Quote:
Originally Posted by golfing eagles
Most of the roads, not all, that have cart lanes also have sidewalks, in which case it is illegal for the pedestrian to walk in the cart lane:
Florida statute 316.130 sec 3&4:
(3) Where sidewalks are provided, no pedestrian shall, unless required by other circumstances, walk along and upon the portion of a roadway paved for vehicular traffic.
(4) Where sidewalks are not provided, any pedestrian walking along and upon a highway shall, when practicable, walk only on the shoulder on the left side of the roadway in relation to the pedestrian’s direction of travel, facing traffic which may approach from the opposite direction.
This applies even if the sidewalk is on the other side of the road. If there is no sidewalk, I would be getting out of the way of a cart, car, or truck.
As far as another poster who said "pedestrians ALWAYS have the right of way, that is not always true, there are several cases of this, but here is one from 316.130 sec 10:
(10) Every pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway.
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"Most of the roads, not all, that have cart lanes also have sidewalks"
That is not true for a major portion of The Villages, and that's why we have the issue of this thread.
If I am the pedestrian, and if it's possible or reasonable, I step off the path for the golf cart. If I am the golf cart driver, I do what it takes to avoid the pedestrian.
I am a pedestrian, biker, golf cart driver, and a car driver so I think I see the issue from all sides. Of the four, I place golf cart drivers dead last for brains and courtesy. Now don't take offense if you are not one of the bad drivers, because most of the golf cart drivers I encounter are courteous and safe. However, the bad ones are really, really bad. I have lost count of the number of times I have faced a golf cart on the wrong side of the trail coming around a blind corner. Also, the way some shoot out of tunnels is just plain scary.