By RICK DAVIS
Special to The Press-Enterprise

Q. Lake Elsinore resident Pat Sanders said — to save gas on grocery runs and other local trips — her husband has contemplated buying a motorized golf cart.

The cart would be street-legal and have license plates. She said a golf-cart dealer representative told him such a cart is legal for street driving, provided it travels only on streets with speed limits of 25 mph or less, and cross-streets have speeds no greater than 45 mph. Is that all that is required?

A. It seems oversimplified, according to the California Vehicle Code. The vehicle code defines a golf cart as a motor vehicle with at least three wheels in contact with the ground, an unladen weight less than 1,300 pounds, designed for carrying golf equipment and not more than two persons (including driver), and with a maximum speed of 15 mph.
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Golf carts — even nonstreet-legal ones — can be driven legally on some streets near a golf course or a real estate development offering golf facilities — provided the street’s speed limit is 25 mph or less.

Section 21115 of the vehicle code states a local municipality, by resolution or ordinance, can designate such streets (or highways in some locations) for combined use by motor vehicles and golf carts, if they are designed and constructed to safely permit such traffic. The section states local regulations established regarding speed limits, crossing zones and other operating standards on such streets have the force of law.

Per section 21115.1, a golf cart also can be driven at any time other than during “darkness” (that period from a half-hour after sunset to a half-hour before sunrise, and any other time when visibility is not sufficient to render clearly discernible, at a distance of 1,000 feet, any person or vehicle on the road), on any street (other than a state highway), that has been designated by local authority as a golf-cart crossing zone. But such a street must have a posted speed limit of 45 mph or less and be immediately adjacent to a golf course.

As for driving a street-legal golf cart on certain other streets — with maximum speed limits of 25 mph — California law requires that any golf cart driven on any public street must be equipped with: seat belts, front and rear turn-signal lights, headlights, tail lights, brake lights; either left and right side mirrors, left side mirror and rear-view mirror or a multi-directional cross-bar mirror; red reflectors on rear of cart, parking brake, windshield, backup buzzer, horn, covered passenger compartment, unobstructed rear view and locking device.

Also, all the state’s rules of the road apply to golf carts driven on public streets and a registered/license-plated golf cart driven on a public street must have proper insurance coverage.

The DMV requires a “manufacturer’s certificate of origin” before registering and issuing license plates for a street-legal golf cart, according to Ellen Highsmith of Prestige Golf Cars’ Temecula store.

“A person considering use of a street-legal golf cart for local errands needs to consider exactly every area where the cart will be driven,” said Karen Haverkamp, Riverside Police Traffic Bureau administrative supervisor. “You’re OK legally in residential neighborhoods where the speed limit is 25. But if you have to at some point drive into a business district, the speed limit there is 35 mph. Driving a golf cart in that speed zone, generally, is illegal.”

Confused about state or local traffic laws? Concerned about a traffic condition? Send your questions, along with an e-mail address and phone number, to ontheroad@PE.com or contact Rick Davis at 951-375-3720. Please note that due to the volume of questions received, only those published in the column can be answered.

Tags: Conditions exist to drive golf carts

Deeply contrary to the culture of speed, golf carts and the people who drive them are demanding a piece of the road for themselves - and they’re getting it. In many ways the timing is absolutely right.

Designed to travel at a leisurely pace and run on electricity, golf carts leave a significantly smaller ecological footprint than the average vehicle. The first electric vehicle available to consumers, golf carts are compact and cheap to run, quiet, easy to drive and non-polluting. how to clean upholstery also painfully slow. Most golf carts top out at speeds of 15 mph with the pedal to the metal. But if you’ve got time to get to where you’re going, what’s the problem?

Many communities have simply connected the dots between their warm weather, a preponderance of golf courses and retirees, and the sheer efficiency of these vehicles amp; upholstery cleaners in roads and pathways dedicated just to them. Much like bike lanes in other cities, golf cart lanes are showing up in communities all over Florida, Arizona and California.

According to a new york times article, golf cart sales to individuals have doubled over the last 10 years, a phenomenon largely due to a change in US legislation. Ever since the shampoo carpet cleaning Highway Traffic Safety administration allowed “low speed vehicles” such as golf carts, to travel up to 25 mph on roads with speed limits up tp 35 mph in 1998, golf carts have been slowly moving off the golf course and into people’s garages.

Of course, you have to pimp your ride before you’re legal. Road worthy carts have to be outfitted with seat belts, windshields, turn signals and brake lights before they can legally tear up the asphalt.

In 1999, Rancho Mirage CA was one of the first American cities to make Golf Carts part of the municipal scene when the city adopted a program allowing drivers to travel the streets in their carts. The city has designated golf cart lanes and paths that traverse the downtown area and skirt leather furniture cleaning entrances to some of the most exclusive designer golf courses and country clubs in America. Carrying golf clubs, groceries and purse dogs, residents cruise roads named after the icons that invented this glamorous slow-moving golf life: Bob Hope, Gerald Ford, Ginger Rogers, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra. With scarves streaming in the slow desert breeze, this is SoCal at it’s finest.

