The windshield part is not true. I know plenty of vehicles licensed OHV that have glass windshields. I think that surrendering the VIN may be an issue, but my brother bought a rig that was registered OHV (still had a glass windshield), still had the original VIN in place, and re-registered it on-road. I don't remember the entire procedure, but it was something like get it road worthy, take it to the DMV, they come out and look at it and say yea or nay, and give you a new VIN if necessary. I don't remember if he had to get an inspection before or after the DMV, although he may have been there more than once. Since he was not the one who originally registered it OHV, I don't know how the VIN was still on there.
As for changing the laws as they are now, I would be in favor of trying to get our laws to be more like Colorado's. I doubt it will even happen though. Too many cops always give me the "I hate getting rock chips from guys with big tires" line. I personally have never had an issue with that, just from haul trucks with uncovered loads, but that opens up a whole new can of worms.
Hopefully I can shed some light on this topic, as I am the brother that 1993yj is talking about. My rig was registered as an OHV when I bought it. I wanted to be able to drive it on the streets to get to/from trailheads, and occasional around town use when I needed to, so I decided to get it changed back to a regular, street legal registration. When a vehicle is converted to OHV registration, the original VIN is basically retired and a new VIN # is applied. The new VIN is a "reconstructed VIN" which begins with "UTR". The original VIN however is not removed... it is still illegal to remove the original VIN tag. They simply give you one of those metallic stickers with the new VIN number that is put in the driver's side door jam. I have never heard of having to remove seats, windshield, etc. My rig had all the regular stuff on it. I just had to hook up the turn signals, horn, wipers/squirters, mudflaps, and a few other minor things in order to get it up to snuff for safety and emissions laws. After I had taken it in for safety and emissions inspection (just as any other vehicle in order to register it), I simply took it to the DMV with the inspection certificates. I went to the South Jordan DMV, and they sent me to the main Utah State Tax Commission building in SLC because the lady at South Jordan DMV said they are the only officers that can authorize the vehicle to be registered street legal again. This turned out not to be true as the officer at the SLC office ensured me that the South Jordan employee was just being too lazy to walk out herself. Anyway, they walked out to my rig, verified that the OHV registration sticker was indeed on my rig, and that the original VIN was still attached to the dash, looked at my inspection certificates, and issued me plates and the new title. By the way, the inspection shop used the original VIN # to do the safety and emissions, even though they should have used the new (OHV VIN). But that didn't make a difference, as long as it all passes it is deemed safe and legal for street use. So now my rig is once again registered for street use, insured as a regular vehicle, etc. The VIN on the new title is still the reconstructed VIN that was issued when it was originally changed to OHV. The original VIN is still attached on the dash, and although that VIN is no longer in use, it is still illegal to remove it... they told me that is because they don't want retired VIN numbers being removed and sold, etc. The whole registration process took about 3 hours, which includes driving from South Jordan DMV to State Tax Commission building, and waiting for my turn in line at each. There was no paperwork to fill out at all, the only papers were the safety and emissions certificates.
I realize that this info may not help Ghost Crawler much with this thread as far as writing a new law, but it may help clear up some of the rumors and confusion about having to remove glass, seats, etc. for OHVs, and for being "impossible" to go back to street registration from OHV. If anyone wants I can dig up the names of who I talked to for getting my rig back to street legal registration... It was the end of last summer when I did it. If we can get something passed that will allow us to drive OHV rigs on public roads to get to and from trailheads, which would save us the hassle of yearly safety and emissions and less taxes then I am for it, but until then I will just deal with keeping my rig legally streetable and taking the risk of a ticket with my 40" tires and no mudflaps when going to and from the trailheads.
