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New year, new rules for golf carts

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Staff Writer
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Tuesday, January 3. 2012
Comments (40)
Golf cart owners in Barnesville – and other places in Georgia – will soon have stricter requirements to follow if they want to drive their carts on roadways.

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#1 anon on 01/03/12 at 07:23 AM
What about age restrictions for driving on roads/sidewalks???
#1.1 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 10:07 PM
and what about age restrictions for being a passenger on a golf cart? I see infants and young kids on them all the time, with no restraints.
#2 Freedom Rider on 01/03/12 at 07:42 AM
Who's idea was this? I don't own a cart but I do live in the city and see our Mayor and Council overstepping a little here. There aren't enough karts on our streets to start creating "laws" to control them. The only thing that ever bothered me about them is young children operating them on the road. The last thing we need is another dig at our personal freedoms no matter how many are affected and no matter how trivial it might seem.
#2.1 anon on 01/03/12 at 11:31 AM
Read article closely...these are state wide laws. Has nothing to do with Mayor and Council.
#3 PB on 01/03/12 at 08:58 AM
What about keeping them off the highways ?
They should stay on the golf course thats what they were designed for, unless we want to be like Peachtree City and make street and highway lanes just for them.
#3.1 Cats on 01/03/12 at 05:50 PM
I would love that!
#3.2 Anonymous on 01/03/12 at 07:15 PM
It is a State Law prohibiting golf carts on State Highways. Our local Law enforcement chooses not to enforce it. Probably because they are some of the worse offenders in their off time.
#4 Anonymous on 01/03/12 at 12:50 PM
I see there is still no requirement to insure them.

So if you get creamed by a golf cart, you'll have to sue the driver or owner of it. No insurance required = your car won't be fixed any time soon unless you pay out of pocket.
#4.1 Duh on 01/03/12 at 01:55 PM
I doubt a 20 mph golf cart is going to do much damage to your car. That golf cart would be more messed up than your car. I guess the golf cart driver should think about the people who might hit them with no car insurance. That happens too!
#4.1.1 Anonymous on 01/03/12 at 02:25 PM
You must be one of the uninsured golf cart drivers.

Are you the one that tried to get up a sidewalk without going to a ramp and tipped over a little and put a nice scratch and dent on my truck?

You were seen, but since there's no identifying tag (about to change) on the cart no way to prove who it was.
#4.1.1.1 Anonymous on 01/03/12 at 08:56 PM
Lighten up, Francis. Cyber-bullying is also a crime. If you have proper insurance you should be able to get the damage fixed.
#4.1.1.1.1 Anonymous on 01/05/12 at 09:36 AM
Then stop cyber bullying.

Why would anyone want to make an insurance claim and cause their own insurance premiums to go up?

I say insure the carts and put identifying information on every one of them, and enforce the laws that are ALREADY on the books.
#4.1.1.2 HaHa on 01/03/12 at 11:15 PM
Yeah your so bright. I don't even live in your town so quit blaming the wrong person. Apparently you don't carry uninsured motorist insurance so you might want to add that!
#4.2 Ken K. Green on 01/03/12 at 04:46 PM
I have been involved in a cart vs. car crash and I can assure you that my face received more damage that either of the vehicles involved.

I was driving my cart (which top out at about 22 mph) on Taylor Street when a lady runs the stop sign on Merchant's Way crossing Taylor into the United Bank parking lot. I locked the brakes to avoid collision but caught the back end of the car anyway and was pulled into a curb.

The impact with the curb caused me to be ejected from my cart onto the asphalt in the drive of the parking lot rendering me unconscious for a few minutes.

When I came to, I was surrounded by a crowd of concerned citizens, police officers and emergency personell. When I was helped back into my cart, I got a look at my face and it looked as if I'd gone a few rounds with Tyson (I know some of you think of this as an improvement).

I was taken to the emergency room where it was learned I had a concussion, contusions and hematomas about my forehead,various minor cuts and scrapes to my cheeks and lips, a hairline fracture to my nose and severly bruised ribs.

My cart suffered some minor scratches and the car I hit had nothing wrong with it to my knowledge.

So there is one very true scenario as to what happens when golf cart strikes car. Just thought I'd share.
#4.2.1 Anonymous on 01/14/12 at 06:53 AM
No offense but maybe you should not drive so fast in your golf cart which was "paid" for by other people and respect the "REAL" automobiles in town.
#5 Confused on 01/03/12 at 08:45 PM
I have more problem with the jokers that feel they must accelerate to 60 going up and down my road that I do with the golf carts.

