Chatham-Kent's police chief is optimistic they'll have to deal with fewer ATV incidents the rest of the year.
This as Gary Conn releases ATV stats from the first quarter of a year-long pilot project. Chatham-Kent's ATV bylaw is just three months into its trial period, but statistics indicate incident numbers will be well above last year's figures.
Between March and June 2016, Chatham-Kent police have responded to 29 ATV-related calls, up from 17 in the same time period last year.
Police report three collisions involving ATVs in the first quarter of 2016; that's the same number that occurred in 2015. But Conn says all of this year's accidents involved alcohol, and all three caused serious or fatal injuries.
Conn says the new bylaw has come with some growing pains for both riders and officers. This is because police have to consistently distinguish between which roads ATVs can ride on, and which ones they can't.
"It can be very confusing from an enforcement perspective as well," says Conn. "There will definitely be a transition period, and a steep learning curve on both sides."
Still, Conn hopes by educating the public, and working with community groups like the Chatham-Kent ATV Club, they can get incident numbers reduced by the end of the year.
While he acknowledges summer is just around the corner, the police chief won't assume the number of ATV accidents will continue to jump in the next few months.
"There will most likely be an increased usage of ATVs in the summer months, that's just common sense," says Conn. "But anything else I would say would just be mere speculation."
During the first quarter of 2016, police issued a total of 17 tickets to ATV users, compared with just four in 2015.
Conn says riders have a misconception that any offences won't have an effect on their driving record, but any charges or tickets issued to ATV riders are linked to their driver's licence.