06/21/2025
The Evanston Police Department would like to remind parents, that is unlawful to allow an underage, unlicensed driver to operate a motor vehicle upon the streets of Evanston. The law requires to operate a motorized vehicle on a public road an operator needs a valid license, vehicle registration, insurance, headlights, brake lights, rear-view mirror, turn signals for any vehicle wider than 50 inches, and equipped with a muffler or other effective noise suppressing system in good working order. These vehicles cannot be operated on a sidewalk unless conducting maintenance work such as clearing snow.
Evanston Police Officers have been dealing with increased issues involving this activity, with no improvement and continued violations even after being warned. The unlicensed drivers of these vehicles are often very young, unskilled, and fail to understand the rules of the road such as right of way. The vehicles due to the size can be hard for other drivers to spot them. Such vehicles were manufactured with the intent to be operated off road under close adult supervision. Recently a parked car was struck by a young driver resulting in injury. The Evanston Police Department will be issuing citations for future violations to the parents who permit this.
These requirements do not apply to electric bicycles, scooters, motorized skateboards, and golf carts being driven to and from the golf course.
