Florida laws have two important sections. You must be 14 or older to operate a golf cart and your golf cannot go faster than 19.9 mph or it's no longer considered a golf cart. So you will never receive a speeding ticket, it will be an unregistered vehicle ticket, which is much more expensive, you'll need to appear in court in Bushnell and you'll need to bring a letter from a mechanic that your cart's speed has been dialed back. If you show up in court wearing shorts, your case will be pushed back to the end of the day, about 4:30 even through you might be there at 10am, and you'll spend about $450. Even with all of this, about 40% of the carts have been sped up by their owner. In this case, get a speedometer. The one advantage they have is the police will generally only patrol streets with a golf cart lane on the side, such as Bailey Trail by Cane Garden. That's a popular area for radar and you're on a public street, so the law pervails. On the multi-modal paths (MMP) they almost never give out a ticket for speed because it is private property. However, police will give out tickets for an open container of alcohol just like in a car.
As far as driving a cart, it handles much like a car and at speeds of 19mph it's fairly easy to handle. Don't go anywhere that signs say "no carts beyond this point". Stay in your golf cart lanes, merge left into the car lane after signaling with both your hand and turn signal if making a left turn. On the multi-modal paths stay right, stay 3' away from bicycles, slow down for pedestrians. Common sense is the most important part. Driving through your local community is the quickest way to learn your way. Expand your distance and you'll learn the way just like driving your car in your hometown.
|