Quote:
Originally Posted by Gil Chapin
I know this subject gets beaten to death frequently, but I feel the need to respond about GEM cars. Just like "real" cars, GEM cars have a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). As such, they can never be legally operated on public roads without a registration ("Tag") or insurance. Limiting them to 20 MPH will not avoid that. You can't downgrade a GEM car to be a golf cart (unless it's used only on private property) but you can "upgrade" a golf cart to be a ("Street Legal") low speed vehicle by giving it the necessary physical properties and registering and insuring it for use on public roads. The only advantage to doing that is you get to travel 5 MPH faster and go on (and cross) some roads where you couldn't go with a golf cart. Most people don't pay attention to the speed limits anyway and even using an actual GEM car as a "regular" vehicle on public roads is risky at best, so I don't see much value in doing that. I have a GEM car because I do have to travel on some public roads (as do most golf cart owners - but I use the golf cart lanes on the roadways and the multimodal paths where possible) and the GEM cars are designed and constructed for that purpose. Golf carts are designed and constructed for use on a golf course. I consider their use on public roads as a misuse of the product. To make my perspective even less valuable to anyone else, I don't golf, so I don't care about its use on a golf course. (I know, what am I doing living in The Villages anyway?) But that's just my opinion...
And on the very rare occasions that I have to cross the Lake Sumter bridge with my GEM car, I do it on the "vehicle" roadway (at 25 MPH with cars anxious to do 45 MPH - in a 35 MPH zone - breathing down my neck) because as noted elsewhere in this thread, the cart path is too narrow for a GEM car to successfully pass an oncoming golf cart there. I avoid crossing that bridge whenever possible.
I'll shut up now... and await the deluge.
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As I regularly state a post where someone says hey I am wrong is rare indeed.
Typical post-I am right because.
There is no shortage of people who are sure the other person is wrong and they are right.