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By Dian Ver Valen
The Times 

Wheeled All-Terrain Vehicles Approved for City Streets

Starting Aug. 25, WATVs will be allowed on Dayton streets with speed limits of 35 or below

 


DAYTON – Dayton City Council approved an ordinance Monday night allowing wheeled all-terrain vehicles, or WATVs, on city streets. No members of the public spoke at the final hearing regarding this legislation. The new law goes into effect on Aug. 25.

The decision was approved by the majority of city leaders, with Councilor Kathy Berg in opposition. Berg did suggest that the council give the new law a one-year trial, examining the statistics and other data on enforcement and violations at that time to determine whether to continue allowing the use of WATVs.

Councilor Dain Nysoe agreed but said a two-year assessment might be more fair; in the first year, the council could probably expect a higher-than-average number of violations and other enforcement issues as people learned the ins and outs of the law and adjusted to the change. In any event, City Clerk Trina Cole said, the council could amend or retract the ordinance at any time.

Councilor Michael Paris proposed his colleagues amend the motion to pass the ordinance with language stating that the council will review the law and its execution “in the next two years.” That proposal was accepted by the other council members, with Berg still opposing the adoption of the WATV ordinance.

Ordinance 1881 allows licensed drivers 16 and older to operate WATVs on all city streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less. Washington state passed similar legislation in 2013 that automatically applied to all county and state byways; cities retained the right to regulate the application of the law individually.

WATV drivers must meet all the same safety measures required by street-legal motorcycles, including (depending on the type of WATV) a headlamp that operates all of the time, a tail light, stop lights, reflectors, turn signals, brakes, mirrors, horn, spark arrester and muffler, windshield and seatbelts.

For more information on properly licensing a WATV in Washington state, visit dol.wa.gov.

 

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