WHEREAS there are numerous incidents of all terrain vehicles causing damage to municipal right-of-ways, municipal property and crown property, disobeying posted private property, and causing noise and safety concerns for the general public; and

WHEREAS there are often witnesses to disrespectful operation of all terrain vehicles, but identification (such as license plates or registration identification numbers) is not visible; and

WHEREAS a license plate or some other identification would assist with identifying individual operators responsible for these damages and nuisances;

BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the Provincial Government, through Saskatchewan Government Insurance, to investigate licensing or some other means of regulation to provide for identification of all terrain vehicles operating outside the owner’s private property boundaries.

Response from Honourable Tim McMillan, Minister Responsible for Saskatchewan Government Insurance:
Your resolution seeks to provide a method for identifying owners of ATV s. An argument can be made that an annual registration system would provide a provincial database for use by law enforcement officials for ATV identification. However, this identification would be useful only if all owners of ATVs registered their units. Like snowmobiles, many would choose not to register their ATV s because they are only used on private property. It has been the view of law enforcement that enforcing ATV registration would be very difficult, and it has not been given high policing priority.

I understand and appreciate your concerns regarding inappropriate use of ATVs, however, as outlined in my correspondence to you on September 22, 2010 neither the government or SGI is giving consideration to the registration of ATVs at this time.