[cappyjon431]

Originally Posted by twinklesweep

I observed an incident between two golf carts--one conventional and one street legal--at the Belvedere gate, one of several "multi-modal" gates in TV where there is a golf cart lane next to the car road. There is no merging there as we see at many of the gates, just two lanes. The gate arm stops only cars; the golf carts in the golf cart lane just drive through.

The street legal cart had stopped behind the gate and the driver used his gate card to open the gate. The cart in the golf cart lane just breezed through. At that moment the driver of the street legal cart suddenly shifted into the golf cart lane, physically forcing the other driver into Hialeah Villas. Both men jumped out of their carts and came at each other, the driver of the street legal cart screaming at the other man, "I have a street legal cart, and I have a RIGHT to be in whatever lane I want!"

I'm not familiar with the laws governing street legal carts. I would not only never own one, I would never be a passenger in one! I was shocked by the arrogance on the part of the driver of the street legal cart and wondered how many other drivers of this kind of vehicle feel "the power" (at least among golf carts) and share that attitude?

This is precisely why we continue to drive on the street and try to avoid driving in the golf cart lanes. Because our GEM does 26 mph and most golf carts are limited to 19 mph, we do not want to be threatening to the slower carts.

The only time I EVER drive in a cart lane is when I drive on Morse north of 466 where there is only one lane available. I don't like driving in the street there because there is no passing lane available and I don't want to be going down the road at 26 mph when the posted speed limit is 30 mph (that really might trigger some road rage!).