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Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Ind. Law - A number of new golf cart stories today

From the Elkhart Truth, a brief report from the Middlebury Town Council meeting of 8/4/08:

Discussed possibly allowing residents to drive golf carts on town roads. Council members said they were open to considering the issue, but more research is needed into the cost and safety of such a plan before any decision can be made. The council likely will seek public input in an open hearing that will be scheduled at a later date.
A longer story on Middlebury from Dave Martin of the the Goshen News:
MIDDLEBURY, Ind. — Should golf carts be allowed on city streets?

That’s the question before the Middlebury Town Council, and they’d like the public’s help in deciding.

The issue was raised when a resident asked the council at a recent meeting if operating a golf cart on Middlebury’s streets would be legal. The resident, who could not make Monday’s Town Council meeting, said that he would like to use his golf cart in place of his car to get around town and save gasoline.

This spurred Town Manager Lowell Miller into research.

Miller said that he looked at golf cart use in other Indiana towns and at Indiana statutes.

He said golf carts are considered moving vehicles and state statutes place “significant restrictions” on what must be included in any town ordinances relating to golf cart use on streets and highways. For example, before carts can be used on streets and highways, they must be registered as moving vehicles and undergo safety inspections, much like automobiles did in the 1960s and 1970s.

“(The public) needs to know they can’t just jump on a golf cart and go (on the streets),” Miller said.

Councilman Jack Kortie added that golf cart drivers must have a driver’s license to operate a cart on the public streets.

And Council President Gary O’Dell cautioned that Middlebury’s ordinances on the issue would not apply to Ind. 13, since it is a state highway.

After the meeting, Miller said that only one person has inquired on the issue at the town offices this summer.

Following Miller’s report, council members decided to table the issue and take informal public comments. If significant response is elicited, the panel will then schedule a public hearing on the golf cart issue.

From the Bedford Times-Mail, a good story by Krystal Slaten. Some quotes:
MITCHELL — To ride or not to ride is definitely the question plaguing the owners of golf carts in Mitchell these days.

The problem arose July 26 when Harold Sanders was pulled over on Main Street in Mitchell by Lawrence County officer Lonnie Johnson for driving his gas-powered golf cart. Sanders was ticketed for failure to provide registration when required and was slapped with a fine.

Sanders immediately went to visit Mitchell Mayor Dan Terrell to see what the problem was. That’s because, in the previous weeks, Terrell came out publicly encouraging the use of golf carts within the city limits.

But it appears there is a gray area in Indiana when it comes to laws concerning the use of golf carts, and it’s an issue likely to face state legislators soon, as gas prices continue to hover around $4 a gallon.

Legal issues. The use of golf carts, according to Lawrence County Prosecutor Michelle Woodward, isn’t just an issue in Mitchell. Other cities tackle it enough that the Indiana Prosecutor, the newsletter for the Indiana Prosecuting Attorney Council, reports about the issue at least once a year.

“Title 9 of the Indiana Code does not specifically mention golf carts or ban their use or operation on public highways. However, Title 9 does impose certain requirements and restrictions upon the use of golf carts operated on public highways,” the newsletter stated in its June/July 2007 issue.

Woodward agrees. “Golf carts can be operated on public highways, but — and this is a big but — they must be registered and plated with the Bureau of Motor Vehicles,” Woodward said.

“And if you go in to the BMV and tell them you want to plate your golf cart, they are going to look at you quite strangely because there is no method for registering or plating a golf cart.”

The problem, Woodward says, lies in the law. “This is an issue we won’t solve without legislators taking action,” she said. * * *

“We just like to ride our cart around town, taking it to the grocery store and coffee shop,” Rondee Sanders said. “For us, it’s safer. We are disabled and it’s so much easier to get in and out of our golf cart to run errands, and we’re saving on gas. And, sometimes, we just take a ride at night just to have something to do, outside of sitting at home watching reruns.”

Terrell, who encouraged the use of golf carts a few weeks ago, is upset because he believes Mitchell’s senior citizens are the ones who are being punished by an unclear law.

“I am mad,” Terrell said. “A couple of Mitchell’s senior citizens are playing the price for an unclear law. This is common sense gone nuts. Mitchell police are plenty capable of controlling our senior citizens gone wild on golf carts.”

A solution? The mayor points to statistics, such as one that says 1,000 people are hurt on golf carts annually and 800 of those injuries take place on the golf course. Still, however, he knows the issue will have to be tackled at the Indiana Statehouse.

“Our state legislators are going to have to address this,” Terrell said. “But I don’t see how anyone can give a ticket on a law that’s so muddy and cloudy. Since we don’t have any way to register golf carts in the state, I am just telling people that Mitchell police aren’t writing tickets for this. Mitchell supports golf carts, their use and the conservation of fuel.

From News 25, Evansville, a story headed "Sharing the Road with Golf Carts and Scooters? It Could Happen Soon in Kentucky."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 6, 2008 12:49 PM
Posted to Indiana Law