My rhino is registered, plated, insured, and street legal in AZ. Therefore, if its street legal, and registered as such, its not considered an OHV (off-highway vehicle). I drive it frequently on the street around Phoenix with no probs. Got a ticket this weekend on gecko for an ohv on the road. Has anyone tried or had any luck fighting this ticket?

I do know about the OHV signs along the road, didn't consider rhino an ohv. Just like a street legal dirt bike, made for off-road, but can be registered for the street.

Your in California

A Rhino is not a street legal vehicle in California therefore is not legal to be driven on the street...

And screwed.

Your (MC) AZ plate is not excepted......Welcome to California.

I would fight it. Get a letter from your local MVD and show that it is a STREET LEGAL VEHICLE as well pictures of the plate registration insurance and go to court and fight that just as proof. You would think the Ranger would have said oh ok I see but we don't accept that in CA so stay off the road sok!!! But they are di cks. I am sure in court you could win that, I have my windows tinted and Am in CA all the time for work and got a ticket I brought a picture of the truck Registration and Proof of insurance and the judge tossed it out as they know you have to abbide to the registered state!!!

Did you have a season Pass hanging from the mirror when you were stopped. You need to display the pass for all of the street legal vehicles you take to the dunes?

I am sure that will come up in court!

You could fight it as maxxrhino suggested, but you will be wasting your time. That vehicle is not street legal in CA, period. Sorry

errrr you meant at least the "tow in" pass, right?

No, I meant the actual Rhino. If somthing is street legal and you do not have a green sticker or CA out of state OHV sticker, you need a BLM pass ($90.00 per year / same one you tow your toyhauler in with or drive your moho in with

This happened to me at Pismo on my street legal golf cart / CHP and Ranger explained it to me and I had one in the cart that Id just purchased for the year so I did not get a ticket

Thats why they check passes on pick up trucks going to olds.

It's Kalifornia dude, surfs up!!!

Question,

Does the YAM sell a Street Legal Rhino?

Or is it sold as an OHV, that AZ Residents can get legalized in AZ for on-road use?



BTW....I know the answer.

Sorry Andy your right man, i was thinking about the rule of trailering in a Jeep (licensed), but that too now that I think of it as soon as you drive it on the road the trailered in pass is no longer valid.

My bad.

Yep, if he hadn't been on the road the street legal plate would have been fine and no need for a season pass. (though having the tow in "pass" would be the best way to avoid any potential issues.)

But once you're on a road BLM considers you to be in a "Primary Vehicle" and you need a pass.

As long as you stay off the roads though you do not need a season pass for the vehicle if it's registered in your home state. When you pull in though you should stop and get a towed in pass to make sure you aren't incorrectly accused of being in a "primary vehicle".

Since Ca seems to think it doesn't have to follow any else's rules, I saw we get together and pass a law stating that a Ca license plate is not legal in AZ and all visitors from CA must purchase a AZ "On highway with plates from a effed up state" pass. Anyone driving in AZ with a CA plate and no OHWPFAFUS pass will be fined $1,000,000.00.

All proceeds from this fund will be used to fund off highway recreation areas, lower AZ registration prices, and build free assualt weapons and 50 cal ranges in the state of AZ (All ranges will be set up with "downrange" being to the west)

I will never understand why people drive 4,5,6 up to 12 hours to get to Glamis just to ride on the street, Wash Road or camp race! GO TO THE DUNES AND RIDE.

Flame on

CA LMFAO!!!!!!!!!! AZ is looking better and better to me.

so if you have a street legal rhino in az...can to drive it to say......new york....is it registered like a car?

fight it! california cannot NOT accept your rhino as street legal, it happend to me when I was working a farm down in blythe, I had cotton fields on both sides of the stateline and all our trucks and rhinos where registered az for lower cost. I drove down a ca street and got pulled over, the cop wrote me a ticket, I filed it with the CHP as a writ of declaration and got off no charge. They did note that the only reason I got off was I had a az DL at the time

Gun laws, enviros, taxes, liberals, no OHVs on the street, and CA. is still the greatest state in the Union. You haters can always stay in AZ. and dune. Or can you?.....

