What does OFF-ROAD mean and what is an OFF-ROAD VEHICLE?
BY DR JOHN COLLINS
Recently this question has cropped up repeatedly, so it is timely to explore what offroad means in the context of responsible four-wheel driving and explore possible definitions.
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e know that definitions can be vexatious topics as many people have a tendency to use highly specialised and often technical terms out of context. That said, there are very few English language words that have or retain a single meaning as our language is dynamic with word use and meaning continually changing over time. I’m confident that readers will be able to point to many examples, but one of my favourites is “decimation”, which is often used as a synonym for “devastation” in conversation and/or media reporting. This invites spleen from some linguistic enthusiasts who cling to the historic barbaric ancient Roman practice of executing one in every ten soldiers as a form of military punishment. But relax, for according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it's now totally fine to use “decimate” as a synonym for “devastate”. There are many other tricky English words such as when, a, person, use, tricky, or word, all of which have multiple meanings, so we use context to
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understand the speaker’s intent. For this reason, the first step to deciding what offroad means is the review of some of the legislative or government definitions that are used in Western Australia to provide conversational context. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the purchases of four-wheel drive vehicles registered under the Road Traffic Act 1974 (RTA) as a growing number of people want to enjoy off-road or fourwheel driving. At the same time, there has been increasing public concern expressed about the environmental damage that can and is being caused to coastal, hilly, and wetland areas by irresponsible driving of a variety of motorised recreational vehicles. Communities also express concern about safety issues relating to conflicting use of the environment particularly in coastal areas that has resulted in land managers excluding off-road vehicles in Western Australia and in other Australian jurisdictions. To mitigate damage resulting from inappropriate off-road vehicle use, considerable funds are spent by all levels of Western Australian government to restore damage being done by off-road vehicles. Organisations such as Track Care WA Inc., the Western Australian Four-Wheel
