Upper middle class folks in my urban neighborhood in my city are buying golf carts to zip around the city. Primarily it seems to be a way to surreptitiously drink and drive while having friends and family in tow. The owners/drivers are typically easily seen with a beer in hand. It seems to fall along racial lines as only white communities would be able to skirt DUI laws in such broad strokes.
Now I am in a city park and one of these assholes drove a golf cart 200 yards in on grass and dirt directly to park directly at the playground. This seems like a clear, “It’s only a problem when other people do it, I’m doing nothing wrong,” scenario. Fucking hate these golf carts, especially with the Kei car bans, but primarily because of how they are used and abused. I’m definitely a proponent of alternatives to cars, but this application ain’t it.
Have you gone to a town hall meeting?
I dont get how they skirt DUI laws. Where I’m from, you can get a DUI on any mode of transportation including bicycles and kayaks.
Here in the UK, a friend of mine got stopped for pushing his motorbike home from the pub because he felt he was too drunk to safely ride it. Rather than recognising he was doing the right thing by walking and not riding, they hit him with drunk in charge and he got points on his licence. Just a reminder that ACAB.
That’s evil man. Is personally just have left it there.
I’m in the UK and every winter ride the 5 miles on footpaths to my local town for our Christmas do. I know I could get pulled over but feel the chances are so low ill do it anyway
My city is very well known for the imbalance of the application of law. One part of town is assumed innocent until proven guilty and the other side is considered guilty simply by how you look. This leads to all sorts of systemic inequities.
If folks of color did this en-masse, it would be sensationalized and clamped down hard.
You could be drunk on a horse that knows its way home and still get one.
You have interesting laws if that’s the case. My place specifically mentions motor vehicles, so even bicycles, which can be considered ‘traffic,’ won’t get you a case.
My home or the horse’s home?
If you’re riding a horse “home” and it’s a different home than your home you have the wrong horse.
Thanks. You may have just saved my night.
No problem hombre.
Yes.
In college I got chunked in the drunk tank for riding my bike buzzed. Did the roadside aerobics perfectly, they cuffed me when I did the alphabet backwards and mixed up M and N. No shit.
I can’t do that shit sober.
Why, I never! Who, and I say WHO would ever operate a kayak after drinking?!
I’m appalled you would even make such an accusation.
I say I say BOY! How dare you tarnish my FINE reputation with such slander!
(Um, I not certain I’ve ever operated a kayak sober, at least later in the day. Which is why my wife drives home.)
I used to do it mainly California Sober, but a couple times Oregon Sober was fuuuuuuun!
Kayak? I’m really having trouble imagining how that works. Is that still normal police giving out the DUI or some kind of water police along a beach? Could you explain some more to put my imagination at ease?
Sheriffs patrol the popular waterways around here in boats.
Roller skating and bikes too.
Golf carts in the city can be done well, with Peachtree City as the prime example. However they have infrastructure, and more importantly, laws surrounding the use of the carts.
Intoxication, unrestricted parking, and no rules combine to be a disaster waiting to happen. In your situation, I would attend city council meetings and speak out regarding the safety concerns you’re witnessing. It would be useful to also begin documenting misuse of these carts to present at these meetings.
Parks in my area have signage forbidding motorized vehicles. There’s no logical reason the people driving carts can’t leave them in the same area as cars. Driving across park fields is bound to become problematic in terms of lawn maintenance. Once your area implements laws, it could be nice to replace some of the vehicle traffic with cart traffic.
If street legal in your area, golf carts should be treated like any other small vehicle like a moped. Restrict it to 35 mph or lower roads, keep it out of bike lanes, register it if needed… the list goes on.
You mention PTC. There, they treat it like any other vehicle. You absolutely can get a DUI (and they love to hand them out). But PTC is a cart community and was born with those laws in place. In a more urban setting where carts are mixing with other light EVs, of course you should hold them to the same rules, but the laws haven’t been written yet.
Please don’t condemn an inexpensive, more sustainable mode of transportation just because a few douche-nozzles are trying to ruin it. A cart seats 4, runs off cheap rechargeables, has a small footprint and low wear and tear on our roads, is a neighborhood level form of transportation and is an attainable EV for anyone who wants to dip a toe in.
Driving across a park in your cart and tearing up the grass while being a tool should always end in a clothesline.
Edit: Sorry, I just realized I replied to the wrong person. We are arguing the same point. No animosity to you. Thumbs up.
Our city councilor got arrested for drunk driving a golf cart then pulling a "do you know who I am? "
I don’t hate them, not so different from my electric bike, right? But wow you are correct, the demographic skews hyper entitled.
My dad was buying used golf carts in the 90s the skirt around the drinking and driving rules. We would mod them so they would go 45mph.
Not in my part of town, but I have seen this in neighborhoods in my city as well and it’s awful. Its a recreational activity to drive drunk on local residential roads often with no real destination in mind.
Man, I hate this kind of shit, too.
I’m definitely a proponent of alternatives to cars, but this application ain’t it.
Get the Kyles and Karens on board with it and we can have them everywhere
I sent a note to my electeds but it surely won’t get fixed until a kid dies.
Start sabotaging them. Be the change you want to see.
Personally, if it’s an unmodified electric cart, it’s whatever to me. When you start taking limiters off, that’s a different story. They otherwise go fairly slowly.
I certainly don’t condone driving around drinking in them, but I’ve certainly done that very thing playing golf, so I guess I’m a smidge hypocrite.
But yeah, sabotage them. Imagine going out in your cart, parking it outside a bar, and coming back to it no longer functioning. That’s just, IMO.
Shit in my state it’s not just golf carts but those 4 door off road vehicles. Those things get fast!
The UTVs? Yeah, those things are just insane dune buggies with better PR. Watching one run from the cops was an experience out in the boonies, let me tell you.
Oh I’m sure. That’s why I’m surprised they’re included.
I just think they need to be treated and regulated like cars due to their proliferation. Plate em, tax em, safe inspect them, etc. Put no motorized vehicle signs in parks, etc.
I drive my golf cart instead of my car daily. I had to get it titled, registered (plated) and insured. The cops had to inspect it for turn signals, brake lights, etc and sign a road worthiness letter before I could get it registered.
This sounds great. We need that here.
Agree, but I also feel this way about ebikes and scooters.