They can twist it any way they want, does it have DOT approved tires? thats a federal law not a cali. law.
Dosnt it have a sticker on it from the factory "for off-road use only"
I'll bet yamaha's lawyers dont sleep good at night knowing Az. lets rhino's drive on city streets.

That has no basis since he wasnt pulled over or ticketed for that.

bwahahaha. I lived in CA for 15 years and can tell you AZ kicks so much (_|_) over that place. I will NEVER move back there!!!! I would sooner move to Newark NJ then back to Socal!!!!

You can fight it for sure... But you have to have DOT approved tires regardless of the vehicle license. If you didn't, that may have been what prompted the ticket. But if you had DOT approved tires, you will be successful. I had a Rhino in 2006 with BFG All Terrains and it was licensed for street use in Arizona. I was pulled over in California (Big River area) and cited for driving on the road. I went to court in Needles and pleaded my case and was successful because I was using DOT tires and the vehicle was registered as an on-road vehicle in Arizona. But the tires make all the difference.

Good luck!

For those trying to help, thanks for the input. As to you hecklers, no there is no "off-road" only sticker that comes on a rhino, and yes you do need DOT approved tires to be on the street. BFG makes a DOT approved tire that fits rhino's as stated in a different post. And yes, I do know I'm in california and not AZ, but obviously EVERY state has different driving/registration laws. I doubt when you all travel you stop by the local MVD or DMV to pick a copy of the particular state laws so you don't unknowingly break any! In AZ you can register a rhino just as a car, its not uncommon to see them driving on the road. And nomax.....clearly I'm just a big sissy from phoenix, thats why I was driving on the road.

Newark born and raised. I'll take So Cal.

Before you go and fight this ticket read this OHV PLATES. Just because something in Az. is ok to do does not make it ok to do in Ca. As far as the DOT tires you can put wings on a pig but that will not make it a Airplane. As far as not knowing the laws in every state you are correct nobody actuly stops and gets all the info when they enter a state, But ingnorance of the law is not an exscuse. Ca. is hurting for $$$ and they are going to get some of yours.

The BLM hands out a flyer at all the parks in Parker...on the CA side stating that AZ reg is NOT recognized for rhinos etc on the Cal side of the river...It's kinda like the old show remote control on MTV....."It's their house...and their rules".

I say fight the ticket / Its worth it. This Rhino thing can be a grey area.

For all those peeps who are turning this into a CA vs AZ battle .....come on , lets try and help a fellow duner out with the best advise we can. In my mind, he drove his UNITED STATES street legal vehicle REGISTERED AND INSURED down a street in the USA (I understand each state has specific laws...I get that)

My 2 cents, fight it, I think you will prevail in court. Have your documentation in order and get it done

Best of luck to you!

My TRX450 can be made street legal in AZ. Can drive it right down the road even pass a cop or two no problem. If I drive it down your street past a cop you think he would write me a ticket ???? Better yet I will do it and if I get a ticket Ill let you be my lawyer in court on the condition if I loose you pay the fines.....

I provided the CA laws on this topic.

Others have provided some additional info on how they beat the ticket (DOT Tires, etc).

You now just need to decide on if its worth your time to fight the ticket.

Good luck and let us know the outcome if you do.

ROFLAMO.. I like this idea.

You can go ahead and fight it, but you are going to lose. Just the way it is.

To answer a couple of your other questions:

1. Drive it to New York? Well, I suspect you are being factious but I’ve done some driving in AZ. You know, I’ve never seen a UTV/golf cart on any of the AZ state highways or federal Interstate highways. Why is that? At any rate, you could drive your AZ OHV into any other state that allows those vehicles on their roads. Otherwise, you get a ticket. Just like Calif.

2. As pointed out, ignorance of the law is not an acceptable defense. While most people don’t get a copy of DMV laws when they cross state lines, it is advisable. As an example, many states do not allow right turns on red traffic lights. Penn. use to be one. (and may still be, I don’t know, haven’t driven there in some time) It’s not posted either. AZ doesn't, generally, have a lower posted speed for trucks or auto's hauling trailers. Calif. does. AZ allows people to move freely in and out of the car pool lane. I've only seen that in one place here in Ca. Calf. doesn't recognize the canceel/carry laws of other states. etc, etc etc. Just because we can do it in California, (or AZ) doesn’t mean it’s ok someplace else and you WILL get a ticket and if you fight it, you WILL lose.

