On a related note. From the Kawartha ATV Association on facebook.
TL
R Getting Ontario Moving Act has passed. Actual changes to allow ATV/SxS on roads will take >18 months.
Bill 107 - Getting Ontario Moving Again...
There is a lot of confusion in the province regarding this new bill that was passed by the Ford government recently with respect to ATV's and SxS on roads. In all fairness even we were confused a bit at first but we took the time to reach out to our connections at the MTO, OPP, COHV, local municipalities and our MPP Laurie Scott to get a better understanding of it before providing our members and followers with any information. While it did get Royal Assent, that doesn't mean that it's in effect yet.
This is the official response we received:
"Currently, the Highway Traffic Act allows regulations and municipal by-laws to be made governing the operation of off-road vehicles on highways. The Act was amended to ensure that the regulations may allow the by-laws to prohibit off-road vehicles on municipal roads. The list below provides more detailed information on statutory and regulatory changes related to off-road vehicle access on highways:
- This change will consolidate rules around off-road vehicles and expands where off-road vehicles can be operated.
- It will allow off-road vehicles to be operated by default in municipalities with a default speed limit of 80 km/hr. Affected municipalities may create by-laws to disallow operation of off-road vehicles.
- This change will be implemented in 18-24 months. This will provide municipalities time to review their networks and put by-laws in place to restrict access where they deem appropriate."
The most important point to take from this is that this change is NOT in effect yet. It will be another 18 to 24 months before it is, so you still CANNOT ride your ATV or SxS on any road in Ontario unless there is a bylaw in place in that particular municipality that says you can. Always check with your local club for a list of the roads you can legally ride, and if there is no club then contact your municipal bylaw department.
Please share this information with your clubs and fellow riders and we'll do our best to answer any questions you may have!