Read this, time to write to your State Representative

[bren]

If I am reading this right they are trying to make UTV's and other "off road vehicles" no longer street legal.
To me it is not clear if they would be considering sand rails or dune buggy's as part of this or not.
To be safe, write to your representative! If it is currently street legal, we need to keep it that way!

www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2013-2014/billengrossed/Senate/htm/2013-SEBS-0491.htm

[bren]

www.house.mi.gov/mhrpublic/

[vanapplebomb]

Whoa... I hope this doesn't turn out to be like the situation in Texas were they wouldn't allow any more fiberglass buggies to be registered. That was a while ago. I never did hear how that issue panned out.

[MikeH]

Vehicles must be registered as a condition of use on a public road. If this bill passes, by refusing registration, in effect the vehicle can never be used on a public road.

Most offroad vehicles already cannot be run on a public road. But in this new bill, if you've modified your sandrail vehicle with lights/turn signals, it will still be classified as pure offroad vehicle and cannot be registered for road use.

This includes tractors, UTV's, ATV's, dirt bikes, golf carts, snow mobiles,sand rails, etc. Tractors probably get an exception somewhere though its not evident in this bill.

[81pumagtc]

I checked with a friend in the Michigan State House of Representatives, and he said that the intent of this is for off-road vehicles that can only drive 20 mph and are often used in retirement communities, gated communities, etc. These would are not technically road cars, but some folks use them to drive around town. We have several people use these here in Perry, and they are kind of a menace, no seat belts, etc., and seem to be driven by old folks, or people too young for a driver's license. These are called "off road" vehicles by the state, but their version of off-road vehicles are different than our description of off-road vehicles...


Dave Riedle

[Ruffuss]

And next will be all ?off road vehicles, show and speciality vehicles?? Who was the the idiot who sponsored this bill, vote the SOB out.
Kenn

[bren]

Dave, thanks for doing that research with your friend. Wonder why the document does not spell out that max vehicle speed criteria.

[bren]

Dear Bren,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The intent of the bill is to prevent vehicles that were never intended for on road use (went through the testing and safety preparation etc…) from being registered and plated for on road use. The Secretary of State has indicated that a nominal amount have titles have been issued for these type of vehicles and under current law, they must allow a vehicle to be registered even if it was never intended for that use as long as it meets the most basic requirements. Further, to be registered, a Michigan vehicle must have insurance coverage for which there has been poor consistency and accuracy in coverage offered by providers for such vehicles due to their vastly different construction of the vehicles.

As I understand it, the criteria is simply how the vehicle is described on its certificate of origin, the document which is required for all ORVs sold in Michigan by the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. Certainly, I would anticipate that vehicles that are sold in the future that are intended for mixed uses would be more clearly identified by the manufacture should this bill be signed into law.

Presently the bill is under consideration in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I encourage you to contact your state representative to express any concerns as they will most likely have the most up to date information on its status.

Thanks again for your e-mail and questions.

Sincerely,

Mike Nofs
State Senator
District 19