Time to man up.

Maybe I'm just overly anal. But when I moved from Ohio to AZ and drove out here in a U-haul with a trailered pickup behind it I actually DID look up the laws for the states I would be going through. Wanted to make sure I wouldn't get popped on some kind of technicality with the trailer due to variations in state laws. Was actually surprised at the variations from state to state that I found for various things.

x2. Why can't you just drive in the sand on either side of Gecko? Its more fun anyway.

I was being facetious! There is no place worse than the north east

viewing the various posts on here shows how the sheeple of CA have given up and just seem to accept any BS rules/laws that their gov decides to come up with. While CA may be the greatest state due to LOCATION, everything else negates that...

Just to have some more fun on Monday….lol..



ROFLMAO. The above doesn’t really mean anything. I supposed you don’t pay taxes. (which most of us non-government people think are BS). We all have to ‘accept’ the laws that our wonderful, elected representatives pass. Even the BS ones. And so do you.

I’m all for contesting tickets (or any issue) in court where there is some doubt as to the validity of the ticket. This isn’t one of those cases. It’s been discussed on this BBS, the ASA BBS and in other venues periodically for the last 5+ years. Calif. doesn’t recognize the AZ plates on OHV’s. Every year, someone from AZ gets popped. Yeah, it sucks. But it’s also just the way it is.

When we get busted going 90 MPH in a 70 MPH zone, even though we were ‘keeping with the flow of traffic’, and the officer writes us for speeding at 80, do we go fight it?

I can go on and on about guilty people ‘fighting’ because they can. I don’t have unlimited resources (i.e. time and money) to spend on losing battles. I just assume most people are the same way. Therefore I advise people to pick fights they have some chance of winning.

If stoney really had a legitimate way of beating this ticket, he’d post it here, instead of hiding behind the (note dripping sacrazum) “PM ME” BS. If it’s such an awesome deffence, go ahead and share it.




PS..I’m still waiting for someone from AZ to answer this.

I know someone who has taken their rhino on the freeway but he said its just not comfortable. Kinda like when I used to ride my dual sport motorcycle on the freeway. They are legal, but not big enough or fast enough to work well at those speeds.

Go up into Payson, Pine Strawberry area on a big weekend in the Summer and you will see everything from Quads to Rhino's to Sandrails driving down Az. 89 or Az243 or what ever # thoose Highways are. And I have seen a Rhino on the I-10 comming from the Airport durring rush hour.

Drove mine down US 93 near Wikeiup AZ. This is the mainline between Phoenix and Vegas. Also alot of miles on FR3(Lake Mary Road) which runs between Flagstaff and Payson. Have a ton of miles racked up on major streets within Glendale, Peoria, Surprise and Phoenix. Running the Rhino at 55+ is ok every now and again, 45 mph side street driving is a little more comfortable...I pay for the tags and insurance, why not make use of it.

Its not street legal in New Mexico either, A buggy can be made street legal but not any ohv's, I'm want to go to Glamis this year but damn its starting to sound like I will wind up in jail LMAO

I hate driving my Rhino on roads!! As much fun as I would have driving to work every day, it is just plain STUPID!!! It has a freaking solid rear axle guys.

Derwud is right on that, Rhinos are not the most street friendly with the Solid Rear Axle, Thats why me and my friends bought Polaris Rangers because they have an electric locker in the back and we can drive to the store in Havasu and make a turn without it hoping, binding or tearing up the tires. I think the new XP900 RZR also have the rear electric locker now.

Using your logic, an AZ resident can carry a concealed weapon in California. Let us know how that works out for you...... Bwwwwwwaaaaaaaahahhahahhahahha. The idiocracy astounds me.

Wait, I'm right, crap, then I must be wrong!

Who would drive to Glamis in a SXS as a primary vehicle? That's just stupid!

hurry hurry buy new tires!!!!!

I was gonna post that.
CA/AZ reciprocity is very clearly spelled out in that link, and it's clear that an AZ Rhino is not legal in CA.

There are lots of highway laws that are state-to-state.
I'm not sure why this is so surprising to people?

As just one example, you don't see trucks pulling triple trailers in CA, but they can in some other states.