PHIPPSBURG

A teenage boy was operating a four-wheeler Wednesday night on Route 209, following another vehicle closely and operating without taillights, Police Chief John Skroski said today.

All that, the chief said, adds up to a dangerous situation.

“With no lighting on, a car from the rear could come from behind with a serious crash resulting,” Skroski said. “It is extremely dangerous. ATVs are not designed to be operating in a public roadway. They do not offer the protection.”

Skrkoski summonsed  the 16-year-old Bath resident on charges of operating an ATV in a public way and operating an unregistered ATV. The chief also warned the boy for operating an ATV without proper lighting, and for imprudent speed.

It was at 5:23 p.m., Skroski said, when he turned into the Phippsburg Elementary School yard to conduct a routine check. He heard a vehicle drive by on 209, and the noise of a four-wheeler behind it.

The four-wheeler was traveling at same rate of speed as the car, in the southbound lane, Skroski said. The speed limit near the school is 45 miles per hour, but it’s 55 not far from there, so vehicles commonly travel at around 50 in that vicinity, he said.

After pulling the boy over, Skroski noted it was the same person he had warned earlier for buzzing down the side of the road in his four-wheeler. People on ATVs can enter the roadway at the far right in going from trail to trail by state law, he said.

“There a lot of good riders, but a few just push the envelope,” he said. “This is an important issue down here.”