Passing in the diamond lanes
 

There is a thread on the N***D*** site where someone is claiming to have been issued a ticket for crossing the solid white line of the diamond lane to pass another golf cart.

I did a quick search through this forum thinking that the topic has been discussed already but couldn’t find anything.

Yep it is
 

Been discussing this in our neighborhood for a week or so and yes it is illegal to pass while in the diamond lane, according to the Sheriffs office. I called both the sheriff and local police and confirmed. No exceptions for a golf cart to pass ANY other cart, bike, trike, etc. Hard to believe. Sent an email to Don Wiley asking if Commissioners could address it but he’s indicated it’s a state traffic law and they can’t. Not sure where to go from here

Did they happen to quote the statute?

[QUOTE=Mlr4343;2183343]Been discussing this in our neighborhood for a week or so and yes it is illegal to pass while in the diamond lane, according to the Sheriffs office. I called both the sheriff and local police and confirmed. No exceptions for a golf cart to pass ANY other cart, bike, trike, etc. Hard to believe. Sent an email to Don Wiley asking if Commissioners could address it but he’s indicated it’s a state traffic law and they can’t. Not sure where to go from here[/QUOTE]

Stay in the lane!

[QUOTE=Bogie Shooter;2183360]
I guess one has to make a value judgement. What is more valuable? The money I might have to pay on the slim chance I get ticketed, or the time I'll waste over the course of my remaining days on earth waiting for slow traffic?

I'll take my chances passing the bicyclist going 5mph up the incline.

Read the drivers license test manual. It's pretty universal in the U.S. that you don't cross a solid white line. I believe in some states a solid white line is considered a Traffic Control Device.

It would be useful to know the statute for this. Not suggesting it isn't a law, just would be nice to be able to read the wording of the law.

Spot on
 

I agree - you are technically spot on. Take the muti-modal trails when you are running late for your tee time!

Certainly there must have been a change in whatever statute covers this. Been here ten years. What's described here was not in place back then. Things change.

I have been driving since 1966, and I still remember my driving instructor stating you NEVER cross double yellow lines or solid WHITE lines to pass. On a side note, I see this all the time on Pinellas Place.

[QUOTE=Laker14;2183393]I’m with you. Take a second and look around first.

You are right about Pinellas. But think about this, going west on Pinellas to the Sanibel neighborhood mail station, to get there making a left turn a golf cart has to cross over the solid white diamond lane line then the solid double yellow center lane dividers. Both must be illegal according to what is being stated in this thread. Even cars going west and turning left into that mail station must cross the double yellow center dividing lines. Does that mean left turns at that location is not allowed?

What about all the left turns off Pinellas into the neighborhoods? The golf cart lanes don't have a break in the solid white diamond lane marker as you approach these left turns. Does that mean you could be ticketed because a golf cart has to cross the solid white line to get in the car traffic lane.

Something sounds contradictory here.

I'll add, there are alot of turns into country clubs and executive golf courses that would seem to violate the law. And my last point, driving west on 466A, if you don't get into the right turn lane within that very short dotted line space, you won't be able to turn into Trailwinds.

You aren't required to have a drivers license to drive a golf cart in Florida. You aren't required to take any test, or read any manual.

You will find these words in the Florida Statutes:

However, this subsection shall not be construed as prohibiting the crossing of the centerline in making a left turn into or from an alley, private road, or driveway.

Its most likely NOT that you cannot pass, its that there is not enough diamond lane space to actually pass, without crossing the white lane stripe and then occupying the vehicular traffic lane.
Its the "use" of the vehicular lane by non licensed, slow speed vehicle that's at issue.
Its a technicality,
that as pointed out, land contradictory to driveway/turn lane use by carts or when the cart path ends and merges with vehicular lane as they sometimes do.

Further to the point, what about when walkers that are facing the wrong way, walking in the diamond lane?
On coming cart traffic isn't suppose to drift out and pass them on the outside? Hows that work exactly?

I've encountered some walkers that refuse to even budge an inch, as if right or wrong, a contact encounter with an oncoming cart doing 25mph is somehow going to be a winning situation for them....

My previous comment was to is not legal the cross the lines TO PASS, yes you need to cross these lines to make LEFT turns, which as I understand it is legal WITH TURN SIGNALS.

Agreed.
My guess is, whom ever is claiming they received a traffic citation, was probably occupying the vehicular lane for more/longer than just passing or to make a turn - or the officer thought they had been do so.
I can see both possibilities.

