The following letter was sent to the Cameron County Board of Commissioners and the Emporium Borough Manager.
Dear County Commissioners:
As individuals and organizations dedicated to reducing deaths and injuries caused by off-highway vehicles (OHVs), we are writing to urge you to reject any proposal that would increase OHV access to the roads of Cameron County.
Allowing OHVs to use public roads suggests to the public that roadway riding is a safe and responsible use of OHVs when in fact, industry, regulators, and consumer and public health and safety advocates, all agree that OHVs are not safe on public roads.
Tragically, we have identified sixteen OHV-related deaths in Pennsylvania in 2017 alone. From 2013 through 2016, we documented at least 129 deaths in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, these numbers may continue to rise as we gather more data.
We write to communicate the dangers of allowing OHVs on roads and hope that this information will help inform any policy decision you make.