Article on Off Road Vehicle Noise

[Hickey]

Maybe it's been talked about already, but can't there be some kind of decibel restriction put into the requirements for street legal status for OHV vehicles? So when it's inspected if it revs at too high of a decibel level the vehicle can't qualify? Obviously the whole enforcing after the fact comes into play, But it could help push manufacturers towards limiting the exhausts of their machines.

Unless that's already a thing. I in no way claim to be edumecated on this subject and could be wrong, I just feel like that's not part of the process currently.

It's difficult to enforce the decibel deal. Per our local RME cop pilot.

 

[Spork]

I’d also think you would get people that do inspection under a stock exhaust and then put on their aftermarket after it passes.

I'd picture enforcement more like the police needs to meet quota for the month and Granny Jenkins calls and complains that a group just went by way too fast and loud so the next group that goes by with volume is going to get it...

 

[Herzog]

It's difficult to enforce the decibel deal. Per our local RME cop pilot.

Bummer

 

[Noahfecks]

First they came for the UTV's and I din't speak up because I wasn't a UTV'er, then they came for the xxx's and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an xxx'er, now the sights are squarely on my hobby and I wish I had spoken up.

I agree there are a large number of bad actors in the SxS world right now, there should be a stay the trail type effort led by UTV'ers to educate their fellow users, supported by the offroad community at large.

I hate Moab anyway and avoid it at all costs, but given the new **** you SxS attitude of the city, I would expect much less SxS activity in the very near future.

 

[Spork]

If I had a SxS I'd be more interested in Sand Hollow, Little Sahara, or the Arapeen trail system than Moab. The Swell would be great for exploring also where it's close to Green river you could rent a hotel room for half the price of Moab. There's a saying "the solution to pollution is dilution", Moab is stuck with Moab as their only interest, if somewhere like Monticello or Green river were to get more of the tourism $ I think it would take pressure off Moab.

 

[gijohn40]

The reason its hard to measure the noise level is due to the meter used doesn't look at just one exhaust it looks at everything in the general area. So a person that gets a ticket and say that at the moment the officer did his test there was someone near by that was yelling/talking/ whatever makes noise at the same time the test was performed. so without a shadow of a doubt test its all hearsay.

Last week I was down in Moab and was reconing where eagles dare trail... just after I turned off from the poison spider trail heading down the gold bar rock area I looked to the south and there was sxs tracks running in the soft dirt over the cyriptobiactic soil. They ran over a few of the carbon signs that the BLM had posted to denote the boundaries.

I think that tread lightly or another group like this needs to come up with a training that is paid for by the new owners when they buy their sxs and is mandatory before they take possession the sxs.

 

[Herzog]

I looked to the south and there was sxs tracks running in the soft dirt over the cyriptobiactic soil. They ran over a few of the carbon signs that the BLM had posted to denote the boundaries.

I don't buy the crypto biotic soil problem. I grew up and spent many years in the surrounding deserts where this stuff appears. It comes back after a couple years at most, not decades as "they" say.

But that doesn't mean I like seeing tracks go off trail by any means. I just know better not to fall for the opponents bullshit talking points... but that is absolutely no reason to go off trail. (Sorry, I tend to rant when I see crypto soil)

 

[N-Smooth]

I think a big part of the issue is the rental companies. I know they have short videos that tell people what to do/how to act but that obviously doesn’t mean everybody follows the rules.

Ever been to a go-kart track? They have those videos that tell you not to bump and to move out of the way when someone is trying to pass but I never follow those rules. Well that’s how people are with a rental sxs, trying to get every dollar out of that rental and not caring about the consequences.

 

[anderson750]

I don't buy the crypto biotic soil problem. I grew up and spent many years in the surrounding deserts where this stuff appears. It comes back after a couple years at most, not decades as "they" say.

But that doesn't mean I like seeing tracks go off trail by any means. I just know better not to fall for the opponents bullshit talking points... but that is absolutely no reason to go off trail. (Sorry, I tend to rant when I see crypto soil)

You being from Price can appreciate this story and quite possibly your parents may have been involved. Quite a few years ago a group of kids were doing a night run across Devils Racetrack and one of them broke their steering not far into the trail. They were coming from the bottom. Anyway in an effort to get turned around he took out a bunch of crypto and junipers. It was a disaster in the brewing with SUWA and the BLM.

Anyway the OHV club and others put together a work party to go and clean up the tracks and such. If you remember Dennis Willis you know what a biased tool he was when it came to his role at the local FO. He was there to teach people how to rake out tracks in the crypto with minimal disturbance. He also showed everybody how to walk through the it

This gave rise to the new term we often use.......how to tiptoe through the crypto. It is interchangeable with wading through the bullish!t.

 

[Herzog]

You being from Price can appreciate this story and quite possibly your parents may have been involved. Quite a few years ago a group of kids were doing a night run across Devils Racetrack and one of them broke their steering not far into the trail. They were coming from the bottom. Anyway in an effort to get turned around he took out a bunch of crypto and junipers. It was a disaster in the brewing with SUWA and the BLM.

Anyway the OHV club and others put together a work party to go and clean up the tracks and such. If you remember Dennis Willis you know what a biased tool he was when it came to his role at the local FO. He was there to teach people how to rake out tracks in the crypto with minimal disturbance. He also showed everybody how to walk through the it

This gave rise to the new term we often use.......how to tiptoe through the crypto. It is interchangeable with wading through the bullish!t.

I don't know that exact story but I'm not surprised.
Being able to access all these areas during the wilderness designation insanity I was able to see first hand how fast this soil goes native after areas were designated and closed off. Depending on the terrain and rainfall that year, we estimated that the soil returned to the chunky cryptoboitic state within a matter of months to a year. It's such a joke.

 

[Pike2350]

I agree the rentals are a big part of it. However, maybe its me but the most obnoxious SxS's are the ones that "bro's" own. They roll around with their music blaring, loud exhaust and almost everything they could finance i to it. They seem to gather in larger groups and many of them have the bro attitude about being noticed. They line loud exhausts, high revs and all that. I dont see these types giving a rat's ass about trail etiquette. I also think some of the issues that are coming up in Moab have little to do with the actual off highway use but more of the in town antics of people.

It's almost like Moab is the "spring break" type destination for SxS's.

 

[Hickey]

You might be a bro if you tuck your ears into your flat bill hat...

 

[UNSTUCK]

There no “might be” when it comes to tucked ears.

 

[Chicken Corners]

You might be a bro if you tuck your ears into your flat bill hat...

And drive your Ram truck with the tow mirrors deployed, for no reason!