HIGHLAND TWP., Pa. (EYT) – A petition to request ATV access to public roads was presented at last month’s Highland Township Supervisors’ meeting.

Leslie Donaldson presented a petition of over two hundred signatures from Highland Township residents at the supervisors’ June 11th meeting in support of allowing ATV access to publicly-owned township roads.

Nevertheless, the matter was not resolved at the meeting.

“We need it to go through and validate (the petition),” Highland Township Supervisor Rick Forbe told exploreVenango.com.

“We need to look at the names that were provided and compare them with the voters in the township.”

Once the petition has been reviewed and the names have been confirmed, Forbes said they will use that information to make a decision.

Even so, Forbes said allowing ATV access on public roads presents a safety concern.

“We had concerns in regards to safety,” Forbes said. “We’ve seen that there are times where you can find people who are riding the ATV’s recklessly within the township.”

From the years 1982 to 2013, Pennsylvania has ranked fourth in the nation as far as death associated with ATV-related fatalities.

“You hear some of these horrific accidents that have happened, and you don’t want to necessarily open up things for that, as well,” Forbes said.

“We also want to do what the township wants as a whole,” Forbes said. “Some have said they don’t like it.”

Forbes added that the petition will allow the supervisors to get a better overall understanding of what the township wants to do.

“If they have enough names, then it will go in that route — if not, it won’t.”

While Highland Township deliberates on this matter, Paint Township implemented an ordinance about two years ago that allows the use of ATV’s on publicly-owned roads.

“We haven’t really had much happen with it as far as accidents,” Paint Township Supervisor Jeffery Corcetti said.

Corcetti explained that the township had decided to pass the ordinance when ATV riders were having trouble with residents not allowing them to ride.

“People had gotten to the point where they weren’t allowing them to ride on private property,” Corcetti said.

Corcetti says that the ordinance has been a success.

“We really haven’t had any problems with it,” Corcetti said. “People do really well with it.”

Highland Township has not yet determined a date to vote on the ATV ordinance, but Forbes said it will likely be in the coming months.