Farrington Highway travels westward toward Ka'ena Point along both sides of the Wai'anae Mountain Range, which divides the North Shore from the Wai'anae Coast.

Lately, though, folks on both sides of the divide have come to a meeting of the minds:

They've had their fill of all-terrain vehicles illegally tearing up and down public beaches along the island's most remote region, inflicting havoc on the environment, endangering the public and flouting the law.

"It's not like they're hiding it," said Jo Jordan, parks committee chair for the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board. "They're blatant. They set up tents, have picnics, and bring their ATVs and big four-wheel drives and spend the whole day. They're brazen about it."

Jordan said the problem, which has been escalating for years, has reached the extreme.

"It's like a war zone at times," said George McPheeters, a Honolulu surgeon who owns a cottage near Mokule'ia on the North Shore. "I'm out there a lot; I fly gliders there, and from up high you can look down and see the degree of damage ATVs are doing to the beaches.

"It's like the Wild West. It's completely out of control. This has been going on for years, but it's been getting worse and worse because they're selling more and more ATVs."

McPheeters says the problem is that four-wheeled off-road vehicles that require wide-open spaces are being widely marketed in an island location that's ill-suited to accommodate such things.

"You're supposed to use them on private land, but people who buy them here don't have land," he said. "ATVs belong out in Arizona or the outback of Utah, which makes accommodations for these things."

Both Jordan and McPheeters say they've seen men, women and children whipping around the public beaches on ATVs, spinning in circles, and even driving at night on local roadways. They say the situation would be an accident waiting to happen except that the wait is over.

On the Wai'anae Coast alone there have been two serious ATV accidents in recent months. One man flipped his ATV and broke his neck at Makua Beach, while another was killed in a highway collision at Farrington Highway and the entrance leading to the Wai'anae Boat Harbor.

"It's a huge problem," said William Aila, harbor master for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

CONFRONTING RIDERS

Aila acknowledges that the department's enforcement division is woefully understaffed — there have been times when as few as two DLNR enforcement beat officers have patrolled the huge expanse from Pearl Harbor to Ka'ena Point — but he says DLNR has known about the ATV problem for several years and has done little about it. "I'm frustrated that DLNR enforcement can't do more," he said.

Aila has had confrontations with ATV riders, particularly at Makua Beach, an ATV hot spot.

"I've tried to reason with them," he said. "I've said, 'How would you feel if I took one of these things and drove over your grandparents' graveyard,' because we've got kupuna buried in the sand along any beach out here."

He's pointed out other problems with ATVs on beaches: They are a danger to cultural resources, hazardous to indigenous plants, destructive to sea turtle egg nests and unsafe for people using the parks.

He's reminded riders that it's illegal to operate an ATV on any public land or road. The only legal places to operate ATVs on O'ahu are on private land and the Kahuku Motocross Park.

Reactions have run from apologies to indignation to physical threats, he said.

Gary Moniz, DLNR enforcement chief, is well aware of West O'ahu's ATV problem.

"It's an issue that's longstanding," he said. "We've tried to deal with it. We've issued citations in the past. But I've asked the guys to retool and look at it again."

The difficulty is compounded by the fact that violators can no longer be arrested or given criminal citations, Moniz said.

"What happened was that a couple of years ago, the Legislature decriminalized driving on the beach," he said. "It used to be a criminal citation. ... We could even arrest for it."

Now, he said, violators can be issued a traffic citation, but only if the person is caught in the act of operating the ATV on the beach. Otherwise, "it's real tough to prosecute them."

Moniz said the DLNR is trying to coordinate with both the Honolulu Police Department and the military police, which have the same ATV enforcement issues on county and military beaches. Army Beach Park in Mokule'ia, for example, has long been a haven of ATV activity on weekends and holidays.

NOISY 'FREE-FOR-ALL'

Dan Schat owns Hawaiian Flyer, a glider company that operates at the western end of Dillingham Air Field directly across the highway from Army Beach. He describes the weekend ATV activity there as "a free-for-all" that sends dirt and trash sailing over the highway and directly onto the airfield.

"The planes get covered with dust," he said. "And, it's noisy. I do believe it's a problem the military needs to solve."

But, according to Mike Hamilton, deputy director of emergency services for Schofield Barracks, that hasn't been easy. Signs prohibiting off-road vehicles have been removed from the park, joining concrete barriers that have long since disappeared, he said.

While periodic military police patrols have been effective in temporarily chasing off ATVs from the area, once the authorities go, the four-wheelers soon return. New concrete barriers are planned, but Hamilton said ATV owners simply unload farther down the coast and then drive back to Army Beach.

Still, he said the Army has established a "concurrent jurisdiction" agreement with the Police Department — meaning either police or the MPs can issue citations on the beach park.

But Aila isn't convinced those efforts will have any lasting effect. He thinks the rules need to be changed so that officers can issue citations for possession of an ATV on public lands as well as employ the power to confiscate. Once a few owners have had their vehicles taken away, the problem would evaporate, he said.

Jordan thinks requiring ATV registration also would be effective. Right now, she said, ATVs are less regulated than kids' bicycles.

But Bill Kato, sales manager for South Seas Cycle Exchange Inc. on Nimitz Highway, said the ultimate responsibility rests with ATV owners. Every ATV buyer at South Seas watches a "Ride Safe, Ride Smart" video and is automatically enrolled in an ATV Safety Institute rider training course.

"There's no reason for these people to be riding these things where they're not supposed to," he said. "It's like me shooting a gun in my backyard instead of going to the target range.

"The Kahuku Motocross Park is especially designed for off-road dirt bikes and ATVs, and it's still in operation. So right now there's a place to ride these things, but they don't go there."

WANTED: MORE FACILITIES

One thing nearly everyone agrees about is the need for locations where ATV owners can safely ride their vehicles.

"The solution would be to have more facilities available for ATVs," Kato said. "This is an island with a million people, and it's got one track for these things. I don't even know how many golf courses there are."

And, while Moniz didn't offer any specifics about the plan, he said the DLNR is looking into opening up some land for ATV use. "We've been advocating that pretty much throughout the whole state," Moniz said. "To designate an area where these people can go, to take them out of the more pristine areas that we want to protect."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.