I’ve seen discussions recently about this as well. So….you’re following a slower moving vehicle in the cart lane. You come upon a side street. The white line is broken crossing the side street. Can you now go into the traffic lane, around the slower cart/bike etc and back into the cart lane?

Whats the worry, I watch cars, lawn service, UPS, and USPS trucks exhilarating, crossing the double yellow, to get ahead of the merging golf cart traffic, that has already merged, all over the Villages.

Guessing they aren’t worried about a potential ticket

Deb Penney LeMay On Villages FB group posted her being ticketed for passing a slow cart. She can probably get it tossed if she takes it to court. The solid white line designates the multi modal lane. It does not define a no passing zone.
Deputy Fife needs to get a clue and stop harassing law abiding Villagers.

If there is no traffic to hit you and no officer to give you a ticket then yes. (if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it.....)

How about if you are in a car on a two-way road with a solid yellow line to your left. When you come to an intersection the solid yellow line is broken for the length of the intersection. Can you now go into the oncoming lane, around the slower car in front of you, then back into your lane (pass in an intersection)?

From the Florida manual used to prepare for the driving test:

Solid White Line

A solid white line marks the edge of the roadway or separates lanes of traffic moving in the same direction. You may travel in the same direction on both sides of this line, but you should not cross the line unless you must do so to avoid a hazard.

Bicycles are hazards.

The VHA has a Golf Cart Safety class monthly at Colony RC. While you cannot cross the line to pass, you CAN cross the line to go into the main road BEFORE the intersection (after signaling and seeing it is safe). While signaling again, you turn left - just as a car would. You should NOT turn left from the cart lane AT the intersection (where the line DOES break) - this has caused several accidents - and deaths - over the years. I verified this process with Wildwood PD.

Not bicycles, people are hazards.

Believe the meaning was never to “pass” another vehicle by crossing the lines. Certainly one would need to cross the lines to make a left turn into a
Driveway unless at an intersection

I get off multi modal path because of the slow bike & walking traffic and it is hard to pass with splits, tunnels and curves. I’ll take the risk & pass on the roads

Interesting! Following the letter and not the intent. Hmmm…

Ok. Now the elephant in the room…..Top speed on my cart is 20 mph. I do see it reach 21 mph downhill or in a strong tailwind. EVERYBODY passes me. Should I “adjust” that little spring so I can increase speed by 5 mph?! Probably illegal but it would help a lot of cart drivers behind me better avoid a ticket. A conundrum.

What do you think the intent of the law is?

Is it to make a golf cart go 5mph while a bicyclist crawls up a long incline?

How about a double yellow line, when a car approaches a bicyclist crawling up an incline?

Are we sure we know the whole story behind the citation?

You are correct. The bicycle is not a hazard. The bicyclists are the hazard.

Help the cart drivers behind you avoid a ticket that was the result of them making an apparently illegal pass after modifying their cart to an illegal configuration? It seems like their ticket would be the culmination of several poor choices on their part and not your responsibility in any way.

EDIT - IGNORE, INCORRECT -> Surprisingly, Florida law contains an exception which specifically allows you to cross the center line of a road to pass a bicycle. It does not seem contain the same exception for two lanes traveling in the same direction.

Florida law allows crossing the center line of a road to pass a bicycle. It also allows crossing to the left of a solid line to pass a bicycle. What it does not allow is crossing a solid white line (no passing zone) to pass another vehicle that is NOT a bicycle.

Maintenance crews regularly park their vehicles in the diamond lanes while they cut grass, tend to bushes and flower beds etc. With this in mind, there will be long lines of golf carts backed up while they do their projects. We will have to start a traffic report on channel 1013 to alert drivers just where the backups are.

I was thinking about the same elephant. It seems to me that if a LEO were to ticket a cart driver for crossing the white line to pass, while exceeding the 20mph limit, that they would cite the cart driver for the bigger infraction of operating an unregistered motor vehicle.
That is the bigger fish to fry.

If the Sumter Co. Sheriff Dept. wants to stop carts from crossing the white line to pass other carts, it could spend the whole day on Pinellas, or Bailey, or Odell, just writing tickets. Yet they don't do that, yet we are to believe one sheriff decided to do it this one time...

Something just seems weird to me in this entire scenario.

Maybe you should be

The solid white lines for the golf cart lanes have got to go. Replace every one of them with broken white lines. Problem solved.

I wish the police would ticket any golf cart doing over 20 miles per hour instead. Would bring some good money in and penalize people who are, in very certain terms, breaking the law.

Agree