How many register and plate their Golf Carts for road use?
 

I thought Florida statutes state you do not need to register a golf cart that goes 25mph or less as long as its used for school transport or golf? Is this true? Do you need plates and road worthy equipment to drive on the TV roads?

There is no need for registering a golf cart to drive around TV. You have a register a street legal golf cart, called a LSV. Those carts have stricter equipment requirements.

Florida defines a golf cart as something with a top speed of 20mph. A golf cart does not need to be registered.

If your vehicle has a top speed of 25mph then it is a Low Speed Vehicle (LSV). A LSV must have certain safety equipment, registration, insurance, and plates.

It is unlikely that you will be stopped and ticketed but it has happened. This would not be a speeding ticket, this would be a driving an unregistered vehicle ticket.

Please check here:
Low Speed Vehicles - Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
to learn the exact state laws regarding LSVs and golf carts in Florida.

Even an LSV can't legally be driven on 466, 466A, 44, 441/27, 42, etc.

I wouldn't be very interested competing with cars and trucks in my cart.

Why cause they want to go 30 plus down B/V or Morse Blvds. IMO nobody registered Golf cart to go only 5MPH over 20 MPH, they are already doing that.:wave:

Which leads to the larger question. Why are golf carts limited to 20 and street legal carts to 25? My cart is set to 19.9, but I have everything that would qualify it to be street legal except a 1-piece windshield and of course the registration fee. People have cited safety as a reason and that carts were only engineered to go 15, so why does paying a fee make the cart safer at 25 than it would be at 20? Oh, yes, the difference is THE FEE.

*Might* have to do with insurance:

"They" might want to require insurance for vehicles traveling on city streets. Assume neighborhood streets are 25mph or less, city streets are 35mph, and let 30mph be a gray area. Creating a special class of vehicle (LSV) that is allowed on the city streets bur are required to be registered is at least an attempt to ensure that it is also insured.

*** The registration fees and fines for violations don't hurt either

I agree,

only engineered to go 15?


Engineered gearing to only go 15 MPH. The cart will go as fast as governor lets it or if governor taken out as fast as the lawnmower engine can take in air. Which can be between 30 and 40 MPH depending on gearing and tire height. Or I electric carts case controller or altered controller. I seen some 8” tires on golf carts go as high at 30 or little over which beside them in my car. With the 8” tire engine pretty much tapped out around 30.

My cart is insured. Again, the only thing lacking is a one piece windshield. Yet apparently my cart gets safer if I pay a registration fee

As is mine, but voluntarily. Many automobile drivers on the road today don’t satisfy the requirement for insurance, how many more would be uninsured if there was no requirement? And yes, this also shows that registration does not ensure compliance.

Your argument is just as valid for automobiles. There is nothing about the fee or the paper that makes the vehicle safe.

Still just a guess, but a registration requires that at one point in time a minimal set of requirements was met. Registration renewal asserts that those conditions are still being met. It all could be a lie, but it is a little better than nothing.

The small number of LSVs that will pay the fee can’t be much of a moneymaker.

This argument is academic. Your golf cart is not engineered for streets of any kind. It is engineered for a golf course where the most likely collision would be a collision with a person or a tree. It is only by concession that they are allowed on streets at all. They can't even safely deal with hitting a curb without a tip over risk. Pushing the limit people want to drive them on busier roads / highways. If the speed limit is 35MPH and they can only go 30MPH, they are a hazard.

Seen several statements about what golf carts are designed to do. Any references to back this up or just baseless assertions?

If hitting a curb with a golf cart is dangerous, try it with a motorcycle or bicycle, both of which were designed for use on roads.

go to the next golf cart safety clinic. Aug 20 9AM given at Colony Cottage Rec Center. They will answer ALL your questions and the answers will be CORRECT. Too many people THINK they know the answers, but they don't. It's free too and given every month on the third Wednesday. Could just save your life or the life of someone you love.

I may be wrong but street legal LSVs are only electric.

First time I've heard that, and I think you may be wrong.

That is incorrect.
My LSV is Yamaha Quiet Tech gas.
Licensed, insured, registered, plated.

I’ve had both a Yamaha gas and an Atomic electric cart. Both street legal. Street legal carts, or LSVs, need to be insured and plated like a car. My gas cart topped out at 28, the Atomic at 32.

After 8 years of living here, the golf cart path novelty wore off, and I sold my Atomic to buy a second car. I don’t golf and was mostly on the street cart lanes anyway, so it made sense to me. YMMV.

I understand the appeal of a cart, especially if you’re new here or a golfer. If you want a street legal cart, I highly recommend 24-hr cart. They will handle everything for you. Nitial outlay will be about $700 depending on what your cart needs.

Which, btw, made both of them illegal, since LSVs, by law, cannot be capable of exceeding 25 mph.

