CBRM took a long hard look at Santa Claus parades (rightfully so) because there was a chance that a child could be harmed by slow moving vehicles. This was the responsible and prudent thing to do, so kudos to the council for being brave enough to take on an activity loved by so many and that brought so much joy to communities.

BUT! In the same breath they are supporting another activity right in dense residential areas that, according to statistics, WILL KILL! This is not a low probability, we see it on the news regularly. CBC has done a great job compiling the data for CBRM to ponder (since they won’t listen to me).

At least 111 Atlantic Canadians died on ATVs, snowmobiles since 2018

The well respected Ecology Action Center has this to say about OHVs (ATVS+) in residential areas

"we feel that the rights and safety of adjacent homeowners and non-motorized trail users far outweigh the assumed privilege of OHV riders to drive through residential areas."

The Halifax Regional Trails Association says that CBRM is supporting a very small part of the population with a policy of putting Off-Road vehicles in dense residential communities: "Registered motorized users represent roughly 3 to 4% of the population"

I see other conflicts with the policy of running ATVs through resident's backyards in dense residential areas like "Public Participation Process" and "Land Use Evaluation" that are rigorously applied to other projects.

Contrary to popular opinion, the author of this commentary has absolutely nothing against Off-Road vehicles or their riders, after all it is just recreation.