- In forests, driving quad bikes outside designated areas causes environmental damage and a nuisance to local residents.
- Changes to the law will only apply to moving around the forest illegally, outside the designated roads.
- In this way, the Ministry of Culture and Environment wants to improve safety – quads, cross-country motorbikes, or off-road vehicles driving outside the designated roads pose a threat to tourists and walkers.
- The measures introduced will enable better protection of forests, reduce noise and nuisance for citizens, and limit environmental damage in the forest.
- Causing noise, destroying plants, damaging animals, fungi and natural habitats cannot go unpunished. In the interests of protecting nature and the possibility of peacefully enjoying the values of forests, the Ministry of Culture and Environment has proposed legislative changes that will tighten the penalties for moving outside the designated forest road in a noisy or environmentally damaging manner. Particularly reprehensible recidivists will have to reckon with the loss of their vehicle.
The Minister of Climate and Environment has ordered the Director General of the State Forests to replace warnings with penalties for destroying forests with quads, cross-country motorbikes or off-road vehicles. At the same time, she has asked for work to be undertaken to create places for their legal driving, with protection of the surroundings from noise.
The head of the ministry also submitted to the Ministry of Justice a specific proposal to undertake legislative work on increasing the penalties for these offences.
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Driving on the forest road will still be available for quad bikes, motocross bikes and off-road vehicles.
People going on a trip, picking mushrooms or using local forest roads permitted for recreation or as part of access to their property will be able to do so as before, without any obstacles. The new regulations will serve to protect the silence in the forests, which provides the rest sought by such people visiting them.
The changes concern people who, disregarding the needs of nature and other users of forests, destroy forests and protected areas, they do it intentionally and repeatedly. We will introduce a distinction in the punishment of drivers destroying forests and causing noise that scares other forest users and animals from the situation of people who enter forest areas once without harming the environment and causing nuisance to local residents, e.g. for mushrooms or a walk – emphasize experts from the Ministry of Culture and Environment.
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What are the planned changes to the law for quads, motocross motorcycles and off-road vehicles in the forest?
The Ministry of Climate and Environment has submitted to the Ministry of Justice a specific proposal to undertake legislative work on increasing penalties for illegal raids in forests.
The changes plan to single out a particularly harmful type of driving over forests, for which it will be possible to sentence the driver to community service or arrest, and in extreme cases of recidivism – even confiscation of the vehicle.
The proposed changes to the law concern tougher penalties for driving vehicles outside designated forest roads causing significant noise, destruction of plants, damage to animals or natural habitats.
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Safety of vehicles in the forest
The changes introduced will regulate issues concerning equal and safe access to forests for the entire society. Quads, cross-type motorbikes, or off-road vehicles pose a threat to tourists and walkers.
At the same time, the Minister of Climate and Environment asked the Director General of the State Forests to undertake work on creating noise-reducing places for legal riding of quads or cross motorbikes that would not disturb the community.
The increasing scale of the phenomenon translates into major environmental damage and growing social nuisance. Illegal raids cause a lot of damage, and the noise that accompanies them scares animals and prevents rest and recreation. The trampling of areas contributes to the degradation of natural habitats. Forest crops, peat bogs, forest undergrowth, and mushrooms are being destroyed – emphasize experts from the Ministry of Culture and Environment.
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Financial penalties for illegal driving in the forest
The possibility of moving in the forest with motor vehicles is regulated by the Forest Act. Among other things, it states that such vehicles may move on forest roads only if these roads are marked with signposts permitting traffic in that place.
The proposed legislative changes concern tougher penalties for driving vehicles outside forest roads, causing significant noise, destroying plants, damaging animals, fungi and natural habitats (including imprisonment and forfeiture of the vehicle for the most serious cases).
They will ensure the protection of nature and the possibility for visitors to peacefully enjoy the values and silence of the forests.
