Utah County Sues For Control Of Canyon Road

Dispute Has Been Simmering Since 2007

San Juan County, Utah, is suing the federal government to gain control of a road that provides motorized access to Recapture Canyon.

The lawsuit was filed in December in the U.S. District Court for Utah.

The county is seeking right-of-way access to a road and a system of off-highway vehicle trails through Recapture Canyon, east of the town of Blanding.

The road was closed to motorized vehicles by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 2007 to protect ancient Native American cultural sites and artifacts.

During a 2014 protest, area residents, sheriff’s deputies and other protestors rode ATVs and horses through the canyon.

The lawsuit contends the road—known as County Road D5314—was established more than 100 years ago for multiple modes of travel and access for motorized vehicles is protected under a federal law that grants public access to roads established before 1976 for the purposes of promoting settlement and commerce in the West.

The BLM closed the area to motorized use after the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance claimed several archeological sites were damaged by the construction of an illegal OHV trail.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced in April that more than 1,800 acres along the canyon’s rim will reopen to OHV use, but motorized vehicles are still banned from the bottom of the canyon.

Study: Motorcycle Passengers More Likely To Be Injured

Fewer Wear Helmets While Riding

Motorcycle passengers are less likely than riders to wear a helmet and are more likely to sustain traumatic brain injuries in crashes, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery and reported by Reuters.

Researchers studied almost 80,000 motorcycle riders and nearly 6,000 passengers who were involved in crashes between 2007 and 2010.

Two-thirds of the riders wore helmets, compared to 57.5 percent of the passengers.

Traumatic brain injuries were the most common type of injury for riders and passengers in the study.

But passengers experienced this more often, in 40 percent of cases, compared with 36 percent of cases for riders, Reuters reported.

The rate of traumatic brain injury was 36 percent among helmeted passengers, compared to 31 percent among helmeted riders.

The research was not a controlled study.