If you live in Kentucky, you may have noticed lately that a fair number of golf carts have strayed quite a bit from the course. These aren't poor golfers looking for an errant shot — at least, not exclusively. The Associated Press reports that multiple Kentucky municipalities have recently passed or are actively considering laws allowing golf carts on city streets.
The trend began back in 2008, when the state legislature awarded local governments the right to award golf carts the right to certain public roads. Initially there was a provision keeping the carts within 5 miles of a golf course, but that restriction was dropped in 2010. Now the permissible area has expanded to any road with a speed-limit of 35 miles per hour.
Kentucky is not exactly in uncharted waters here. In 1998, responding to growing concerns about golf carts on roads, the federal government created safety standards for a new class of vehicles called "low-speed vehicles." Those rules required LSVs to have basic safety equipment like headlights and seatbelts. (Oddly enough, the standards didn't apply to golf carts, since most didn't travel 20-25 m.p.h.)
Still, states had the final say where LSVs could go. While the initial idea was for this new class of vehicles to make a short trip into town, traveling primarily around communities (especially retirement communities) properly planned for LSV traffic, today all but four states allow LSVs to mix with traffic on regular roads — with relatively few restrictions: (...)
So why are so many people in Kentucky cities — and beyond — risking personal safety by cruising regular roads in golf carts and their kind? Well the simplest answer is money: the AP reports that Kentuckians have turned to golf carts as a way to avoid rising gas prices. But if that's the case, then why aren't these same people just buying full-sized electric vehicles?
by Eric Jaffe, Atlantic | Read more:
Image: Shutterstock
