Can You Drive a UTV at Night in Wisconsin? Lights, Hours, and Local Curfews

Driving a UTV at night in Wisconsin is legal, as long as your vehicle has working headlamps and tail lamps that meet state specifications, you stay on trails, routes, or frozen waterways open to UTV use, and you comply with any local curfew that applies. The same registration, safety certificate, seat belt, and sobriety rules that govern daytime riding apply after dark, and a new seat belt requirement takes effect June 1, 2026.

Lights Your UTV Must Have After Dark

Under Wis. Stat. § 23.33(6), every UTV in operation must display a lighted headlamp and tail lamp. The headlamp has to emit a white light strong enough to reveal a person, vehicle, or other solid object at least 200 feet ahead. The tail lamp has to show a red light visible from 500 feet to the rear during hours of darkness.¹ These are prerequisites for any operation, not optional extras.

Auxiliary lighting is restricted too. No lamp visible from the front may emit anything other than white or amber, and no lamp visible from the rear may emit anything other than red, yellow, amber, or white. Flashing or rotating lights are banned unless they are yellow or amber. If your UTV has aftermarket light bars or spot lamps, you cannot light more than four front-facing lamps at once when you are within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle, and you must dim or tilt any high-beam or auxiliary lamps when approaching another vehicle from the front within 500 feet or following one within the same distance.¹

An equipment violation carries a forfeiture of up to $250.² Check both lamps before every night ride and make sure no aftermarket lights put you offside on color or flashing.

Where You Can Ride at Night

Night riding is only legal where UTV use is authorized in the first place. Three categories exist under state law:

Designated ATV/UTV trails, meaning off-road corridors established by the Department of Natural Resources or a local government for ATV and UTV use.
Designated ATV/UTV routes, meaning public highways that a town, village, city, or county has specifically opened for UTV traffic. State trunk highways and connecting highways do not qualify unless the Department of Transportation approves them.
Frozen public waterways. The statute allows operation, but ice condition is your judgment.¹

Posted signs mark where authorized zones begin and end. Entering a closed trail or an unauthorized road exposes you to the general $250 forfeiture, plus separate trespassing consequences on private land.²

Local Curfews Can Shut Off Night Riding Entirely

State law lets towns, villages, cities, and counties regulate UTV operation on trails and routes within their jurisdiction, including the power to restrict riding during certain hours.¹ Many communities use that authority to impose nighttime curfews. The Village of Brandon, for example, prohibits UTV operation between 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.³ Other municipalities set different windows, and some have none at all.

Compliance with a local curfew is mandatory even if your lights, registration, and certificate are all in order. Signage at the start of a route sometimes lists permitted hours, but not every municipality posts them. Before an unfamiliar night ride, call the town or county clerk’s office or pull up the local UTV ordinance online. Fines for violating a curfew track the municipality’s own forfeiture schedule.

Rules That Still Apply After Dark

Registration

Every UTV operated on public trails, routes, or frozen waterways must carry a valid registration with the decal properly displayed. Public use registration is $30 for first-time registration and $30 for each two-year renewal. Private use registration costs $15 and stays valid until ownership transfers.⁴ Non-residents can buy a nonresident trail pass instead, either annual ($35, expires March 31) or five-day ($20).⁵ Operating without a required nonresident trail pass carries a forfeiture of up to $1,000, well above the $250 general cap.²

Safety Certification

If you were born on or after January 1, 1988, you need a valid ATV safety certificate to operate a UTV on any public riding area. UTV operators must be at least 16 and have completed the course, and you have to carry the card and show it to law enforcement on request.⁶ Certificates from another state or a Canadian province are accepted. Riders born before January 1, 1988 are exempt.

Seat Belts and Passengers

Every occupant must sit on a seat the manufacturer designed for a passenger. Riding in the cargo bed, standing on a running board, or using any space the manufacturer did not intend for passengers is illegal, and you cannot tow an object carrying a person on a trail or route.¹

Starting June 1, 2026, both the driver and every passenger must wear a seat belt. This closes an earlier gap in the law that required only passengers, not drivers, to buckle up.¹

Operating Under the Influence

Wisconsin’s impaired-driving rules apply to UTVs the same way they apply to cars. The legal blood alcohol limit is 0.08, and for anyone under 21 any detectable amount above 0.0 is a violation. Operating with a detectable amount of a restricted controlled substance in the blood is also illegal regardless of age.¹ A first offense draws a forfeiture of $150 to $300, with no mandatory jail time, though you can be held for up to 12 hours after arrest or until your BAC falls to 0.05 or below. Penalties climb from there, and a passenger under 16 on board doubles both the minimum and maximum penalties.² Reduced visibility and unfamiliar terrain concentrate the risk at night.

If There Is a Crash

If your UTV is involved in a crash resulting in death or injuries requiring treatment by a physician, you must immediately notify a conservation warden or local law enforcement. A written crash report then has to reach the Department of Natural Resources within 10 days.¹ Failing to file carries a forfeiture of up to $250. Knowing the obligation before you ride is easier than figuring it out after a collision.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 23.33 (2025) – All-Terrain Vehicles and Utility Terrain Vehicles
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 23.33(13)(a)
3
eCode360. Village of Brandon Ordinance 2021-03 – Rules and Regulations Relating to the Use of ATVs and UTVs Upon Public Ground/Public Right-of-way
4
Wisconsin DNR. All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and Utility-Terrain Vehicle (UTV) Registration
5
Wisconsin DNR. Nonresident ATV and UTV Trail Passes
6
Wisconsin DNR. Safety Education – ATV/UTV