okay well my and my buddies were pretty bored so the past few days weve been going wheeling at some local trails. my one buddy with his lifted cherokee got a flat so of course he doesnt have a full size with him. so last light me and my buddy with his sport trac hit up a local sand pit. and as we were pulling out there was a cop sitting there waiting for us. long story short he pulls us over and tells us that its private propery, and my buddy in the sport trac tells him that the only reason he was back there was because i got stuck and called him! so the cop totally thought i was a liar haha. but he let us go, but said we would get arrested next time we were caught back there. good times though lol

 

haha...Close call....

 

Sounds like you lucked out!

 

Good times tearing up someone's private property and lying to get away with it?? You should have gotten arrested. If it was my property, I'd have had them throw the book at you.

 

i think its state property actually, its next to an old landfill, its their fault that there is no signs that say no trespassing! you drive down this wooded road for 2 miles and then the trails are just at the end. its not like i was in someones back yard lol

 

you got lucky.......that seems like some friend since he tried to lay it all on you....

 

been there done that. luck of the draw. we had a cop ask us one time how much fun he can ride with us sometime.

 

Yeah really.....

 

Not to be a bad sport, but as far as I know, it is your responsibility to know where you are and if you have a right to be there. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Just my opinion. I think there are bigger things to get worked up over though so I like how the Cop handled it.

~HJ

 

When I use to paintball, we had a sheriff come down into the valley on the trail a few minutes behind me. He asked us if we knew whos propertie it was, and we were straight with him. He told us to get permission, but we never ended up getting it. Then again, we found other places to play. You're lucky..

...did you know it was Private? If you didn't, it's not your fault. Not like you're decreasing value one rut at a time, eh?

 

This is not true especially in NJ where it is 100% the trespassers responsibility to know where they are. If there were no signs, it works in your favor in court, but you should at least be ticketed and have your day in court if you're on private property without permission.

Also keep in mind that trespassing does nothing to help (and actually hurts) the cause of those of us who go out of our way to find legal places to wheel and to keep them legal. I'm just glad you're not in my part of the state.

 

One thing you'll find on this forum is that it's not looked upon favorably when you break the law and brag about it. If you want people to be impressed then maybe find a forum where a majority of the members encourage and like that kind of thing.

 

^^ good call since many of the people on this board are enforcers of the law....

 

good story to tell your kids..

 

Well, sometimes it's not your responsibility to know. I was out in the Desoto National Forest, where they have plenty of public offroad trails, and me and a buddy came out of one and this guy was sitting there in an F-250 Work truck and asked if he could help us. We said we didn't need any help, we didn't get stuck or anything. He said the trail we were on is under construction (they were tearing down a few trees in the next few days) and that if they wanted to they could have pressed charges for trespassing. My dad's a cop and I knew that was BS since there were no signs posted yet. Construction zones must have signs posted. If it's public property, and they don't have signs, they can't press charges. Besides, how was I supposed to know that they were going to be clearing a few trees downa week from then and know not to go on that trail. That guy was really pissy.

 

Been there, done that.... too many times.

Brenton

 

The difference is that you were on public property that happened to also be a proposed work zone. It is always your responsibility to know if you are on private or public property.

 

i got caught offroading in a park once,it took 6 cops to pull me over,only got a $50 ticket...lol

 

Hmmm.....

In PA (can not speak for other states) it is no excuse to be on another property just b/c you did not know. In PA Law under title 18 3503 - Criminal tresspass- and defiant trespass it is a min of $500 max of $5000 and up to 2 years incarcaration... Plus cost of damages to land... Even if it is a tiny little scuff in the lawn...
If you are caught once it is called a sumary offence (graded sort of like a traffic ticket, not exactly the same but the easiest way to describe it.) If you are caught again you move up to a misdemenor of the 1st degree and be imprisoned up to 15 years (very unlikely prob just the 2 years but an m1 holds a sentence of 5 -15 years). And under the vehilce code you can be fined up to $1000plus restitution for having the vehicle on the land... So you can be screwed twice pretty much... I just got two guys yesterday driving through a farmers field. Both had their vehicles seized by the state pending the results of their charges... So it is pretty serious.

 

eeek.. the law is here!

 

 

i didnt do anything wrong, if i did i would have gotten a ticket, im a criminal justice major and my father is a retired srg. out of the town where we were for those of you that think im some punk. its a no outlet road with easly 75 acres of woods and sand pits at the end, there isnt houses within miles which i could go knock on their door and question them about who owns it. there is not one sign posted saying private propery or state ground or no motorized vehicles. the trails have been there for 50 years and are used very frequently by atvs dirtbikes and other trucks. and my father even used to wheel there when he was younger. there is no property to be damaged and its just an open sand pit. i know my laws and where i should be and shouldnt i even spoke to my father and he said that there would be no way that we could even get a tresspassing summons. personally i feel that if it was private property and the owner had a problem with people being back there that they would atleast post one sign especially since it is known to be one of the biggest wheeling spots around. the cop had asked me if i had gotten stuck (bc of what my friend had told him) and i told him no. he had told my friend that he would get arrested and i think since the cop knew he was lying, he was just trying to scare him.

 

doc i agree that those trucks should have been impounded, its not easy being a farmer and tending fields, i grew up on a farm

 

So if this is a local trail that everyone has been using for the last 50 years, even your father when he was a kid, then why does this cop have a problem with it?

Is it supposed to be for ATV's, dirbikes only or something?

 

Like I said, Ignorance isn't Justification, If you don't know who owns it what the rules are, you shouldn't be there. It may be a publicly owned area that the state set up for off roading (I doubt it) but the point is you Don't know. The everybodies doing it excuse didn't work for my Dad when I was trying to Jump off the Roof of our Garage when I was eight and it doesn't work in this situation. Just because everybody is breaking the law, or you can get away with it doesn't make it right. Plus you say in your first post that it was private property.

What if it is Privately owned and one of the trespassers gets hurt and sues. These days they would probably win, thus raising everyones insurance costs. or if it is state land, another frivelous lawsuit forcing the taxpayers to foot the bill. What about the Possibility that you are destroying someones livelyhood (Sounds like a Gravel it to me) and all of these kids destroying what they depend on for a living, or making it dangerous or more difficult to extract what ever they are doing there. How is that responsible? These aren't victimless crimes, there are reasons for them. The cop didn't tell you to get out of there becasue he was sick of polishing his badge ans wanted to use it.

~HJ