AB 105

Current law prohibits the operation of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) or utility

terrain vehicles (UTVs) on any freeway that is part of the federal system of interstate

and defense highways and on any part of any other freeway unless the Department

of Transportation authorizes that use. Current law also generally prohibits

operation of an ATV or UTV on all other highways, with various exceptions. Under

current law a “highway” includes all public ways and thoroughfares and all bridges

on those public ways and thoroughfares, and a “freeway” is a highway with full

control of access and with all crossroads separated in grade from the pavements for

through traffic.

Current law exempts from these freeway and highway prohibitions the

operator of an ATV or UTV owned by a municipality, state agency, or public utility,

or by the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, while engaged in an

emergency or if the operation is directly related to the functions of that entity, unless

safety requires strict adherence to the restrictions. This bill adds the operator of an

ATV or UTV owned by an electric cooperative to this exemption.