Long story short, we were riding on a marked trail that followed the side of the road about 40 feet off the road. The trail went through some brush and trees and an open field. All the time staying on the MARKED TRAIL. We got stopped by a warden saying that if the MARKED trail is 40 ft or less from a road we need to get off the marked trail and cross the road and ride on the other side of the road! Then about 40 yards later cross the road again and get back on the marked trail to stop at the stop sign. I've been snowmobiling since I was a child and have never heard of such a thing. The ticket is 200.50 for riding a LEGAL MARKED TRAIL!!! It doesn't make sense to me that we should be crossing a road two to four times crossing possible traffic rather then staying on a marked trail!! We've talked about fighting it but wanted to get some input before we do that.
Scandalous Ticket from Wisc. DNR
- Thread starter zrgrl
- Start date
Switchbak6
New member
If you were riding after dark, the law states that you must cross the road to go with the flow of trafic. Daylight hours you may go either direction.
anonomoose
New member
You should fight that one....I don't think a decent judge would go along with this....so long as you were on the trail and not off it.
This at most should have been a warning....and this sends the wrong message as a tourist.
I would also write a letter to the closest local paper and explain why you aren't coming back....Even if you don't get relief, these sort of points in the paper usually get back to the source of the issue pretty quickly.
This at most should have been a warning....and this sends the wrong message as a tourist.
I would also write a letter to the closest local paper and explain why you aren't coming back....Even if you don't get relief, these sort of points in the paper usually get back to the source of the issue pretty quickly.
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Here's info about riding along the roadways in WI. I clipped it out of the snowmobile laws for WI (posted on the WI DNR site):
You may operate a snowmobile next to a roadway with due regard to
safety in the following manner:
Along U.S. numbered highways, state and county highways at
a distance of 10 or more feet from the roadway. Travel on the
median of a divided highway is prohibited except to cross.
Along town highways outside of the roadway. See the definition
of a town highway in the definitions.
During daylight hours, you may travel in either direction
regardless of the flow of vehicle traffic.
At night, you must travel in the same direction as vehicle traffic
in the nearest lane unless the snowmobile trail is located at
least 40 feet from the roadway or the trail is separated from
the roadway by a head lamp barrier and the snowmobile trail
is approved by the DOT.
You may operate a snowmobile next to a roadway with due regard to
safety in the following manner:
Along U.S. numbered highways, state and county highways at
a distance of 10 or more feet from the roadway. Travel on the
median of a divided highway is prohibited except to cross.
Along town highways outside of the roadway. See the definition
of a town highway in the definitions.
During daylight hours, you may travel in either direction
regardless of the flow of vehicle traffic.
At night, you must travel in the same direction as vehicle traffic
in the nearest lane unless the snowmobile trail is located at
least 40 feet from the roadway or the trail is separated from
the roadway by a head lamp barrier and the snowmobile trail
is approved by the DOT.
I'm sure they knew the situation and had the spot staked out. I wonder how many others they got in the same place. Why don't these crooks just put a gun to our heads and take our wallets while they are at it.
Oh, and good luck trying to fight one of these small town kangaroo courts.
Oh, and good luck trying to fight one of these small town kangaroo courts.
If you choose to fight it your first appointment will be with the District Attorney. They may reduce the fine if your lucky. I see your from IL so its probably easier to just pay the fine and be done with it. In my short life I've found the law has a tendency to pick on the younger generation. If your 50 in that situation you probably get a warning, at 24 you get a ticket. Just the way it is...
Precisely why they continue to extort money in this manner.
yamahauler
Active member
Here's another good story and how sad the law is.
Group of 15 sledding out for breakfast. Out of 15, 6 were kids.
We came to a T in the trail and the direction we wanted to go was all blocked off. The other direction was down to a road. We happen to see a guy marking trails a few miles back so my dad went back to ask him what we should do.
He said just take the open trail, jump on the road for 1 mile and then up the driveway of the restaurant that we were going to eat at. So, we proceeded down the road on the correct side with the cars and right when we get to the driveway, the DNR was sitting there handing everyone tickets.
We showed him all the regs, etc...and then the guy that was marking trail happen to show up as well. He explained to the DNR that he directed us this way and that he was part of a club and due to some people going off trail the other way, the restaurant owner wanted folks to go this way. DNR said, I don't care, this is not legal and gave all of us tickets. He even gave the guy marking the trail a ticket.
My dad proceeded to fight the ticket, had a ton of pics of the area, had the guy marking trail as a witness, had restaurant owner as witness and the judge still made us pay.
Needless to say, either the judge and DNR are in bed together every night or the justice systems really sucks.
Good luck if you try fighting the ticket if you were riding during the day. It looks like if you were riding at night, you were in the wrong but he should of gave you a warning.
Group of 15 sledding out for breakfast. Out of 15, 6 were kids.
We came to a T in the trail and the direction we wanted to go was all blocked off. The other direction was down to a road. We happen to see a guy marking trails a few miles back so my dad went back to ask him what we should do.
He said just take the open trail, jump on the road for 1 mile and then up the driveway of the restaurant that we were going to eat at. So, we proceeded down the road on the correct side with the cars and right when we get to the driveway, the DNR was sitting there handing everyone tickets.
We showed him all the regs, etc...and then the guy that was marking trail happen to show up as well. He explained to the DNR that he directed us this way and that he was part of a club and due to some people going off trail the other way, the restaurant owner wanted folks to go this way. DNR said, I don't care, this is not legal and gave all of us tickets. He even gave the guy marking the trail a ticket.