Section 320.01(41), Florida Statutes, defines LSVs as “any four-wheeled vehicle whose top speed is greater than 20 miles per hour, but not greater than 25 miles per hour.” LSVs must be registered, titled and insured with personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL) insurance. Any person operating an LSV must have a valid driver license in their immediate possession.

In addition to the requirement of additional equipment for Street Legal Carts, they can travel on roads that have a speed limit of 35 MPH or less. That is why they cannot drive on 466, 466A, etc.

No right
 

It’s not only the windshield that is required, but upgraded braking systems that use both the front and back wheels, seat belts for all passengers, a powered windshield wiper, upgraded brake lights and turn system lights. The golf carts sold by Club Car, E-Z-GO, and Yamaha only have rear wheel brakes and non of the other needed improvements. This is the biggest safety feature and is needed at higher speeds. If the golf carts has all needed additions it is given a vin number not just a serial number so it can be registered.

The registration fee is not even a consideration. The insurance cost usually go from about $100 to about $900 or more. The benefit of using a LSV over using a golf cart for most trips around the villages would be saving a couple of minutes at most. The negative is being hit by a car or truck that could kill you.

Do you have a source for this claim?

EDIT:
Specific requirements for converted golf carts: FL form HSMV-86064
Windshield wiper: FL Statute 316.2952(3) & (4) (note: this is called out for converted golf carts but not manufactured LSVs but perhaps the requirement is implicit in manufacturing a vehicle as an LSV)

License Plate
 

Is it legal to put a license plate from your home state car (expired or not) on your cart? Not as a display of registration, but for cosmetic display.

Golf course carts don’t have lights and not made street ready which the law requires, so street ready carts are not golf course carts but carts that can be used on golf course.

They only suppose to go 25 MPH max. Again Nobody licensees golf cart to go extra 5 MPH, they are already doing that. Every LSV I pass going down B/V, El Camino Reno, Morse blvd. Going 30 plus. None of them are going 25 MPH max.

Depends on what county and LEO you encounter? Being Florida don’t require front License Plate probably ok depending on which county you’re in? IMO I wouldn’t put out state expired plate on back of golf cart, but that me.

My guess is that a vehicle manufactured specifically as an LSV comes with certain things as standard, and don't have to be fitted after the fact with those things. Most golf carts don't come with windshield wipers.

I don't remember where I read this - but I BELIEVE that you need to remove the date sticker from your plate, if you want to display it for cosmetic purposes.

A plate with a current date sticker, in other words, would not be permitted to be put on your golf cart.

Yup, you're gonna get exactly that. Some coppers don't give a rat's azz about golf carts, some find them annoying and will cite when opportunity arises. Same with cyclists. Some did not care or were cyclists themselves. Me, I found them annoying and aggressive so they got cites for running stop signs. They are "vehicles" on the road, technically, after all. They were usually mostly upset about having to unclip from their ballet shoes and ruin their shot at pretending to be Lance Armstrong or their local heat map times. Funny thing is, they often got an additional cite for not having a license in their possession. Were they driving? No. Were they vehicles upon the roadway? Yes.

This has an odd aroma to it.

No states require a drivers license to ride a bicycle on a public road. There is no way for a 13 year old to even obtain a license though they can legally ride their bicycle on a public road. All states require a license to operate a motor vehicle but a bicycle is not a motor vehicle. Heck, Florida does not require a drivers license for someone 18+ to operate a golf cart on a public road.

Oh, it absolutely will not hold up in court. In fact even if you are driving a motor vehicle and do not have your license in possession, it is almost always "forgiven" by the bench officer when actual license IS presented. CVC 12951. Still, it's an added line on the cite to get negotiated away so that the actual CVC 22450(a) (blowing the stop) is more likely to be upheld in full.

Villages "golf carts" are primary transportation
 

I'm going to assume that the original poster hasn't been to The Villages to witness the 70,000 golf carts, many never used on a golf course.

True, many owners "tweak" their gas or electric carts to travel more than the legal 20mph.

But, seat belts MUST be added even if not required....40-60 mph head-on can be fatal....or hospitalization at a minimum...grr!

So, enjoy a true "golf cart" in The Villages

<sigh>

CVC 12951 is a California MOTOR VEHICLE regulation, and the FIRST criteria a cop looks at is "person was driving a motor vehicle."

Bicycles are not motor vehicles. No police officer in California (where this regulation exists) will give a bicycle rider a citation for violating CVC-12951. No bicycle rider would allow a cop to give them the ticket. The cop can't even place it on the bicycle rider's windshield because - it's a bicycle.

California Vehicle Code Section 12951 VC: Failing To Present A Driver’s License

*SIGHHH*.

Of course, you're 100% correct and I have zero idea what I'm talking about even though I pushed a hoop for three decades. Ok.

I’ve never seen windshield wipers on converted LSV golf car? Maybe I don’t notice?