Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Running 4 wheelers on public roads

I know many towns and states allow 4 wheelers on public roads with the proper lights but I wonder how long it will be until the feds step in. No 4 wheeler meets all the regulations that a car has to meet, crash tests, emissions, etc. They don't meet the definitions of a motorcycle. Is there a special set of federal rules that they fall under? It looks to me like it's ripe for a rule happy agency to jump all over.

They sure are a nuisance here in WI. A lot of the northern county roads allow them and they don’t go even go the speed limit and it is a hazard to pass them because there is usually a whole group of them running together. Everyone I talk to tells me that they worse gas mileage than their car, so I do wonder what the fascination of running on the road is? Dirt bikes are still forbidden on the roads and they have about the same lighting as an ATV or UTV.

In some states they can be classified as "vehicle of animal husbandry" with markings like a tractor, triangle slow moving. Lots used in the AG community.

I doubt running around on one like an idiot qualifies.

Just be glad you don't have the Amish and their fuucking horse buggies on the road to deal with. They damn sure don't go the speed limit. You get stuck behind them for miles going 10 mph and you will learn to hate the sonsabitches. If they're going to allow those, plus bicycles and mopeds/scooters they damn sure aught to allow ATV's.

Not legal in my area but people do it all the time.

Here in Utah......city streets/county roads can and are used for routes to trail heads

These routes are marked with 'ATV route signage'

Used by ATV/UTV/dirt bikes whether street legal or not

All that is required is that the machine is properly registered...annual off road registration

For example.....my '18 Kawi Teryx the annual off road fee runs around $56

Street legal kits are an option with registered license plate included

Kids under 16 w/o drivers license are required to have helmet & off road training/certification

Utah is a very friendly to off road vehicles...big dollar businesses support

Link shown.....one of the biggest ATV/UTV events held in Utah

https://paiutejam.com/?page_id=59

When I was a kid, the Game Warden wrecked a neighbor kid running his
dirt bike on the road. Kid was bruised up, and arrested.

Today, packs of drunks run their SxSs from bar to bar on Sunday runs.
Some so long they carry gas cans along with their coolers.

And the cops leave them alone.

They also run across private property as they see fit.
Again, no repercussions.

Yep, I see ATV's/UTV's running down the roads in Pa. all the time. Bunches of them riding together sometimes and pulling into stores and gas stations to refuel. So much so that I thought maybe it was legal. They are not legal on the roads here in NY but people run them on back roads all the time anyway. Sometimes a cop will nail you for it while I've seen others ignore it. Just depends on the cop and his mood at the time I guess but more often than not they seem to ignore so long as it's on a rural back road.

If you want the cops to quit harassing you, there's a way to do it...but I highly recommend against it. That's to start petitioning to get it on the next ballot to be voted on by the public. If it passes, the cops can't bother you. But, that's why I don't recommend it. If it loses, the cops will be on you like stink on Biden. They'll shut it down completely. Many voters hate 4 wheelers like they do bicycles.

ATV's and UTV's bother me a whole lot less than bicycles, scooters and particularly those Amish with their horse buggies. The ATV's are usually going at a decent rate of speed down a back road at least and most often stay over toward or on the shoulders if they can. Not the case with those pokey buggies and often the bicycles too. Been more than once I've come around a curve and damn near rear ended a buggy and had to really slam on the brakes or swerve into the other lane to avoid it. I would outlaw those fuggin buggies in a heartbeat if it were up to me. Those Amish need to get with the program and buy cars or stay the fuuck home. It's particularly irritating because many use tractors and skid steers on their farms and will accept a ride in a car but insist on driving those damned buggies to town.

You ought to experience 8500 gallon of gasolene behind you,
cruising down a twisty state road about 9 on a nice Sunday morning.
Into a blind tur...HO-LI-PHŮCK!


An A-mish Freightliner going about 10!

That'll make you spill your coffee and suck seat cover up your åss.



Some townships have made SXSs legal on TWP roads.
Those are the back, back roads.
Dirt, or ones without lines. Right wheels in the dirt paring oncoming cars.
Most, don't go far.

Our townships experience is completely opposite this since the county legalized ATV and SxS use on public roads a few years ago.
Compliance with regulations is rare, be it type of machine, location, safety or speed. And of course DWI.
Public lands, on which there is no legal ORV use, have become open season whether there is a "trail" or not.
LE seems to have no interest in enforcement.
The county has layed out the rules and regulations, referring to "DOT approved" in some instances.

Another thing that pisses me off is that we have snowmobile trails that go all over the State, across hundreds of miles of both public and private land, down roads, through towns and over bridges yet there are no public ATV trails and the only place you can legally ride them is on private land. This despite the fact that we are required to license and register them. Well fuuck those money grubbin cock suckers, if we can't ride them on any public trails/roads we damn sure shouldn't have to pay to license and register them.

That's how it is here in NJ. Dirt bikes too.

Mi made it basically to expensive with a alot of hoops to jump through to make them legal. You still see legal ones but usually they are like RAZR 1000's and similar.

Sheriff's generally won't bother you if your not driving crazy. I'm in a farming community so it's common. I'll hop in ours and run to the gas station or somewhere in town if it's a nice day.

Again

Utah is more than ATV/UTV friendly (guns too)

Marysvale in central Utah is in the middle of everything

Beautiful area !

http://marysvaleutah.org/

We have atv trails here - 100's of miles of them. Most are 50" trails so most UTV's are prohibited. We have a 50" Polaris RZR that we can take on any of them.

Nice ! Wish we had the same. We have hundreds of miles of "seasonal limited use highways" { unmaintained dirt roads} going through our State forests and ATV's aren't allowed on those either. 4x4's, horses, buggies, motorcycles and snowmobiles but no ATV's. It's ridiculous and little wonder so many ATV owners ignore the law and ride on them anyway.

It’s not a fascination with running in the road in WI. Pay attention…the roads ARE the atv trails. I run them all the time in WI. It’s far from a fascination, it’s annoying.

The best way to get the police to stop bothering you is to obey the law. I know today in this liberal age of "I wanna do it so I should be allowed to do it" BS that is a foreign concept.