Golf Carts Have Taken Over Suburbia. Cue the Resistance.

A slow-rolling cavalry is conquering America’s public roads.

Golf carts are becoming street legal in one community after another as families ditch their minivans and SUVs when they want to run a quick errand or ramble around town.

Dan Pearson bought a six-seat cart this summer after the village board he leads in the Chicago suburb of East Dundee, Ill., approved the vehicles. As he drove through downtown on a recent afternoon, pedestrians gawked and diners waved. “Dude, I love it,” a man called out as Pearson cruised past.

“It’s fun to get out,” Pearson said. “People tend to talk to people in a small little cart as opposed to a big car or truck.”

But with the boom has come a backlash. Some residents of cart-friendly towns say slow drivers are clogging the streets and reckless ones are making them unsafe. They grumble about cart drivers, including tweens and young teens, speeding, swerving and treating the road like their own private parade route.

 
East Dundee Village President Dan Pearson was one of the first in town to get a registration sticker for his golf cart. He thought the open six-seater would be a good way to meet voters.

“We all hate you,” a Florida motorist snapped on TikTok when slow-moving carts on a coastal road clogged traffic in both directions. “Get off your golf cart and drive a regular car.” (...)

The momentum, however, belongs to the carts. Golf carts designed for the road have been around since the early 2000s, but demand has soared in the past five years. Mark Rickell, a sales executive at cart maker Club Car, estimated the total U.S. market for the vehicles at $5 billion, up from $1 billion before the pandemic.

“One thing you could do in Covid was get outside,” he said. “I think that really spurred on the popularity of the golf cart lifestyle.”

Many of today’s carts have little in common with old-school fairway ramblers. Street-ready versions usually come with seat belts, headlights and turn signals, and can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than $25,000. Manufacturers typically cap their speed at 20 or 25 miles an hour, though some owners say that can be boosted with a little tinkering.

 

Johnny Horn bought a four-seater this year that looks like a cruise ship crossed with a UFO.

It has a turquoise frame, white seats and orange rims, along with four-wheel drive for the rare occasions when it snows in his hometown of Gaffney, S.C. The dashboard has a built-in refrigerator. The sound system has 24 speakers, all of which can light up and pulse to the rhythm of the music.

“It’s like a parade,” said Horn, a Realtor who sometimes drives it to showings.

South Carolina law allows golf carts to travel on public roads with a speed limit of 35 mph or less and within 4 miles of the driver’s home. The vehicles don’t need a license plate but must have a permit. 

by John Keilman, Wall Street Journal |  Read more:

Images: uncredited

[ed. All for it.]