Off-road warriors

Mostly young and mostly male, they are the recreational riders of all-terrain vehicles - three- and four-wheel ATVs and off-road motorcycles known as dirt bikes - whose buzzing engines and slashing tire tracks unleash a seasonal torrent of complaints about noise and property damage.

Police on the Cape say they are fed up with riders who rocket illegally over public and private property, from landfills and sand pits to the ammunition-studded fringes of the Massachusetts Military Reservation. Last month, police in Bourne announced a crackdown, vowing to tow unregistered ATVs and ticket their owners. At the military base, officials have installed cameras and sensors to try to catch trespassers. Environmental officers in Falmouth helped draft proposed legislation to tighten restrictions on ATVs - and ban all riding by children under 14 - that awaits a hearing at the State House.

Critics of the pastime say safety is their priority. They complain of parents who let children ride unsupervised and riders who recklessly flee police and whose accidents require difficult rescues in remote places. When the weather warms, police say, the number of riders spikes, and accidents multiply. On April 28, as the temperature in Southeastern Massachusetts climbed into the 80s, a 6-year-old crashed an ATV in his Rockland backyard. The boy was wearing a helmet, but his arm was almost severed.

"Every spring, you know it's coming, that kids will get hurt," said Chuck Martinsen, a police officer who investigates ATV complaints for the Falmouth Department of Natural Resources. "ATVs and dirt bikes are marketed as toys, and that doesn't show the danger."

ATV riders say they have been backed into a corner. With no legal place on the Cape to enjoy their hobby, besides their own backyard courses, some say they have been pushed into riding illegally on land where they are unwelcome.

By trying to stamp out their fun, some riders argue, police aggravate the situation, making riders jittery, causing accidents and driving them to more distant, dangerous locations.

"Once they started to clamp down, it was kind of like riding like pirates, staying in the woods, cutting across properties, making new trails through the woods that turned out to be people's property," said Brian Rebello, a motorcycle rider who built a dirt bike course in his West Barnstable backyard so his children could ride legally. "It's definitely a slap. They have definitely taken something from us."

Those who ride by the rules say they too feel trapped. Steve Perra, 16, of Falmouth, sculpted a legal ATV track in his backyard, but whenever he and his sister fire up their dirt bikes or four-wheeler, neighbors call police to complain about the noise.

As a result, the siblings often opt to stay inside. "I'm stuck here; it's a bummer," Perra said, sitting dejectedly on his mother's couch. "If there was one place to ride, where no one had to chase us, everyone would be a lot happier."

Tensions on the Cape over off-roaders have escalated over the years. Development devoured open space where riders once roamed freely, and denser neighborhoods brought more noise complaints and enforcement by police. Private landowners who had tolerated the activity moved to shut it down, unsettled by the threat of injuries and lawsuits. Public properties in the region, including Miles Standish State Park in Plymouth, also shut out ATVs, leaving state parks in the Berkshires the last to welcome four-wheelers.

As the popularity of the vehicles increased, the rise in accidents contributed to fears and closings. State officials estimate that 90,000 households own an all-terrain vehicle. Massachusetts had 10 fatal ATV crashes between 2005 and 2007, compared with 56 total fatalities in the 22 preceding years, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Child-sized ATVs typically weigh 200 or 300 pounds and travel at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. But most children who die in ATV accidents are riding larger, faster adult models, which can weigh twice as much.

Sean Kearney, an 8-year-old Plymouth boy, was riding an adult-sized ATV at a friend's house when he was killed in 2006. A 16-year-old from Harwichport, Justin Ramshur, was riding with his mother when he was killed in a crash in Connecticut in 2007.

Dr. Peter Masiakos, a pediatric surgeon who has treated ATV accident victims at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that children younger than 14 lack the size, strength, and coordination needed to handle the vehicles safely and that most riders younger than 16 lack the needed perception and judgment.

Devotees of the pastime say it is misunderstood and no more dangerous than biking. They say they are stereotyped as wild and reckless, when most who ride are families with children.

"It kind of reminds me of going to a picnic with the wife and kids, and all these tree huggers are trying to make it out to be a Hell's Angel thing," said Steve Coyne, a dirt bike rider from Dennis.

In recent months, a group of 75 ATV riders on the Cape has tried to find a town willing to provide a public place for ATVs. They formed a nonprofit association, drafted a 66-page proposal, and approached a half-dozen Cape towns, the airport in Hyannis, and the military reservation. Their efforts have gone nowhere, said Rob Anderson, their leader.

"We've met with total resistance," he said. "Nobody wants it."

The proposition is difficult, said Cape officials. Towns could be liable for injuries, and land used by ATVs could lose its value.

Anderson is not giving up. Narrowing his scope, he will ask towns to find a place for electric motorcycles, which would not spark noise complaints.

Meanwhile, cash-strapped police departments are struggling to stop illegal riders, a labor-intensive task that sends officers deep into the woods.

"I can't call them back if we have a robbery," said Harwich Police Chief Bill Mason.

Coyne, the dirt bike rider from Dennis, faced harsh criticism after his son was hurt in an accident in March 2008. Father and son were riding together on a course Coyne built illegally in the woods; as Coyne landed a jump, his son turned into his path. The collision broke the boy's leg.

Coyne said he still struggles with guilt over the incident. But, he said, it would not have happened if he and his son had been riding on a legal course.