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All Terrain Vehicles (ATV) Pilot
In support of our collective goals of increasing membership and retention while simultaneously delivering relevant and engaging program, the “New BSA” has embarked on a new initiative to pilot All Terrain Vehicles, more commonly referred to as ATVs.

Therefore, we have initiated the process of selecting councils to pilot the use of ATVs during 2010. All councils interested in being considered to pilot ATVs should submit their proposals to the Innovation Team (National Council), attention of Merril Davis, merril.davis@scouting.org, by November 30, 2009.

To access the proposal form, please click on this title at the top of this web page, then scroll down to find the .pdf file.
Comments
Charles Howard-Gibbon 1 month ago
The physical maturity and skills needed to drive an ATV suggest that this program might be limited to Venturers and older Boy Scouts (age 14 and older).
Nick Carr 1 month ago
Regarding age, state laws will come into play in at least some states (just like watercraft). Here in Michigan there is a whole booklet of ATV/ORV rules. (www.offroad-ed.com/mi)

In addition to the usual ATV "4-wheeler", it might be worthwhile to extend this to include go-carts as a camp program. This past summer I visited a very successful summer camp (non-BSA) that has had a really cool program of 8-10 go-carts operating on a circle track for many years. They had a couple towers in the center of this area (maybe 5 acres) so that staff could observe and control everything. This camp is ACA accredited and it appeared to be a very safe program.

Go-carts more often use common parts, many use off the shelf engines, and are relatively simple to maintain (within the realm of training someone for the summer). ATV's (being more expensive and capable off road) use OEM proprietary parts and are tightly packaged machines, making service challenging (who will do that service?).

While ATV's might be great for an excursion to an outpost on a large scout camp, their capabilities will be wasted on a smaller camp property. Comparatively little land would be required for a go-cart course.

This seems like another good pilot, and it will be interesting to learn how it is implemented and perceived.
cyndi.mcanear 1 month ago
ATV's are so dangerous, I think the go-cart may be better, just this year the Dave Matthews Band had a member who died of complications from an ATV accident he had a few months before his death. These things look fun, but are dangerous and can cause injury way to easy for kids to be using them at least in my opinion.
Bryan Pocock 1 month ago
We live in a western state with lots of rugged remote terain around. We were working on an Explorer Post / Venture Crew option with the county search & rescue. They were really excited about sponsoring the unit until they learned that we can't use ATVs. The S&R team was hoping to be able to use older youth in the program (18 and up) to assist with actual searches. They couldn't envision any way to run an effective program without the youth being able to use their ATVs.

Even if ATV use is limited to specific types of units in specific situations, coming up with a way to incorporate it in our program is the right direction to take.

Our high adventure base has an ATV trail running right through camp. It is part of a network of trails with hundreds of miles of interconnected trails. I could see a fantastic ATV program run out of the camp ... and while accidents do happen, I don't see any reason we couldn't put into place appropriate safety guidelines. Part of the program would be appropriate safety training ... like we do at C.O.P.E., rock climbing, shooting sports, horse trek, aquatics, or any of our other programs. If anyone can make ATV usage safe, the BSA can.
ATV-Proposal.pdf
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