Ludington is Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Friendly

[XLFD]

I can't understand why our various outlets for marketing Ludington haven't made the above statement in their push to attract tourism.  Among the various unwritten, unpublished rules that the City of Ludington has passed is the rule that ORVs can operate freely on the streets and beaches of Ludington.  Here's an example taken last year at beautiful Stearn's Beach:

The Recovery Rangers would routinely drive the lengths of the beach looking for whatever they look for on those long summer days.  And that made our beautiful beach look a bit like the dune buggy area at Silver Lake:

I went to Stearn's Park last August and shared some of my observations about the 'improvements' to beach safety made since the previous year, when the City devoted nothing to it, and three lives were lost at Stearn's Beach: sa-tur-day-in-stearn-s-park-i-think-it-was-the-27th-of-august.  Here was last year's Recovery Ranger and his rescue equipment:

This years beach patrol is a little different from last year's beach patrol.  Matt Murphy and Spencer Lindbloom, two quality, stand-up guys who both serve on the Ludington Fire Department, and who have the requisite skills, provide a better backbone to this service.

But they still follow this job description which provides no duty to rescue swimmers in distress in the water, only to assist in responses that occur in the areas outside of the water:  Beach_Patrol_Job_Description    Mayor John Henderson proclaimed Monday this made Stearn's Beach as safe as ever, even with a squad of lifeguards he insisted was necessary for this area as late as 2009.  I disagree, but the ORV is still a big part of the job and it's still being driven on the sand and on the Ludington streets.

The above was taken on the night of this year's sunset celebration, last Friday night.  As you can see, the ORV is cruising down Loomis Street with a lot of people out and about.  This summer, our beach patrol ORV has been seen all over town.  I have seen it about a half dozen different times outside of Stearn's Park.  And I haven't been looking for it.

Surely this means that the law must allow such transportation in Ludington, since in these half dozen times, it was not travelling to or from an emergency, to my knowledge.  Nor was it this day.  But if you look at the Ludington City Code, there is no allowance made for ORVs or ATVs in the City limits.

County law has no special ORV rules for Ludington, only certain eastern Mason County townships.  But what does Michigan state law say.

MCL 324.81131 ORV Rules for Roads

(1) A municipality may pass an ordinance allowing a permanently disabled person to operate an ORV in that municipality.

(5) The legislative body of a municipality located in an eligible county may adopt an ordinance authorizing the operation of ORVs on the maintained portion of 1 or more streets within the municipality.

(13) A violation of an ordinance described in this section is a municipal civil infraction... the court shall order the defendant to pay the cost of repairing any damage to the environment, a road or street, or public property damaged as a result of the violation.

MCL 324.81133 Rules  An individual shall not operate an ORV:

(e) in any area in such a manner as to create an erosive condition.  (See the second picture above.  It is also widely recognized that beach driving can cause serious ecological impacts by potentially destroying nesting areas for sea turtles and birds such as the piping plover and damaging or destroying vegetation and dunes. Shore erosion can be accelerated by careless beach driving and vehicles on the beach can be a safety hazard to beach goers.)

(h) Within 100 feet of a dwelling at a speed greater than the minimum required to maintain controlled forward movement of the vehicle, except on property owned or under the operator's control or on which the operator is an invited guest, or on a roadway, forest road, or forest trail maintained by or under the jurisdiction of the department, or on a road or street on which ORV use is authorized under section 81131(2), (3), or (5).

(r) In a manner contrary to operating regulations on public lands.

MCL 324.81147 Penalties

(2) A person who violates section 81133(e) by operating an ORV in such a manner as to create an erosive condition or who violates section 81133(i) or (o) is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or a fine of not less than $250.00 or more than $1,000.00, or both, for each violation.

(3) A person who violates section 81105, 81107, 81115, 81116, 81121, 81130, or 81133(b), (c), (d), (f), (g), (h), (j), (l), or (m) is responsible for a state civil infraction and may be ordered to pay a civil fine of not more than $500.00.

(5) In addition to the penalties otherwise provided under this part, a court of competent jurisdiction may order a person to restore, as nearly as possible, any land, water, stream bank, streambed, or other natural or geographic formation damaged by the violation of this part to the condition it was in before the violation occurred.

MCL 324.81148 Emergency exception

A person shall not have an ORV condemned pursuant to section 81147 if the trespass is the result of an emergency situation. (ORVs used for emergency situations by emergency responders may be mostly immune to violating ORV laws)

Further reading on ORV laws can be read about here in not so formal of language, including that shoreline is an erosive surface (p. 37):  Michigan ORV Handbook

For two years, the City of Ludington has had beach patrols.  Both years the patrols have liberally used an ORV to cross an erosive area (Stearn's Beach), and have tooled around the City streets in a vehicle that the state restricts from doing so until and unless certain conditions are met, which the City of Ludington or its ORV drivers have not met.  The ORV vehicle is not meant for driving on the streets, the City does not permit such vehicles to operate within the City in the way it has been used, and the operation of it is unsafe and leads to a host of liability issues that should not ever be considered as negligible.

The tires are meant for off-road travel, they have a hard time braking, handling, and turning when they are on pavement.  The vehicle itself is not meant for road use.  At the meeting this Monday, I said:

"The beach patrol is there for code enforcement and public safety, not for rescuing and public relations like the lifeguards.  They have routinely drove through the beach on an all-terrain vehicle for non-emergency purposes, even though such travel is forbidden by State law.  They use that same ATV in non-emergency purposes to drive on city streets even though no local ordinance permits that.  We spend more, we get less.  We make our beach less attractive to tourism.  We make the traffic laws two-tiered."

So either let's start actually enforcing the law for these law-breaking beach patrol police officers or start driving our own ORVs throughout the City streets and Stearn's Beach and make the City even less safe.

[Willy]

It's possible that it is street legal. I do believe it has a license plate, tail lights and head lights and as long as they have seat belts I would presume it can travel on public roads. Many large cities use these types of small vehicles for jobs such as issuing parking tickets. The second exception below would cover this. 

An ORV may not be operated on any public highway, street, or right-of-way, except:

• To cross at right angles after a complete stop (not on limited access highways)
• For ORVs also registered as motor vehicles under the Michigan Vehicle Code
• In a special event held under a government permit

[XLFD]

It does have all those things you mention, and I'm not sure about the seat belts.  I am curious about whether it actually was registered as a motor vehicle under the MVC or just registered as an ORV, and presumed the latter.

Cities can make their own regulations limits for operation on the roadway, within their jurisdiction.  Which is what governs most city use here in Michigan.  Thanks for the closer scrutiny, I might have to FOIA the registration of it, if they claim that.