'A flaw in our current law' | Ride your ATV to the bar to avoid another OWI? Wis. state law says that's OK - Journal Times
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UNION GROVE — There are 15 taverns and other places in Union Grove where alcoholic beverages can be purchased. That presence is working against some ATV owners as they try to persuade village residents that off-road recreational vehicles should be allowed to travel on public streets.
Wisconsin state law does not treat drunken driving with ATVs the same as it does with automobiles. The penalties are less severe, and the offense does not go on a person’s driving record. The state also allows ATV riders to carry open alcoholic beverages while they are motoring about.
Such issues are raising concerns among some Union Grove residents, who will vote in a referendum April 5 on whether they want to relax local ordinances and permit ATVs and other recreational devices into traffic.
Many residents are leery of allowing ATVs into the street alongside cars and trucks, knowing that ATV riders could be under the influence of alcohol without facing harsh prosecution. More than 80 people in Wisconsin have died in ATV crashes involving alcohol in the past six years, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
But efforts are underway to toughen Wisconsin’s laws, as a growing number of communities, like Union Grove, consider welcoming all-terrain vehicles into traffic on local roads.
Changes on horizon
State Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, who is co-sponsoring a bill on the issue, said the push for allowing ATVs into regular street traffic makes it all the more important to pass tougher drunken driving laws for those engaged in alternative modes of transportation.
“It definitely increases the urgency,” Subeck said.
Even a statewide association of ATV owners and dealers agrees that Wisconsin’s laws are too lax when it comes to all-terrain vehicles — as well as snowmobiles, boats and other recreational favorites.
Randy Harden, president of the Wisconsin ATV Association, said although some riders will grumble about it, most recognize that drunken driving on their vehicles should be treated more seriously, especially in public streets.
“Nobody wants drunk drivers,” Harden said. “It’s bad for everything.”
ATV riders are getting more access to public roadways throughout Wisconsin. In the past few years, the total amount of streets opened to ATV traffic has nearly tripled, from 15,000 combined miles of road to 42,000 miles statewide, the Wisconsin ATV Association reported.
Union Grove village leaders agreed to consider opening up local streets this summer at the request of ATV owners. The April 5 referendum, which is advisory only, will ask people if all-terrain vehicles should be allowed on roads, as well as plus utility terrain vehicles and golf carts.
As the debate picks up, critics have increasingly voiced concerns about the potential for intoxicated riders hitting the streets in Union Grove without fear of severe criminal penalties.
“People will drive them to bars, get drunk, and the cops can’t do anything,” Karen Bolles posted in a recent Facebook discussion on the issue.
Even though people didn't drive a lot last year, traffic deaths actually increased by the largest margin in the last 13 years. 36,680 people died in crashes last year, an increase of 7% from 2019. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's because fewer people were on the roads. So, more people started speeding, not wearing seat belts or driving under the influence. Miles traveled by vehicle fell 13% in 2020 from 2019.
The discrepancy in state law is based on a fundamental distinction: The law does not regard ATVs as motor vehicles. So operating an ATV while intoxicated does not count on a person’s driving record.
Police can issue a citation, but it is for operating an ATV while drunk, not criminal operating while under the influence. The standard is the same 0.8 blood-alcohol level used to measure operating a motor vehicle under the influence. But it is a violation of state recreation laws, not traffic laws.
Driving an automobile under the influence carries a first-offense penalty of up to $937; doing so on an ATV costs no more than $452.
Lt. Martin Stone, off-highway vehicle administrator for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said the penalty does not become more severe if an ATV rider is found riding drunk in a public street versus on private property.
Noting that a person cannot be charged with drunken driving if they are not driving a motor vehicle as defined by state law, Stone said: “It’s not that type of vehicle, so you can never be charged with it, no matter what.”
The same goes for UTVs, boats, snowmobiles and other recreational vehicles.
State DNR records show that 38 people in Wisconsin have died in ATV crashes so far this year. Of those, 17 involved drivers who had been drinking. In the previous five years, the state recorded 136 fatal ATV crashes total, with alcohol contributing to 69, or more than half.
Recent incidents
In some communities where ATVs are permitted in street traffic, the issue already has come up.
In the Juneau County community of Mauston, a 26-year-old man was cited in March after he was caught riding an ATV on a public street while intoxicated at about 10 p.m. Police reported that the suspect’s driver’s license also had been revoked.
Court records show that the man paid his $452 fine, but was not charged with driving on a revoked license.
In the City of Watertown in Dodge County, an ATV rider in 2019 was suspected of being drunk when he crashed his vehicle with a 9-year-old boy riding as a passenger. The boy suffered serious injuries, prompting County Sheriff Dale Schmidt to publicly denounce Wisconsin’s lax laws on drunken driving with ATVs.
Schmidt said he records about two fatal ATV crashes every year in Dodge County, and drunken operators frequently are the cause. Drivers convicted of being under the influence in their cars know they can avoid a second conviction by using an ATV or snowmobile instead, he said.
“They find other ways to get to the bar,” he said. “It’s a way around the law.”
State lawmakers in Madison introduced a bill to deal with the problem in 2018, but the legislation stalled.
Another bill has been introduced this year to impose tougher penalties for drunken driving on an ATV or other recreational devices. The bill also would make a conviction part of an offender’s permanent driving record, and it would empower judges to revoke an offender’s driver’s license.
Subeck said the bill has advanced through one committee, but it is too soon to say whether it will continue to move toward full passage.
Law enforcement groups are getting behind the bill, Subeck said, because they agree there is an “incredible inconsistency” in punishing drunken drivers less severely simply because they are operating an ATV rather than an automobile.
“This should be a no-brainer,” she said. “It is a flaw in our current law.”
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