{"id":37175,"date":"2025-01-29T09:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T15:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37175"},"modified":"2025-01-29T09:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T15:51:17","slug":"atv-utv-county-road-use-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37175","title":{"rendered":"ATV, UTV county road use considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

All-terrain vehicles and utility-type vehicles could be registered and driven on county roads under a bill heard Jan. 28 by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Dave Wordekemper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under LB337, introduced by Fremont Sen. Dave Wordekemper, ATVs and UTVs registered under the Motor Vehicle Registration Act could be operated on highways \u2014 except when prohibited by a county, city or village ordinance \u2014 other than the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, highways that are part of the state highway system, expressways and freeways.<\/p>\n

Wordekemper said the bill would not affect a current exemption allowing ATVs and UTVs to be used outside city limits if incidental to the vehicle\u2019s use for agricultural purposes, nor would it change current law allowing a city, village or county board to prohibit the operation of an ATV or UTV within city limits by ordinance or resolution.<\/p>\n

Many Nebraska municipalities allow ATVs and UTVs on their streets, he said, but residents who live outside city limits cannot legally drive their vehicles into town on public roadways. Wordekemper said this \u201cconfusing and inconsistent legal framework\u201d inconveniences residents and results in lost economic activity related to ATV and UTV recreation.<\/p>\n

LB337 would require the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue one license plate for each ATV and UTV that is registered. The bill would set a base motor vehicle tax of $25 for the machines, a base motor vehicle fee of $5 and a registration fee of $3.<\/p>\n

The department estimates that 30,000 ATVs and UTVs would be registered in fiscal year 2025-26 and an additional 50,000 in FY2026-27, generating $978,000 in state and local revenue the first year and $1.5 million the second.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, ATV and UTV operators and passengers would be subject to the same requirements regarding the use of helmets and eye protection that apply to motorcycle operators and passengers. ATV and UTV operators and passengers would not have to wear a helmet or eye protection if they are wearing a seatbelt or a three-point safety belt system.<\/p>\n

Clayton Novotny, owner of ATV and UTV dealerships in Norfolk and Columbus, testified in support of the proposal. Under LB337, he said, owners could drive their vehicles between municipalities that allow their use, and farmers and ranchers could use the machines for trips and errands at the end of the workday instead of having to drive home to switch to a traditional vehicle.<\/p>\n

Vicki Kramer, director of the state Department of Transportation, gave neutral testimony on LB337. She said ATVs and UTVs are off-road vehicles that are not designed to be driven on high-speed roads alongside traditional motor vehicles.<\/p>\n

Iowa and South Dakota both saw increased fatality rates after allowing broader use of ATVs and UTVs on public roads, Kramer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cExperience is showing us that ATVs and UTVs on roadways is going to be more deadly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All-terrain vehicles and utility-type vehicles could be registered and driven on county roads under a bill heard Jan. 28 by the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[303],"class_list":["post-37175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transportation-and-telecommunications","tag-sen-dave-wordekemper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/LB337Wordekemper1-28-25a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37175"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37177,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37175\/revisions\/37177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}