22-02-2025
Lifesaving ATV children's safety courses hard to find in Northeast Pa.
One local couple has been teaching children to safely ride ATVs for almost two decades
Leslie and Tony Novak, of Brodheadsville, owners of the New Lost Trails ATV Park in Dunmore, a property that welcomes all-terrain vehicle owners, have over 2,000 acres of all-year trails at their disposal for riding, guided tours and youth safety lessons. The problem is, there is currently a shortage of local instructors.
Tony Novak is one of a small group of instructors who received training from Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to provide ATV safety classes to children ages 8 to 15. However, his license lapsed during COVID, and he hasn't had time to renew it just yet.
Previously, the Novaks taught their children, now grown, and their grandchildren how to safely operate ATVs.
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Brody Meyers, 12, was taught ATV safety when he was 10 by his dad, David Meyers, a DCNR certified ATV children's safety course instructor in Pike County. (DAVID MEYERS / SUBMITTED)
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The Tunnel is just one of the natural, beautiful features located at The New Lost Trails ATV Park that children who have received safety certification can explore. (THE NEW LOST TRAILS ATV PARK / SUBMITTED)
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Children taught by David Meyers, a certified ATV children's safety course instructor in Pike County. (DAVID MEYERS / SUBMITTED)
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Children and their caregivers ride in a convoy as part of a children's ATV safety class taught by David Meyers, a certified ATV children's safety course instructor in Pike County. (DAVID MEYERS / SUBMITTED)
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Brody Meyers, 12, was taught ATV safety when he was 10 by his dad, David Meyers, a DCNR certified ATV children's safety course instructor in Pike County. (DAVID MEYERS / SUBMITTED)
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'Our one younger grandchild, Dane, is 10, and he's been riding since he was 3,' said Leslie Novak, adding her grandson, Carter, who is now 8, 'started at birth, as soon as he could walk.'
'He wanted to be like his brother, because it's daddy fun time,' she said, explaining how the grandchildren would spend quality hours riding with their father, Novak's son.
Novak called the sport 'a family activity,' explaining that their clients come for the day, bring barbecues, pop-up tents, and their ATVs, of course, and celebrate the opportunity to be together, outdoors, exploring the vast property's notable features — such as Top of the World, a picturesque 2,200-foot elevation point, and a historic mining tunnel carved through a mountain.
In a report issued in May, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission documented that in 2020, which was the latest year of reported deaths, '123 children under age 16, and 46 children under age 12 died in off-road vehicle accidents.' Commissioner Richard Trumka opened the website's press release with, 'As an ATV owner and the proud parent of two young riders, I want ATVs and side-by-sides to be fun, useful, and safe.'
The risks of ATV riding can be reduced with safety courses, said Tony Novak, stressing that children ages 8 to 15 who operate ATVs should 'absolutely' take the course.
'When I took the course to become a trainer, I learned a lot more, things I didn't know, so it was really good,' he explained. 'It is a law that the kids have to be certified if they ride on state trails.'
Novak added that when kids pass the course, they receive a certificate and a card that they should keep on them when riding trails to present if they get pulled over — which is how and when most people learn for the first time that there is a safety course available, and that they should take it.
The Novaks explained that their ATV park is set up with 100 acres of novice trails, called 'The Boneyard,' that provides a 'flatter, safer way' to practice riding. Riders must show their safety certification to ride alone in the park. Otherwise they must rent a side-by-side vehicle and take a guided tour, through a vendor the business works with.
'After they're certified, they can do a circuit through the Boneyard, and it will be a really fun time for the kids,' Novak said.
On the DCNR website, a list of trained youth ATV safety instructors shows none currently operating in Lackawanna or Luzerne counties. Novak concurred that it is hard to find safety courses nearby. He hopes to eventually renew his own license, or work with a trained DCNR instructor in the region who can use his park as a host property.
The closest listed DCNR-trained instructor is in Pike County. David Meyers, a retired police officer, has been teaching the DCNR's ATV youth safety course since 2021. He said the cost is $50 to the families of children who take it, and that it requires 'a few hours' to complete.
'I explain the proper maintenance and what to check out on their ATVs before they ride and after they ride,' said Meyers.
He explained that the DCNR provided a booklet outlining certain tasks and requirements for children to learn and perform to become certified.
'They (kids) start off riding circles, around cones; eventually I start having them do tighter turns, figure 8s, and they practice riding up a hill, across the hill and back down the hill,' Meyers said, adding that the kids 'practice quick stops to the left and the right, and practice riding over obstacles,' such as a tree or tree branch in the trail.
He taught his son, Brody, 12, and his daughter, Amy, 18, to safely ride ATVs when they were both younger. His wife, Maria, enjoys riding as well.
Meyers said the ATV safety course 'absolutely' helped his son. Plus, it helps all kids ride more safely and benefits them in other ways, too.
'It teaches them responsibility. It shows them proper decision making, because they have to know when to stop and to avoid obstacles and stuff,' Meyers said. 'It brings them up a level in maturity.'
