Telluride CO and UTV's

[fly-boy]

FYI-

While I was in Telluride last week I spoke with a local police officer- I believe the city is served by the sheriffs department. I was told that there is not a law for or against UTV's in Telluride. He said that as long as you have a plate, insurance, registration and don't speed or drive unsafely you will not be ticketed. He said that could always change but as of now we were fine to use it.

Besides me there were several other UTV's driving round the town while I was there.

So don't ruin it and be careless or speed! Being able to drive the UTV in Telluride and link some trails is the bomb!

[JAC1982]

Dirtclods wrote:

RedRocket204 wrote:

fly-boy wrote:
Where the Telluride is a pain came from I have no idea because they were great about UTV's based on my experience and what I saw there.

It's because things have changed in CO in only the past year. I forget exactly where it was stated but CO is allowing the towns to chose to relax the guidelines allowing ATVs, UTVs or both to use public roads within that towns jurisdiction. But again, dependent on the town as it is not a state control item.

There is talk of mandatory ATV/UTV(SxS) licensing/registration for plating all OHV vehicles in CO so things are most likely to continue to change here.

(relax the guidelines allowing ATVs, UTVs) Interesting can't have Pit-bulls there but if you need some weed it's all good!

Pit Bulls are a town by town decision. Same with weed actually, the towns/cities still have to allow the dispensaries etc. to be there.

[Dirtclods]

RedRocket204 wrote:

fly-boy wrote:
Where the Telluride is a pain came from I have no idea because they were great about UTV's based on my experience and what I saw there.

It's because things have changed in CO in only the past year. I forget exactly where it was stated but CO is allowing the towns to chose to relax the guidelines allowing ATVs, UTVs or both to use public roads within that towns jurisdiction. But again, dependent on the town as it is not a state control item.

There is talk of mandatory ATV/UTV(SxS) licensing/registration for plating all OHV vehicles in CO so things are most likely to continue to change here.

(relax the guidelines allowing ATVs, UTVs) Interesting can't have Pit-bulls there but if you need some weed it's all good!

[RedRocket204]

fly-boy wrote:
Where the Telluride is a pain came from I have no idea because they were great about UTV's based on my experience and what I saw there.

It's because things have changed in CO in only the past year. I forget exactly where it was stated but CO is allowing the towns to chose to relax the guidelines allowing ATVs, UTVs or both to use public roads within that towns jurisdiction. But again, dependent on the town as it is not a state control item.

There is talk of mandatory ATV/UTV(SxS) licensing/registration for plating all OHV vehicles in CO so things are most likely to continue to change here.

[fly-boy]

Bionic Man wrote:
Motorcycles are a completely different story to a UTV. With the right equipment, you can plate a dirt bike in Colorado (and then you do not need the sticker). Colorado will not plate a UTV.

Correct- I should have been clearer. The riders I spoke with were referring to all then folks riding on the street without a plate at all.

[Bionic_Man]

Motorcycles are a completely different story to a UTV. With the right equipment, you can plate a dirt bike in Colorado (and then you do not need the sticker). Colorado will not plate a UTV.

[Dirtclods]

(Police don't write tickets if you don't have a plate) But they could because their not CARB compliant. And do not meet current safety laws for a vehicle. Bottom line if your not a jerk and you obey the laws you shouldn't have any issues.

[fly-boy]

The officer I spoke with said if it was plated, insured... he saw no problem. I did not notice any that did not have plates. All were either Utah or Arizona plated.
I spoke with several motorcyclist and asked them about plates on the bikes and they said that if you re following the rules their experience has been that the police don't write tickets if you don't have a plate. One would think the same would hold true for UTV's.

[JAC1982]

fly-boy wrote:
I can only comment on my experience last week in Telluride. We used our UTV to drive around town for a week with no issues. Our RZR is plated in AZ.
During the week I saw several other people driving around town in their UTV's. Daily we would see anywhere from 5 to 30 utv's driving through town after completing the pass.
At any rate- we passed several officers during the week while driving the UTV and had no issues.
Where the Telluride is a pain came from I have no idea because they were great about UTV's based on my experience and what I saw there.

Well that's good to know, they must be relaxing then 🙂 Did you see any that weren't licensed driving around? Since we live here, we can't license ours but it's good to know where we can go and still drive it around.

[fly-boy]

I can only comment on my experience last week in Telluride. We used our UTV to drive around town for a week with no issues. Our RZR is plated in AZ.
During the week I saw several other people driving around town in their UTV's. Daily we would see anywhere from 5 to 30 utv's driving through town after completing the pass.
At any rate- we passed several officers during the week while driving the UTV and had no issues.
Where the Telluride is a pain came from I have no idea because they were great about UTV's based on my experience and what I saw there.

[JAC1982]

Dirtclods wrote:
Your assuming those plates were from Colorado.

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/things-to-do/4x4/ohv-tips


http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5423350.pdf

https://townofmountainvillage.com/media/Ordinance-2016-03-Ordinance-Adopting-Regulations-for-Off-Hig...

These links confirm that it depends on the area as to whether or not they are allowed. Some towns allow them, some don't. Some are legal in town, but only on certain roads. Some are legal in town, but you run into problems once you leave the town limits and have to deal with the state police. Same goes for whether or not it's considered "street legal" in another state.

The OHV registration here is NOT the equivalent of a license plate. It's a sticker, and doesn't mean the vehicle is street legal, they're required for anybody who has their UTV of any kind off of a trailer in the state (Even if just parked).

From what I know (we have a RZR), Telluride is a complete pain in the you know what about UTVs, even when licensed in another state.

This thread from the RZR forum is a few years old (Has an update towards the end from 2015), but informative: http://www.rzrforums.net/general-rzr-discussion/130172-street-legal-utv-colorado.html

[Dirtclods]

Your assuming those plates were from Colorado.

http://www.ouraycolorado.com/things-to-do/4x4/ohv-tips


http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5423350.pdf

https://townofmountainvillage.com/media/Ordinance-2016-03-Ordinance-Adopting-Regulations-for-Off-Hig...

[Bionic_Man]

Interesting comment about having a plate. Especially since Colorado residents can not get one for a UTV or atv.