BILL NO. 273

(as introduced)

1st Session, 59th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
54 Elizabeth II, 2005

Private Member's Bill

Off-highway Vehicles Act
(amended)

John MacDonell
Hants East

First Reading: October 27, 2005

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

Clause 1 adds that permission from owners or occupiers of land for off-highway vehicle operators to go on their land must be in writing.

(a) protects owners and occupiers of property from liability for damages to off-highway vehicle operators and passengers who drive their vehicles over the land, except for damage deliberately caused by the owner or occupier of the land;

(b) ensures that operators of off-highway vehicles do not acquire rights in the land through the use of the off-highway vehicle on the land;

(c) prevents the use of off-highway vehicles in protected wilderness areas except for the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia, who may use those trails for three years, or less, if alternative trails are available;

(d) protects the equal access of persons with disabilities to protected wilderness areas; and

(e) requires the Minister to work with the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia to develop alternative trails for the members of that Association, outside protected wilderness areas.

1 Subsection 14(1) of Chapter 323 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Off-highway Vehicles Act, is amended by adding "written" immediately after "the" in the fifth line.

2 Chapter 323 is further amended by adding immediately after Section 14 the following Sections:

14A (1) Except for damage, injury or death intentionally caused by an owner or occupier of property, no owner or occupier of property is liable for any damage, injury or death to any person or property that results from the use of an off-highway vehicle on that owner or occupier's property.

(2) An owner or operator of an off-highway vehicle does not acquire any right in an owner or occupier's land by operating an off-highway vehicle on the land.

(3) Subsections (1) and (2) apply whether or not the owner or occupier of property has given permission to an owner or operator of an off-highway vehicle to operate that vehicle on the owner or occupier's land.

14B (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall operate an off-highway vehicle in a protected wilderness area.

(2) For a period of three years after the coming into force of this Section, members of the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia may use trails or routes that are designated for use by them in a protected wilderness area, until those trails or routes are replaced by alternative trails or routes outside the protected wilderness area, as long as members of the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia continue to work, in good faith, on the development of alternative trails or routes.

(3) Notwithstanding anything in this Section, the Minister shall ensure that a person with a disability has equal access to a protected wilderness area as a person without a disability.

14C The Minister shall work with the Snowmobilers Association of Nova Scotia to develop alternative trails or routes outside a protected wilderness area to replace trails or routes that are designated for use by snowmobilers in a protected wilderness area.