Off-road vehicle laws are a set of laws people know exist, but don’t necessarily know all the specifics of, myself included.

I received the following in a letter: “My brother recently bought a John Deere Gator ORV. It’s equipped with a crush-proof cab, plus all the safety accessories. He claims he can drive it on public roads without vehicle license or stickers because it probably has agricultural tractor status. I’d say he is wrong. What is your legal opinion?”

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ website clearly states, “An ORV license is required to ride eligible county roads, frozen surface of public waters, state forest (that are open to ORV use) and eligible national forest roads. A license is not required to operate on private lands; however, an ORV trail permit is required to ride on state-designated ORV Trail/Routes and special ORV-use areas.”

The website also offers a detailed chart to tell a citizen when an ORV permit and license is required because of the size and nature of the vehicle.

So, in this case, a standard John Deere Gator is typically over 50 inches in width, so, legally it cannot be operated on the designated ORV trails. For a regular ORV that is operated on designated ORV routes passable by conventional two-wheel drive passenger vehicles, it would require both the ORV license and the ORV trail permit.

However, here in northern Michigan several counties have approved ORV operation on the roadway that everyday vehicles operate on, with a few exceptions.

ORV’s are not able to operate on any state highways that begin with M-, U.S., or I-, such as M-33, U.S.-23, or I-75.

Also, to operate the ORV on the roadway, you must travel to the far right of the maintained portion of the roadway and not exceed 25 mph, even if the road is marked as 55 mph for vehicles. For you to legally operate on the roadway, you must purchase the ORV license for $26.25 and display the sticker on the ORV.

To answer the above question, legally, the John Deere Gator can be used on the roadway as an agricultural vehicle with only a slow-moving sign.

However, if the Gator is being used on the roadway in a manner that is not agriculturally related without an ORV license, then it would be a violation. The operator could be cited with a civil infraction under MCL 324.81115, for failing to license the ORV, and face fines and costs of approximately $200 to 250.

The easiest answer I have for this question would be to simply spend the money on the ORV license to avoid the chance of being cited and end up with a fine that is nine times the cost of the ORV license itself.

Ashley Simpson is a community service trooper for the Michigan State Police-Alpena Post. If you have a question for Trooper Simpson, you can email her at asktroopersimpson@gmail.com or mail them to Ask A Trooper, Michigan State Police-Alpena Post, 3283 W. Washington Ave., Alpena, Mich., 49707.