A plan that would allow all-terrain vehicle riders to travel on public roads between some new and existing trails in state forests is dangerous for the riders and other motorists on those roads and should be abandoned, according to the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition.

The public lands advocacy coalition said the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' efforts to expand riding opportunities for the growing number of ATV enthusiasts by using local roads as "connectors" to existing forest trails will risk causing more accidents and fatalities.

Between 1982 and 2004, Pennsylvania led the nation in ATV-related deaths, with 357. From 2000 through 2006, there were 111 fatalities involving ATVs on roads in Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Transportation.

Almost 28 percent of the drivers killed or injured in ATV roadway accidents were younger than 16.

"Allowing unlicensed, uninspected ATVs [on roads] with other vehicular traffic is a recipe for disaster," said Richard Martin, coordinator for the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition. "The DCNR is confusing transportation with recreation. The ATV is not a second car."

The DCNR proposed five ATV trail expansion projects in July that will cost $2.25 million, result in development of 29 miles of new forest trails and expand riding terrain by 333 miles through use of 170 miles of township roads near the Sproul, Bald Eagle and Susquehannock state forests.

The projects are scheduled to begin in the fall and continue through 2010, and are part of the DCNR's ongoing ATV trail restoration program for the 247-mile system. They will be financed through DCNR's snowmobile/ATV fund, which relies on vehicle registration fees.

Allegheny County leads the state with 7,463 of the 168,220 registered ATVs statewide.

Mr. Martin said that despite the lobbying of ATV groups and state legislators, only a small number of ATV operators want the "town to town" trails. A 2004 Penn State University survey found they want trails closer to their homes, trails of medium length and outhouses near the trail heads.

Although the DCNR said the "strategic connector" project will curb illegal ATV use on public and private lands, minimize environmental impact and create a safer trail system, Mr. Martin said expanded use of ATVs on roads ensures the opposite will happen.

"These vehicles have a short wheel base, a high center of gravity and soft tires," said Mr. Martin, who sold ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles and was an ATV and motorcycle safety instructor before he retired. "They are real twitchy when they get going at high speeds."

On paved roads they can reach speeds of 65 mph or more.

According to PennDOT, there were 310 ATV accidents on roads from 2001 to 2003. That number more than doubled in the next three years, when 708 accidents occurred.

The largest number of those accidents involved drivers that were 15 years old, Mr. Martin said. Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh has treated injured ATV drivers who were 5 and 6 years old.

Despite those statistics, and warnings from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration that ATVs are not intended for use on paved roadways, the number of municipalities permitting such riding has expanded steadily in the state to 39 townships in 15 counties and opened up more than 650 miles of roads.

Although the DCNR said the expansion would reduce illegal ATV riding on unapproved trails, its own study in 2000 found no indication that it did so. The study found that seven state forests with designated ATV trails had, on average, more than 50 miles of illegal motorized trails. And a 2006 study found that there were 2,535 miles of illegal ATV trails on Bureau of Forestry land.

Mr. Martin said the DCNR hasn't held any public hearings or meetings on the strategic connector plan, hasn't conducted any environmental impact studies and has included no funding for increased enforcement.

"Pennsylvania needs to address enforcement issues first," said John Wasserman, a former Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife conservation officer in Clinton County, where ATVs are allowed on 17 miles of roads in two townships. "Many townships with roads open to ATVs do not have a local police force and state police seldom travel back country roads."

He said the DCNR park rangers don't patrol township roads either and game commission officers have no authority on the roads.

Legislation introduced in the state House could change that. House Bill 1950 would give DCNR rangers the power to enforce ATV rules outside DCNR lands.