Are Lawn Mowers Street Legal?

Life happens, so a time might arise where you will need to drive your riding lawn mower on the street to get it from point A to point B. At that point, you’re likely to ask yourself “Will I be ticketed? Are lawn mowers street legal?”

Well, the answer to that question is tricky.

So let’s get to the topic at hand.

Are lawn mowers street legal?

Well, that depends on a couple of things. Let’s start with this.

What do you consider a “street”?

Depending on how you answer that question a lawn mower could be considered illegal or street legal.

If we are talking about city streets and highly trafficked stretches of road, then the answer is most likely no. For a vehicle to be street legal in most states, it needs to have turn signals, headlights, license plates and registration. Which eliminates 99.9% of lawn mowers from being street legal.

But there is another side to this coin.

If you are referring to a rural road when you say the word “street” in street legal, then in many states it is legal to ride your lawn mower from point A to point B.

In most rural counties farm equipment like tractors, lawn mowers, etc are considered legal for rural stretches of road. So seeing a person driving a riding lawn mower from one destination to the next isn’t so far out of the ordinary.

But, it depends on the state. Which brings me to my next point.

Driving a riding lawn mower is street legal depending on the state.

When we talk about the legality of driving a riding lawn mower on the street the truth is it all boils down to how your state and county regulates the action.

Like most laws, different counties, states, and cities have different views of what’s legal and illegal.

With that being said, when it comes to finding out if lawn mowers are street legal the first place to refer to is your state or counties local authorities website.

After you look at your local laws, you will have a firm answer. However, even if you don’t see any laws prohibiting driving riding lawn mowers on roadways, you could run into other problems.

Riding lawn mowers rarely have enough horsepower to drive at the speed limit.

This could cause a major issue. Even if the state or county doesn’t prohibit driving lawn mowers on streets there are still very likely laws in the state that prohibit impeding traffic. Something that is a real risk when driving a lawn mower that likely doesn’t drive faster than 15 miles per hour.

There are also safety concerns. Without headlights, tail lights, blinkers, and the speed restraints you could be at risk from cars, trucks, and other automobiles.

So let’s sum it up.

When it comes to finding out if lawn mowers are street legal first:

• Check your state our counties local authorities website to see if there are any laws prohibiting driving lawn mowers on roads.
• Always practice safety. If you have to drive your lawn mower on the road make sure the road isn’t highly trafficked and it is relatively clear!

If you follow those two rules, you shouldn’t run into any issues.

Also read: Are Lawn Mowers Age Restricted?