ATV in Mexico streets

Kidoo wrote:
Looks like a hit and miss, might be ok, might get a ticket. But the rule is for unlicensed vehicle, but our ATV or side by side in my town are licensed, so might get you through.

People just don't listen, do they :) ...

Licensed ATV are allowed off-road but not in all off-road places.
This rule has little to do with being licensed, it's about where ATV are allowed in principle, or, at least, tolerated by the authorities.

If you want to know your chances of being overlooked - not legal status, but only probability - ask seasoned neighbors.

Unlicensed vehicles of ANY kind are not allowed anywhere but on private land.

Just stop before the border and stay in Arizona. ATVs, SidexSides and dirt bikes are legal in AZ with just a few mods, insurance and tags (except freeways).

rocmoc n AZ

It's

The

TEMPORARY
IMPORT
PERMIT

conversely Lack Of a Holographic Decal.

License Plates

Annnnnnnnnnnnd

Legal lights

It's all fun, until it isn't. An ATV isn't a folding pen knife lost by a pat down at a festival.

If the cops get it, it's lost.

Looks like a hit and miss, might be ok, might get a ticket. But the rule is for unlicensed vehicle, but our ATV or side by side in my town are licensed, so might get you through.

I see ATVs - mostly larger side by sides operating on the roads - especially in Mazatlan where they are rented out. During the day people are limited by the slower traffic - but at night they fly up and down the Gold Zone and beyond.
The 3 wheeled cycle (Can-Am) riders I've seen don't appear to have to wear helmets judging from what I saw in Mazatlan.
It very well may illegal to operate ATVs on the road, but like with the crazy low speed limits that everyone exceeds - the police can pick and choose who they stop and who they ignore.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Most Mexican states model their vehicle code after the state of Jalisco vehicle code. That state forbids an unlicensed motor vehicles on roadways under the jurisdictions of the municipios the counties.

What if they are licensed in the USA? Many are all licensed and registered in the US and haven't heard of any problems in Sonora where they are generally accepted.

Most Mexican states model their vehicle code after the state of Jalisco vehicle code. That state forbids an unlicensed motor vehicles on roadways under the jurisdictions of the municipios the counties.

In a nutshell ATVs are only legal on private land and they are definitely not legal on federal land like beaches.

The PFP and SSP are clear about catching undocumented vehicles on SCT highways. Federal highways. The vehicles are subject to immediate forfeiture, the driver to penal fines.

• "Beach" is a defined zone and it isn't merely sand located next to salt water. The protection of birds and turtles is a high motivator and tidal zones are different from hard packed sand bordering protected beaches
• Places infested with quads like San Felipe, have swarms of Quads but if they venture onto the intertidal zone the navy or the marines can sieze the vehicle
• Few tiny villages anywhere ban quads or unlicensed motor bikes. But venture outside of town and the policia municipal can raise legal issues
• Crossing a ramote road or using it for a short distance is often overlooked. Having a cop follow you for miles on a rural paved highway is another
• Most towns of 5-10,000 and larger outright ban quads and motorbikes in zonas centros (downtown)
• On SCE highways a PFP federal will overlook a quad or bike shortcutting across an undivided highway. Not so with divided highways. Farmers sometimes have shortcuts across Cuotas. The highway patrol often overlooks this
• The word regulated, in Mexico is an Oxymoron
• The only halfway certain way to know the local customs is to ask seasoned neighbors what is permitted and what isn't
• My son-in-law drives a quad on the beach. He is tasked with unearthing turtle eggs and taking them to the hatching shed. The quad is an artifact seized in Playa Azul some years ago and is the property of Pesca. Don't mess around on the beaches that is the one thing that flatly is not tolerated.