Twice a year, California’s Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Program hosts a safety week – the third weeks of May and October. Designed to bring awareness to safety in the field, each year has a different theme. For 2022, Train for the Trail is the overall theme. “With so many people recreating, it is important that users ‘train for the trail’ to ensure everyone’s safety and to protect the natural resources found in the state’s vehicular recreation areas,” said OHMVR Division Chief Callan McLaughlin.
Here are eight safety tips for new and experienced users of public lands:
- Take a safety course. Learning fosters better wheelers. Sign up for a class with your local experts, learn better winching techniques, become familiar with current laws, and become more experienced.
- Be prepared. Have the appropriate supplies with you when you are on the trail: First aid kit, extra water and food, maps, tool kit, extra fuel, and whatever else you might need.
- File a Leave-behind plan. Tell a responsible person back at camp or at home what your plans are: Where you are going, when you expect to be back, and what to do if you don’t return on time.
- Scout your route. Know before you go what to expect, who will be out there that you will be sharing the trail with, what will the terrain be, do you know the boundaries of the area?
- Don’t go out alone. Wheel with others so there is help in an emergency.
- Buckle up. Secure your passengers and gear. No one wants to be hit in the head with a flying wrench. If your rig is equipped with harnesses, use them. Put on your helmet to prepare you for a rollover or hard hit. Helmets are cool on the trail.
- Be respectful: Of natural resources, of other users on the trail. Let’s ensure our trails are preserved for generations to come.
- Tread Lightly. Stay on the trail; if you can’t do that, stay home.
California’s OHMVR program was created in 1971 out of the need to better manage the demands of off-highway recreation. Since then, more than $740 million in grants have been awarded to federal and local partners funding acquisition and development, resource protection, safety and education, and law enforcement for OHV recreation.