The city is no stranger to the ways of the golf cart. The Thunderbird Country Club in Rancho Mirage is said to be the first place to ever see a powered vehicle on the fairway. In the 1950s, the likes of Desi Arnez and Bing Crosby were wheeling around furniture steam cleaners Thunderbird greens in the first 3 wheeled electric golf carts Americans had ever seen. To have the modern cousins of these early vehicles taking over the streets of Rancho Mirage 60 years later is not really surprising. Some would wonder what took them so long.

Two golf carts were stolen for a joyride on the Island West Golf Club driving range overnight Sunday, according to a Beaufort County sheriff’s report released Wednesday.

Empty beer cans were found nearby.

The culprits probably scaled the fence, the report said. They drove the two carts through the wooden fence and onto the driving range, where they ran over flag poles and a golf bag holder.

At the end of the ride, they parked the carts near the hole in the fence.

One of the carts had front-end damage that will cost about $1,000 to repair, the report said. Other damage was estimated at $205.

Tags: Polite joyriders return stolen golf carts

Golf carts could become more visible on Tipton city streets, if the city council grants a request to allow the vehicles on some of the community’s roads.

Todd Huston, owner of a Tipton golf cart company, said Aug. 18 that he was appearing because he had received several requests from the public about use on city streets.

Huston said that he thought the use of carts during RAGBRAI had gone well and wondered if the city would be willing to allow use of some streets on a trial basis.

He noted the gas savings that could occur and said some elderly people could use them to run errands and go to the grocery store.

He said rules would include; only golf carts, inside the city limits, licensed drivers only, $1 million of insurance, proper vehicle markings, sun up to sun down, less than 25 mph, and a $50 badge.

Huston said that people who violated the rules could be subject to a $50 fine, with a 2nd violation resulting in a $250 fine and lost of privileges for one year.

He told the council that carts should not run on busy streets, such as highways 38 and 130, as well as 9th and South streets.

Currently there are about 10 towns in Iowa that allow golf carts on city streets and Huston said one town, Swisher, has no ordinance regulating their use.

Council members appeared receptive to the idea. Council member Don McGlaughlin asked if seat belts would be required. Huston said he would prefer they not be.

He encouraged the council to consider the proposal and said all carts should be required to have a slow moving vehicle (SMV) sign and a red flag.

The council will get a legal opinion from City Attorney Lowell Dendinger and discuss the issue again in September. There will also be discussion between Huston, Mayor Shirley Kepford, City Manager Doug Boldt and Police Chief Roger Hakeman.

Green Energy

In a 3 to 2 vote, the council approved spending about $17,000 over the next year on Green Energy certificates for power generated by windmills.

Those voting in favor were Warren Wethington, Don McGlaughlin and Bob Klemme. Voting against were Klay Johnson and Dean Anderson.

The approval came despite a request from Johnson that the city survey residents before spending the money.

Although the funds are budgeted, Johnson said they were still dollars that came from consumers. He asked that customers have a say in the decision.

City Manager Doug Boldt said the council approved a budget that had funding for renewable energy, but it was their call on whether they wanted to pursue it.

Electric Superintendent John Packwood said the renewable energy credits participation would cost the city $5.95 per megawatt hour, which would be paid to a broker who certifies green certificates and takes a cut. The rest of the funds would go to people who build wind turbine farms.

He admitted that wind energy was not a profitable venture at the current time.

Other Business

The council:

*Approved a sewer maintenance contract with Municipal Pipe Tool Co. of Hudson for 5 years at a cost of $3,000 per year. The city will work with the company to identify deteriorating sections of sanitary sewer lines that are contributing to inflow and infiltration.

*Approved purchase of an 8,000 gallon, double wall fuel tank for $15,716.16. The tank will be located east of the power plant and will be manufactured by Xerxes of Tipton. It will be purchased from Acterra of Marion.

*Approved final payment to Maguire Iron Inc., Sioux Falls, S.D. of $45,722.50 for construction of the new water tower.

*Approved final payment of $993.50 to Iseler Demolition, Inc., Romeo, Mich. for taking down the old water tower.

*Approved total compensation, not to exceed $39,500, to Garden and Associates, Ltd., Oskaloosa, for engineering services provided for construction of the new tower and demolition of the old. The original contract was for $31,000, but did not include added work over the past year.

*Approved certificates of completion for Maguire Iron and Iseler Demolition on the 2 projects, and a statement of substantial completion on the new hangar at Mathews Memorial Airport.

*Approved a liquor license renewal for the Tipton Country Club.

*Went into closed session to discuss and consider purchase of real estate.

*Set the first and 2nd council meetings in September for the 8th and 22nd.

Allowing golf carts in Pulaski would have of course saved people money in gas, but in the end, would have cost the town more.

Patricia Weeks and Heather O’Dell proposed the idea to council.

They even posted petitions around town to rally support.

On Tuesday, council members took the proposal off the table.

They say a traffic study alone would cost about $1,000 a street and that’s more money than the town has available.