SPRINGFIELD — A new state law that attempted to clear up some of the confusion concerning low-speed, non-highway vehicles has unintentionally barred farmers from using all-terrain vehicles on local roads.
Now, the same lawmakers who pushed for the law are working to undo some of it by exempting farmers from its provisions.
Starting this year, municipalities were given the power to approve ordinances legalizing ATVs, golf carts and other low-speed vehicles on their roads.
Before the law went into effect, many were unsure if they could.
The new law, however, trumped a similar measure approved three years ago that gave farmers great leeway when operating ATVs on rural roads to get from field to field. Because ATVs are now included in the same law that governs other low-speed vehicles, the new restrictions apply.
For instance, the new law states off-highway vehicles may only travel on roads with marked speed limits of 35 mph or less. Many farmers, however, travel long stretches of unmarked roads on ATVs, said Kevin Rund, senior director of local government for the Illinois Farm Bureau.
Drivers also cannot cross a highway unless the road has a stoplight or stop sign and has a speed limit of 35 mph or less.
“It is way out of the realm of practicality in the farming industry,” Rund said.
The Farm Bureau has been lobbying to change the law since the fall, and sponsors of the original bill vow to take up the issue this legislative session.
State Rep. Richard Myers, R-Colchester, said leaving out an exemption for farmers was a mistake. He is sponsoring legislation that would do just that.
“Everybody missed it until the bill was made into law,” he said.
State Sen. John Sullivan, D-Rushville, also sponsored the non-highway vehicle bill last year and is pushing a similar exemption for farmers in the Senate. A Senate committee could hear testimony on the exemption as early as Wednesday.
Sullivan said the original bill creates a “consistent set of guidelines every community would be operating off of.” Communities in his district had expressed interest in legalizing low-speed vehicles because they are more fuel-efficient.
Low-speed vehicles gained popularity across the state in 2008 when gas prices surged to $4 a gallon.
Four-wheeled ATVs, on the other hand, have been popular amongst farmers for years. Farmers say they help them tend fields and haul loads of equipment and feed.
Lyle Gallagher, a farmer from Sadorus, has owned an ATV for five years and uses it because normal-sized cars are impractical in the fields.
“It’s like my right arm,” he said.
The 83-year-old eastern Illinois resident has been farming since 1946. His farm is six miles from his home, and he uses rural roads to get there. Even with the new law, he said he plans to use his ATV for farming purposes.
The legislation is Senate Bill 2566 and House Bill 4904.
Read the original article from Herald & Review.