Golf carts make less noise, use less gas and create less pollution. What is not to like about them in a town as small as Barnesville (where the longest distance between any two points at most about three miles).
#6 Cadence on 01/03/12 at 10:23 PM
I'm glad they will have to have seat belts (would have kept Ken in his cart rather than kissing the pavement) I do wish they would put an age limit on driving them. In the summer I see carts with piles of young kids hanging off them, going too fast, ignoring the cars on the street and just scaring me to death. They were not made for roads, they are "golf" carts. And yes,cars flying through neighborhoods are a menace, too.
#7 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 12:04 AM
Try getting behind one that is just out riding the roads and just will not move over. So you have to ride 20 mph and hope they get off the road.
#8 WALKER on 01/04/12 at 07:22 AM
IS THE DRIVER OF A GOLF CART ON CITY STREETS REQUIRED TO HAVE A GEORGIA DRIVERS LICENSE ?
#8.1 Yes on 01/05/12 at 08:12 PM
Yes, if you drive it on the street.
#9 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 08:33 AM
The new rules should also include paying advalorum tax for the use of the road (which were not built for recreational vehicles), that they be licensed drivers, and that they at least carry liability insurance, after all they are on the road with other vehicles that are required to carry liability insurance. I'm sorry for the person who does have an accident but they need to use common sense while on the road with motorized vehicles that could cause very serious damage.
#9.1 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 07:06 PM
Then maybe we should tax bicycles too. There are a lot of them on the roadways!
#9.1.1 H B on 01/05/12 at 07:54 AM
Interesting, may as well do the same for skateboards and tricycles. I am beginning to believe the Lawyers who make the laws, are knowledge proficient in Karl Marx book the Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital. They are trying to make a law for everything.
#9.2 Pete D. Estrian on 01/04/12 at 08:19 PM
Maybe we should also tax people who walk on sidewalks. Make them have a license to walk and be insured as well. It's all got to be paid for somehow.
#9.3 bouttime on 01/05/12 at 02:07 PM
Correct!! It should be a crime to drive them without insurance because "THIS VERY ACT" has cost someone I know, more financially and mentally, than you could ever know.
#10 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 11:02 AM
another way to generate money. I agree that kids under 15 shouldnt operate these on a public road. Othern than that, a horn is good but the seatbelt, tail lamps, etc. is overboard.
#11 b-villian on 01/04/12 at 11:35 AM
My favorite story was the one my husband told me.
He turned onto our street after his hour commute from Atlanta.
A woman was driving a golf cart heading toward him and she quickly made a U turn, I guess she simply HAD to be in front of him.
She was holding a baby on her lap and had 3 more kids in the golf cart.
A young boy, about 6 years old who was riding in the passenger seat, fell out of the cart and was running along beside the cart, holding on until she slowed down so he could clamber back in.
My husband related that story in an astonished voice. I am not sure he isn't still having bad dreams.
#11.1 ed on 01/05/12 at 10:40 AM
I've got behind that same family before and yes they drive the cart like idiots. The woman and her mother were going down college drive one day flying while just holding that infant. i called the police that day but doubt they did anything. you can always find them at flash foods getting free drinks if you need one.
#12 e on 01/04/12 at 01:22 PM
Maybe we can get enforcement on the two or three that feel their above the law and cross over hwy347/ga 7 to go to Ingles and Wendy's. Everybody knows who you are. Its one thing if its just you taking chances but when you have passengers thats worse. I gtd you if somebody hits you going 45 or more you'll wake up looking at St. Peter.
#12.1 Anonymous on 01/05/12 at 09:33 AM
I feel that if they are being responsible and they now the risk then its there right and we should say otherwise. People need to realize that they are not as safe as a car. As long is they understand this, then go for it. If we start telling people how to live, then where does it end. As long as there aren't hurting anyone else, let it be.
#13 Anonymous on 01/04/12 at 09:03 PM
Why are these allowed on the roads anyway? Too much of a chance to get hurt, that is common sense. Sheesh
#14 Anonymous on 01/05/12 at 09:48 AM
Still no requirement for a tag. No requirement for insurance OR drivers license!

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen young children operating these things on the streets.

A disaster is just waiting to happen. I only hope it isn't me with dead children under my wheels
#15 Because it is the law on 01/05/12 at 12:01 PM
http://www.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,5635600_6640623_129906669,00.html

This is Georgia Law concerning slow moving vehicals (golf carts)
#16 Anonymous on 01/05/12 at 04:01 PM
"Maybe we should also tax people who walk on sidewalks. Make them have a license to walk and be insured as well. It's all got to be paid for somehow."

Maybe we should not tax cars when bought, tax tires when bought, tax tags when bought, tax gas when bought.

Maybe we should stop requiring people to pay for a license to operate cars on the street. Insurance is a bad idea as well, especially for collisions with uninsured vehicles.

We'll revisit this brilliant plan to allow carts operated by children on city streets when inevitable disaster happens.
#17 Anonymous on 01/05/12 at 04:23 PM
so what happens if a golf cart pulls out in front of you and swerve to miss it (natural reaction) and hit something else... who's fault is it at that point and who's insurance will be responsible? i don't mind the golf carts on the streets but yes there needs to be stricter laws on them and they need to be enforced...
#18 Hello on 01/06/12 at 07:08 AM
So what if a car pulls out infront of you and you swerve and the car drives off....you pay for your own damages because you swerved. Same difference.
#18.1 Anonymous on 01/06/12 at 09:58 AM
Golf carts aren't automobiles and shouldn't be on the roads to begin with. They belong on golf courses.
#19 Sheila Tolley on 01/06/12 at 01:34 PM
Why are seat belts NOT required on school buses?
#20 bouttime on 01/09/12 at 09:59 AM
(Comment removed)
#20.1 Anonymous on 01/09/12 at 01:14 PM
Funny how I live here and I never see all of this golf cart misuse and abuse going on. Sure during Buggy days I see carts all over the place but most street traffic is going around the major areas at that point. I read all this crying and boo-hooing and really the heart of it seems to be how it inconveniences people more than any real substantial issue. Seriously, all this regulation of the golf carts, if it was about children running around in them or some such could be handled by 1) requiring a drivers license to be allowed to operate them on a main street and 2) holding parents responsible if unlicensed children are caught driving them.

My problem with this and many laws like it is that it punishes decent, considerate people along with the reckless. I don't agree with any type of law that does that. I am tired of the few making it a burden of the many!
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