Off-Road Vehicles in the Neighborhood

Q: I live in a neighborhood in the county, and we have people who race up and down our streets on mini-bikes, dirt bikes, and three- and four-wheelers, often after dark with no lights. These vehicles are loud, none of them are licensed, and some of the riders are too young to even get a driver’s license. All I can see is a disaster happening. Are these vehicles legal on neighborhood streets?

A: This might set a new record for most laws broken in one question. If I make a few assumptions, I think I can easily get to nine. My first assumption: You used “race” to mean “willfully compare or contest relative speeds” as described in the law. It’s never been legal to race on public roads but, as of 2023, the law says it constitutes reckless driving (which is a crime).

It’s possible that you used “race” figuratively, to mean they’re driving faster than they should. We all know exceeding the speed limit is a violation of the law, so there’s violation number two.

This next one could be multiple violations, but I’m going to count it as one. Off-road vehicles, like the ones you listed, don’t typically come with things like mirrors, fenders, turn signals, and other safety equipment that is unnecessary on a trail but critical and required by law when driving on a public road.

Of course, if a vehicle doesn’t have the required safety equipment, you wouldn’t be able to register it for road use. Without registration, it’s not legal to operate a motor vehicle on a public street.

Among the vehicles listed in your question, one of them could conceivably be operated on a public road. A four-wheeler that meets the legal requirements for a wheeled all-terrain vehicle, including all the safety equipment, after going through the registration process, can be driven on some roads, with limitations. Unless your county has a population of less than 15,000 or an ordinance allowing it, the four-wheeler probably has to stay on the trails.

Driving at night without headlights is a violation of the law when you’re driving a car, but for motorcycles and wheeled all-terrain vehicles, headlights are actually required whenever the vehicle is being ridden on a road, day and night.

The law requires that motor vehicles have a working muffler that prevents excessive noise, defined at anything above 82 decibels (measured at 50 feet) for motorcycles. Without a device to measure the sound of the motorcycles it’s hard to know for sure how loud they are, but vehicles built for off-road use aren’t bound by that rule and likely exceed that limit.

The under-age riders would be in violation of the law that says, “No person may drive a motor vehicle upon a highway in this state without first obtaining a valid driver’s license,” as well as the one that prohibits people under the age of sixteen from operating an off-road vehicle on a public road. For the ones riding two- and three-wheeled vehicles I suppose we could add on the requirement for a motorcycle endorsement.

I could probably find more violations, but instead I want to end with some thoughts about the under-age riders. If you’re 32 years old and riding an unlicensed off-road vehicle on a public road at night with inadequate safety equipment and no headlight, that’s on you. But kids, they need boundaries set by grown-ups who have their long-term best interests in mind. Per mile traveled, more people die on motorcycles than any other vehicle. By a lot. Don’t let a kid ride one on a public street.

Window Tint – Can You See Me Now?

Q: Is it legal in Washington to have windows so dark that cross traffic cannot see the driver’s face? I have had two incidents where a car has pulled out in front of me where a near crash situation would have been avoided had I been able to see if the driver had looked my way.

A: I know someone who bought a car with tint so dark he had to drive with the windows down at night. Not a joke. He promptly removed the tint, both for functionality and legality. There are limits to window tint, both for safe driving and the law.

Continue reading “Window Tint – Can You See Me Now?”

The Best Parking Spot

Q: Lately I’ve seen a lot of motorcycles parking in the hashed area adjacent to posted handicapped parking spaces. I’ve always understood that the hashed area was part of the handicapped parking space to allow room for persons getting into and out of vehicles. Is parking in the hashed area a handicapped parking violation or just rude?

A: It’s not just rude (I mean, it is rude, but not just that.) The law states that it’s an infraction to “stop, stand, or park in, block, or otherwise make inaccessible the access aisle located next to a space reserved for persons with physical disabilities.” Maybe the motorcyclists thought they found a loophole. They didn’t. But even if they had, a loophole is often the term for justifying poor behavior to gain an advantage.

Continue reading “The Best Parking Spot”

Exceptions for Phone Use While Driving

Q: It’s clearly dangerous to talk on the phone while driving, and it makes sense that we have a law against it, but why are the police allowed to do it?

A: The longer cell phones are around, the more we all agree that they don’t mix well with driving. According to AAA surveys, in 2009, 58 percent of us thought that drivers talking on their phones were a serious threat. By 2014, 66 percent of us thought it was unacceptable, and in 2023, 78 percent of us thought it was very dangerous. The remaining 22 percent thought it was slightly or somewhat dangerous; nobody put it in the ‘not dangerous at all’ category. It’s hard to ignore all the evidence (in the form of crashes), and our attitudes toward distracted driving have shifted to reflect that (including 78 percent of Washington drivers who support enforcement of distracted driving).

Continue reading “Exceptions for Phone Use While Driving”

Navigating Narrow Neighborhood Streets

Q: I live in a neighborhood with some two-way roadways that, when cars are parked on the side of the road, are too narrow for cars approaching each other from opposite directions to pass. Who has to yield when there are cars parked on one side and not the other?

A: I used to think that what you’ve described was a problem. Now I think it might be a feature. Sure, it’s a little inconvenient to drive through a neighborhood with narrow roads, but maybe that same inconvenience makes it a better place to live.

Continue reading “Navigating Narrow Neighborhood Streets”

The Crash Risk of an Unregistered Vehicle

A: On my daily walks I’ve noticed a large increase in outdated license tabs, some of them for more than a year. Is there a fine for not renewing? It doesn’t seem fair as I thought our State needs the money for our infrastructure.

A: If you ask a traffic safety guy about revenue, you’re probably not going to get the answer you’re looking for. Yes, there is a fine for not renewing, and yes, our state needs money for infrastructure. But what I really want to know is, do drivers of unregistered vehicles crash more often? And to go even broader, let’s take a look at what I’m calling the ‘uns’: unlicensed, untrained, uninsured, and unregistered.

Continue reading “The Crash Risk of an Unregistered Vehicle”

Driving a Homemade Vehicle

Q: I saw a, I’m not sure what you’d call it. Imagine the front half of a motorcycle attached to the back half of an old VW bug. It got me wondering, how much can you modify a vehicle before you’re required to get some sort of approval to drive it on the road?

A: One good indicator that it needs approval is when you don’t know what it is. Is it a 1972 VW Beetle or a 1987 Yamaha Virago? The law would call that a homemade vehicle, described in part as, “A vehicle that has been constructed by using major component parts from one or more manufactured vehicles and cannot be identified as a specific make and model.” A homemade vehicle can also be, and this seems like it in the purest sense, “A vehicle that has been constructed entirely from homemade parts and materials not obtained from other vehicles.”

Continue reading “Driving a Homemade Vehicle”