“Has Your State Park Joined the Ranks with Mobility Tanks?” – Update All-Terrain Motoring For Persons With Disabilities… Part Deux:
Several states offer wheelchair users the opportunity to explore the great outdoors in places they may have previously been unable to. Now, even more states are providing the “Land Rover of Wheelchairs” at many of their public parks. The chairs have tank style tracks, allowing people with mobility disabilities to enjoy the natural beauty of park trails, even in the most rugged and unaccommodating terrain. Rocks, roots, snow, wetlands, and thick growth no longer prevent access to “bush whackers” with disabilities.
These rugged all-terrain “TrackMaster” chairs cruise along at 5.5 mph (8.85 km). They travel about 10 miles on a single charge, and come equipped with an anti-tip feature. If you’re an avid outdoors-person and would like one of your own, it’ll run you about $23,000. It’s nice to see more and more states allocating money for this accommodation.
This Monday, Connecticut announced their purchase of ten ATV wheelchairs that will soon be available for use at some of their parks. One of the models for off-roading has tires, the other is the more commonly used “tank” tread style. The money came from a grant approved by state legislators, with the total cost for all 10 vehicles cited at $140,000. Connecticut, seems to be leading the way among the New England states in providing off-road enjoyment to its disabled park visitors.
Virginia funded their track-chairs with a specialty license plate program that began in 2019. The license plate was specifically designed to generate funds to make state parks more accessible. The additional charge of $15 for the plate, doesn’t seem like a lot to include taxpayers that also, happened to be wheelchair user’s. The Commonwealth will provide wheelchair “tanks” at six state parks including:
Powhatan State Park, York River State Park, Mason State Park, Shenandoah River State Park, Claytor Lake State Park, Wilderness Road State Park.
In the Mid-Atlantic, New Jersey announced they will add one of these beasts at Wharton State Park, funded by a grant, that also allowed their neighbor across the bridge to purchase one. In July, Delaware announced they will be providing a single track-chair at White Clay Creek State Park. Just as New Jersey, the “First State”, received a grant from Ford, and the Bronco Wild Fund to purchase theirs.
Last year, South Dakota and Georgia unveiled their fleets of All-Terrain wheelchair “tanks” providing accessibility and accommodation. Exploring South Dakota’s badlands on a TrackMaster, would be simply amazing. Hopefully one day, every state will have a fleet of these in every park possible.
Some states do require users to complete an online training course, and to provide advanced notice or make reservations. There are rental fees involved for the “accommodation” in some states. Colorado offers the chairs for free with the price of park admission, as part of their program. Michigan, the very first state to offer ATV wheelchair tanks at Sleeping Bear Dunes Park, does charge, but continues to add to their armada. Minnesota had five chairs last year while finishing a test period to “evaluate the program”. I hope “The State of Hockey” bought some more chairs already… what’s to evaluate when it comes to including the disabled?
In my attempt to find as many state parks that provide wheelchair ATVs, I found that many only listed ATV regulations, and “accessible” or “wheelchair friendly” trails. New York, Ohio, Alabama, and Florida are some of the states that do not appear to have ATV wheelchairs to accommodate taxpayers with mobility issues. Think of some state’s budgets, like Illinois or New York. Do you think there’s $140,000 somewhere, that could be allocated to accommodate and include wheelchair user’s at state parks? If the small state of Delaware has one, why can’t others? Considering the disabled population represents about 28% of the US, I’m certain the taxes we’ve paid over the years, would cover at least a few of these vehicles in every state, nationwide.
I’ve made a kind of “naughty and nice” list for a lot of states, trying to include something for each “nice” state mentioned. Texas, only seems to offer a manually powered solution, which unfortunately, does not help those with limb difference disabilities, as well as some others. If your state is not on this list, my apologies, but you can always search “ATV wheelchairs” at parks in your state. Happy motoring!
States that accommodate the disabled community with ATV wheelchairs at state parks:
- Connecticut – 4 days ago: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/all-terrain-wheelchairs-coming-to-connecticut-state-parks/3392231/
- Virginia – Yesterday: https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/all-terrain-wheelchairs-state-parks/
- Delaware – July: https://www.delawarepublic.org/culture-lifestyle-sports/2024-07-12/delaware-state-parks-unveils-first-all-terrain-wheelchair
- New Jersey – April: https://njmonthly.com/articles/news/all-terrain-wheelchair-wharton-state-forest-pinelands-accessible/
- Missouri details and reservation info: https://mostateparks.com/track-chair
- Missouri Beach wheelchairs (Thanks MalkaB): https://mostateparks.com/page/105811/beach-chair-program
- Montana: https://emerginghorizons.com/trackchairs-in-montana-state-parks/
- Oregon: https://www.orparksforever.org/rolling-out-all-terrain-track-chairs-at-the-coast-2/
- South Carolina: https://www.postandcourier.com/pee-dee/news/waymaker-off-road-wheelchairs-disability-outdoors/article_2aa928f2-ba34-11ee-a585-cb48a0a30717.html
- Texas?: https://myneighborhoodnews.com/all-terrain-wheelchairs-offer-greater-trail-access-in-select-state-parks
- California: https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/destinations/north-america/free-all-terrain-wheelchairs-in-parks/
- Minnesota list of State park with track-chairs: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/track-chairs.html
- Michigan at: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/more-all-terrain-wheelchairs-added-michigan-state-parks
- Colorado – See it in action (video): https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/n
States that do not seem to provide this “reasonable accommodation” to some members of the disabled community:
- Alabama
- Florida
- Illinois
- Maryland
- North Carolina
- New York
- Ohio
- Vermont
- Texas? (follow link above)
If your state has ATV track-chairs available now, or in the future, I’m more happy to update this list as change occurs. You can let me know in the comments below, or on social media through the menu links above. Hopefully one day, updates will not be necessary, once all 50 states… “get with the program”.
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