subject: Should the golf cart be used in the roadway? [print this page] Should the golf cart be used in the roadway?
A golf cart is designed originally to carry two golfers around a golf course or on desert trails with less effort than walking. However, in recent years their use has expanded and they are now a useful all-round vehicle for commercial, private and personal use. Owing to lack of pollutants, lack of noise, and safety for pedestrians and other cars (due to slow speeds), the golf cart can be found in airports, industrial plants, residential neighborhoods and tourist parks ferrying one or more people. But there is still a debate whether the golf cart should be used in the roadway since the electric vehicles are commonly used in the roadway like the normal gas powered motorcycle.
In 2009, the N.C. General Assembly passed a law allowing cities to regulate the operation of standard golf carts "on any public street, road or highway where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less within its municipal limits or on any property owned or leased by the city." The law also states the city may require owners to register golf carts, charge a registration fee, limit the hours of use, set load limits and impose other restrictions.
Last year, lawmakers in Indiantown in Old Saybrook banned the use of golf carts, and then helped revise regulations so local traffic authorities could manage their use. The following general regulations were approved by lawmakers:
-They are only to be used during daylight hours.
-They can be driven no faster than 25 mph.
-They must have operating horns.
-The must have a visible flag that's 72 inches high.
In Apr, 2011, Frankfort restricted the golf cart use in the roadway. And Police Chief John Burica said this new ordinance is designed to limit the use of such vehicles with residents' safety in mind.
That was a major topic of debate last week at a town council workshop in the Oak Island, with the majority agreeing street-legal carts, also called low-speed vehicles, are appropriate for the island, and it would be unsafe to allow unaltered carts on town streets.
In terms of the street-legal golf cart, different countries have different decisions. Some limit the use, while some pass a law to allow it to be used with some speed limit. Whether or not the street-legal golf cart is legal used in the roadway, the first important thing to be considered is still the drivers' and pedestrians' safety.
In my opinion, the golf cart should be used in the roadway but it must be with a license plate that is meant to sign it is an electric vehicle. It is well known that the speed of electric vehicles is generally lower than gas powered car. In the roadway, there are all kinds of vehicles that run fast or slowly, so the potential risk is existed any where for any driver. For your personal and pedestrians' safety, running slowly will be better whenever it is and wherever you go.
