Iqaluit RCMP

Most drivers are law-abiding, Augustus said. “But there’s just a few of these souped-up machines that are being a general nuisance around town.”

Like O’Malley, he believes a decision must be made regarding where and how ATVs can be driven.

“I know for skidoos there’s going to be skidoo trails, so I don’t see why there can’t be ATV trails. The only thing is I think there has to be a lot more thought put into them because they have to be away from houses and then you have to watch (that the tundra isn’t damaged).”

The most common ATV-related complaint heard by bylaw officers is speeding. Augustus said issuing a ticket can be tricky if the perpetrator decides to take off onto the land.

“As long as we can identify the machine or the driver, we don’t need to necessarily catch them at that time. If they run from us, fine, we can revisit that issue,” he said.
O’Malley said the most common violations seen by the RCMP are careless and dangerous driving and failing to wear a helmet.

He said the issues are the same across Nunavut. But in the hamlets, he said, the failure of ATV users to wear helmets is even more widespread.