More golf carts leaving greens
— -- When Richard Fisher wants to meet friends for a cup of coffee, go to the grocery store or watch his grandkids play ball, he hops in his golf cart and zips off along the streets of Summitville, Ind.
The Central Indiana community of 1,100 is one of a growing number across the USA that have begun allowing golf carts on its streets in the past year.
"I'm saving money and wear and tear on my car," said Fisher, 82, whose cart is tricked out with seat belts, a boombox, flashing hazard light and wheel-rim spinners. A USA TODAY review found that in the past year, as gas prices surged past $4 a gallon, dozens of communities, — including Danforth, Ill.; Pulaski, Va.; Conover, N.C.; Osseo, Minn.; and Loveland, Colo. — have passed or debated ordinances to allow golf carts on local streets.
Most recently Winchester, Ind., approved an ordinance on July 7. Sandusky, Ohio, passed an ordinance last month that takes effect Wednesday.
"Gas prices were certainly a factor," said Dennis Murray, president of the Sandusky City Commission.
"Gas prices are the driving factor for most of the folks who are using golf carts here," said Summitville Police Chief Tony Hendrick. "But we needed an ordinance so we could regulate their use and safety."
The Danforth, Ill., ordinance went into effect in June. Council president Arnold Hess said officials in the community of about 500 were following the lead of Ashkum and Crescent City, neighboring Iroquois County towns that adopted ordinances this year.
Although gas costs were a factor, convenience was another reason many of the community's older residents wanted to use golf carts.
"Its easier to get into a golf cart that a car or truck," Hess said.
Not every community that has considered allowing golf carts on local streets has chosen to do so.
Bloomfield, Ind., decided to continue its golf cart ban in June, said Town Clerk Sondra Thompson. Last August, Salina, Kan., voted to ban golf carts from local streets, citing safety concerns, according to Nick Hernandez, the city's management assistant. Last July, the Collier County (Fla.) Commission turned down a request to make carts legal on the streets of the Isles of Capri, according to Kirk Colvin, president of the Isles of Capri Civic Association.
Jim Philipps, spokesman for the National Association of Counties, said some county and municipal agencies, including law enforcement, parks and utility departments, are also looking to the vehicles as a cost-effective alternative.
"I think the question has been: How high does the price of gas have to get before people start to change their behaviors?" Philipps said. "The answer seems to be $4 a gallon."
Gas City, Ind., recently purchased golf carts for police to patrol parks and for the utility department to use when reading meters, city councilman Larry Terwillegar says.
The Fairfield County (Ohio) Sheriff's Office is using two golf carts to conduct patrols in some of the county's villages, where there is not a lot of geographic area to cover, added Sheriff Dave Phalen.
Officials are struggling to balance legal and safety concerns with the desires of those who want to use golf carts to get around town.
Laws in 26 states either allow low-speed electric vehicles to use some local streets or give communities the power to make that decision, said Jim Reed, Transportation Program Director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. As more golf carts roll onto public streets, the potential for injuries increases, said Gerald McGwin, a researcher at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. His study, published in the June edition of The Journal of Trauma, found about 1,000 people in the USA require emergency room treatment from golf cart injuries each month. Most of those injuries occur on golf courses, but about 20% are from incidents at home or on public roads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not recognize golf carts as on-road vehicles, so they don't have to meet the same federal safety standards as automobiles, said McGwin, who stressed the need for safety to be addressed in local ordinances.
"Once you use them in a setting they aren't designed for — or where they come in contact with other vehicles — the potential for serious injuries really increases," McGwin said.