MONROE — ATV and UTV drivers will no longer be required to travel their designated routes at 10 mph and can instead stay with the flow of automobile traffic at 25 mph. Monroe’s Common Council voted to approve the change at their meeting Nov. 18.

Scott Golackson, who called himself as an “avid UTV rider,” spoke in favor of the change, something he brought before the public safety committee this summer. Golackson described his safety concerns, saying that the 10-mph speed limit wasn’t widely known and that drivers saw them as a “nuisance” and would pass the vehicles at 25 mph or faster. 

Council president Brooke Bauman went for a ride with Golackson in his UTV earlier this year to observe the situation. Golackson said they were cut off by a semi-truck because of their low speed and “would have gotten mowed over” if they hadn’t stopped, and that they’d have been safer going 25 mph.

“I wasn’t really aware of the problem until I witnessed it firsthand,” said Bauman. “I do think that by increasing the speed limit to 25 it would reduce the probability for issues.”

The repeal and recreation ordinance passed unanimously with eight votes. Alder Michael Boyce was absent.