My dad proceeded to fight the ticket, had a ton of pics of the area, had the guy marking trail as a witness, had restaurant owner as witness and the judge still made us pay.
Needless to say, either the judge and DNR are in bed together every night or the justice systems really sucks.
Good luck if you try fighting the ticket if you were riding during the day. It looks like if you were riding at night, you were in the wrong but he should of gave you a warning.
michaeladams
New member
every thing political in wisconsin is scandilous.it's all the out of state students that get taxpayer aid to go to school here that keep voting them into office.crazy.alot of the state votes them out but milwaukee and madison have enough votes to over turn the rest of the state.thats one bad thing about good large colledges.if i went to colledge i would probably be able tospell it.
That's easy: I T !
But seriously, don't bet on it -- I know plenty of college edumacated folks who can't spell any better than a third-grader.
(Sorry Nash, didn't mean to crowd your soapbox!)
Worse than meter maids and that is saying something.
Glad they are working so hard to keep you bad law breakers off the trail.
My dad was in DNR training several years ago as he was on the water patrol on Lake Michigan before the local sheriffs department took it over. The DNR instructor would set up a scenario in class and then have a quiz on who could find the most ticket able offenses for the biggest fines. No mention of safety. They would just teach the loop holes on how to stick it to people.
My dad ran boating safety classes and cut people breaks but made sure they fixed the problems for honest ticky tacky violations. Safety improved and deaths went down. He got in trouble with his boss for not writing enough tickets. He asked him how many he would write in a perfect year. My Dad said 0 and no one would die, be injured, and no property would be lost. He said the guy became very angry and from that time forward worked to get my dad fired. My Dad quit soon after.
I would like to hear someone take the DNR’s side on this so we could discuss this. I do know for a fact that the local DNR refer to the lake I live on as the honey hole.
I was pulled over for going no wake after 8:00pm last year. It was the middle of summer and still bright and sunny. I thought it was sunset. I had my extremely powerful 1991 25 horse Evenrude on the back of my 19 foot pontoon at half throttle. Clearly a danger to myself and others. He made me walk the line and say the ABC’s in front of my friends 4 year old daughter, who was out on her first fishing trip, because there was an open beer on the boat. I blew a 0.0 She did help with the ABC’s though. $169.00 Dollars.
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Glad they are working so hard to keep you bad law breakers off the trail.
My dad was in DNR training several years ago as he was on the water patrol on Lake Michigan before the local sheriffs department took it over. The DNR instructor would set up a scenario in class and then have a quiz on who could find the most ticket able offenses for the biggest fines. No mention of safety. They would just teach the loop holes on how to stick it to people.
My dad ran boating safety classes and cut people breaks but made sure they fixed the problems for honest ticky tacky violations. Safety improved and deaths went down. He got in trouble with his boss for not writing enough tickets. He asked him how many he would write in a perfect year. My Dad said 0 and no one would die, be injured, and no property would be lost. He said the guy became very angry and from that time forward worked to get my dad fired. My Dad quit soon after.
I would like to hear someone take the DNR’s side on this so we could discuss this. I do know for a fact that the local DNR refer to the lake I live on as the honey hole.
I was pulled over for going no wake after 8:00pm last year. It was the middle of summer and still bright and sunny. I thought it was sunset. I had my extremely powerful 1991 25 horse Evenrude on the back of my 19 foot pontoon at half throttle. Clearly a danger to myself and others. He made me walk the line and say the ABC’s in front of my friends 4 year old daughter, who was out on her first fishing trip, because there was an open beer on the boat. I blew a 0.0 She did help with the ABC’s though. $169.00 Dollars.
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Wow winner of most ridiculous thing I read here this year.
Milwaukee has 700,000 people maybe 70,000 college students (est. of anyone seeking a degree from wiki) Have to figure at most 1/2 could be out of state students.
So you think 35,000 students are throwing elections in a City of 700,000 that's just 5%.
Maybe though it is WI and only 5% probably vote. OK I admit I have neices and nephews going to school in WI. So I had to comment on that nonsense
snobuilder
Well-known member
HE may have been speaking of the community organizer ....ACORN,...workers, lots of voter fraud in the Milw. and madison area, aided by a gov. and D controlled legislature that keep voting down voter ID in this state.
D
Deleted member 10829
Guest
I think with all of the budget cuts that government agencies are seeing, we will only see more and more of this! I'm sure some of them look at writing tickets as job security. It sucks when you think you are doing the right thing and you get ticketed anyway.
sean34590577
New member
I really was gonna stop.
I really was gonna stop if I ever saw the dnr or cops. Now I think I might just go for it. Just one more ticket anyway. Why stop if it's just about the money!! Catch me!! I do stop at all stop signs and try and follow all rules for safety. I will not be stopping though.
I really was gonna stop if I ever saw the dnr or cops. Now I think I might just go for it. Just one more ticket anyway. Why stop if it's just about the money!! Catch me!! I do stop at all stop signs and try and follow all rules for safety. I will not be stopping though.
cat_man_mike
New member
Unfortunately, I believe indy 500 is on to something. If all of this continues, with unfair and illegal tickets and no way to fight them with crooked judges, we may see a rash of sledders feeling they have nothing to lose and running from the dnr. I, in no way support this or would ever do it myself, but I can see where this would start to become more common.