OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The City of Oshkosh is asking for the public's help in deciding whether or not UTVs and ATVs should be allowed on city streets.
- Currently, UTVs are illegal to drive in Oshkosh, and ATVs are only allowed to snowplow sidewalks and driveways in the winter.
- After Winnebago County changed its laws, allowing ATVs and UTVs on county roads, there has been a push for the City of Oshkosh to do the same.
- The transportation committee's survey is open until Oct. 10.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story, edited for web)
Jeremy Probst owns Hexco Motor Sports in Oshkosh, and he says he’s ridden ATVs and UTVs most of his life.
“It's all about the fresh air," he says. "Just exploring Wisconsin in a different format.”
He has been part of the push in Oshkosh to change the laws around ATVs and UTVs.
“Motorcycles have existed on the roadways, for I don’t know how many years- a long time- so this is really no different," he says.
Watch the full broadcast video here:
Currently, ATVs are only allowed to be driven in Oshkosh to snowplow sidewalks and driveways, and UTVs are never allowed.
“I don’t know, I guess it’s just never come up before," Jim Collins, director of transportation, says.
Collins says the push to change the current laws is new.
“I think recently, because Winnebago County just passed an ordinance allowing ATVs and UTVs on county roads," he says.
Some people say ATVs and UTVs can bring in tourism money. Plus, with the ice fishing season coming soon, the vehicles could make it easier to get to the lake.
“There is economic growth that is leaving the area to go somewhere else," Probst says.
Others, like transportation committee member Jeff Armstrong, worry about safety.
“These are meant for rural areas, and I'm just having a hard time seeing the benefit of these riding around in the City of Oshkosh," Armstrong said at the Sept. 9 committee meeting.
Before making a recommendation to the city council, the Oshkosh transportation committee sent out a public survey last Friday.
"It's been a pretty popular survey so far," Collins says. "I think being in Wisconsin, and recreational vehicles are pretty popular, people seem to have a pretty strong opinion on it one way or another."
The survey closes on Oct. 10, and the transportation committee will discuss the results at its meeting on Oct. 14.
“It's just a different form of transportation, and that’s what people need to think of it as," Probst says.
The transportation committee will also discuss electric bike laws at the Oct. 14 meeting.
