ATVs on blast: South Fulton police warn they’re being driven illegally

“Inexperienced riders, coupled with ATVs being a tipping hazard and low-pressure tires, are a recipe for disaster,” police said in the post.

Georgia defines an ATV as any motorized vehicle designed for off-road use which is equipped with four low-pressure tires, a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and handlebars for steering, according to police. State law prohibits them on public streets, and if on private property, an ATV operator needs the permission of the property owner.

The law, however, hasn’t stopped the continued use of ATVs, according to police.

In June, multiple ATVs and dirt bikes were traveling at a high rate of speed on Flat Shoals Road when one of them rear-ended a car at the Hillandale Drive intersection, South Fulton police previously said. The rider of the ATV was ejected.

The crash came a month after Chief Keith Meadows shared a warning about the ATVs on Facebook.

“These are not small crimes, as some try and say,” the post read. “Do not come to the City of South Fulton with this type of conduct.”

Details have not been released on the deadly crash that prompted the latest warning.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are about 650 ATV-related deaths and 100,000 injuries nationwide every year. The summer months are when the majority of wrecks happen, the Commission says, with July being the peak month.

Atlanta police Officer Max Brewer was seriously injured May 30, when he was hit by a man driving drunk on an ATV during downtown protests, according to police. Avery Goggans of Stone Mountain was charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, DUI, serious injury by vehicle, reckless driving, possession of marijuana and other traffic offenses after the crash.

In July, a 20-year-old Marietta woman was killed while riding as a passenger on an ATV, AJC.com previously reported. Morgan Jean-Marie Shea was a passenger on Bentley Joseph Devore’s two-seat Can-Am utility vehicle in Columbia County when the two crashed on Morris Calloway Road, the sheriff’s office said. Devore, 20, was allegedly driving drunk and left the scene, but later surrendered.

In July 2018, Atlanta police and state troopers joined forces to crack down on ATVs, a move that came after a 15-year-old was killed when he hit a Dodge Charger while on an ATV in southwest Atlanta.

Officers and troopers issued 11 citations to ATV riders, and also uncovered other crimes during 29 traffic stops, Atlanta police previously said. Some of those cited were drivers too young to have a license.