Golf Cart Traffic Tickets
 

I was wondering how many of us have received traffic tickets while driving a golf cart? Speeding? Failure to yield? Underage driving? Anything else?
Please let us know what happened and where.
Thanks.
:gc:

Golf cart speeding tickets
 

I can give you some information. The speeding tickets for golf carts are in the $380.00 range. The speeding portion is the smaller of the violation, what the law now determines is that since the cart was exceeding 19.9mph, it is no longer a golf cart. It is now an electric vehicle needing a registration, seat belts, proper brakes, wipers, license plates, insurance, proper lighting and possibly a few other requirements. Each of these violations carry a set fine and really add up.

Police?
 

Newbie here....

Who gives the ticket, and who gets the money?

Is there a police entity, or just private security?

The Sherriff usually gives the tickets . I'm assuming the monies go to the county in which the violation occurred.

I would like to hear from someone you actually got a ticket.

I was thinking the same thing. If you have a cart that is only capable of 19.9 mph and you get going on a little down hill you can get up to 23-24 mph. Can they clock you with a radar gun and fine you $380.00 for that?

I'd like to know how they would handle it when 14 year old (perfectly legal) kid is driving 24 mph down Rio Grande. They pull him over and ask for a license. He doesn't have one. They ask for ID. He doesn't have one. He refuses to answer any questions. What do they do? Can they arrest the kid and hold him on exceeding the speed limit by 4 mph?

How can they expect a kid who has not studied for and taken a license test to know the rules of the road? From what I understand the rule is that anyone over the ager of 14 is allowed to operate a golf cart anywhere that golf carts are allowed in the Villages. How can the rules of the road possibly be enforced?

Ignorance of the laws is not an excuse. Carts have brakes, when going down hill you could always use them

lots of talk.......no tickets so far.

Maybe the perpetrators are embarrassed?

I may be wrong but I don't going down a hill counts as speeding. I believe that your cart would need to be modified to exceed the 19.9mph max to get a ticket. Going down a hill is just gravity at work.

speeding golf carts
 

Law enforcement expects only one thing, that we all obey the laws that have been set forth. There are no exceptions for kids ... Remember, when a kid was driving a golf cart 24 mph, that golf cart is no longer a golf cart but an electric vehicle and now must obey the electric car rules.. Also about going down hill and exceeding the speed limit, that one of the things brakes are for.

If you are in a car, 55 mph limit, you now coast down a hill and reach a speed of 100mph, an enforcement officer stops you. Do you really believe that he would say, In your case 100mph is OK because you were going downhill.

As far as the 14 year old, prior discussion will show that the Sheriff will issue them a temp/voided license and assess points that will carry over to when they do obtain a legal license.

There haven't been many recent reports of golf cart speeding tickets but a couple of years ago there was an intense enforcement period. I know of someone who got a ticket for 24-25 on Oak Forest Dr and had to pay the $300+ ticket. There was a sheriff's log distributed by email that showed a number of golf cart speeding tickets. So, yes, it does happen and is not an urban legend.

There should be a drivers test for anyone driving a cart.

However, a car has a speedometer. a non street legal golf cart is not equipped with a speedometer. Golf cart operators for the most part have to go the after market route to get a speedometer. If someone with a golf cart that hasn't been tinkered with to exceed 19.9 and they have no speedometer, I would think any form of speeding ticket could be thrown out. Especially if the cart is gasoline, since only electric carts are allowed to be street legal, that would eliminate the unregistered vehicle statue.



.

Do not forget the golf carts ticketed for having open containers of alcohol in them. If you are at Lake Sumter Landing or Spanish Springs sitting in your cart listening to the music, having a drink from the drink shacks, you can be ticketed even though the cart is parked. Those are public roadways and it has happened plenty of times.

[QUOTE=John_W;637220]However, a car has a speedometer. a non street legal golf cart is not equipped with a speedometer. Golf cart operators for the most part have to go the after market route to get a speedometer. If someone with a golf cart that hasn't been tinkered with to exceed 19.9 and they have no speedometer, I would think any form of speeding ticket could be thrown out. Especially if the cart is gasoline, since only electric carts are allowed to be street legal, that would eliminate the unregistered vehicle statue.
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Yeah, try that out on a judge and tell us the outcome of that exchange!

Much ado---about nothing..:police:

The Sheriff isn't going after speeding golf carts, he has much bigger fish to catch.

Still waiting to hear from someone who received a ticket while driving a golf cart. I'm starting to think this is another urban legend.

I looked at posts on the same subject in the history of TOTV.

"I just came from a District 6 meeting at which the Sumter County Sherriff’s Dept. presented the golf cart citations issued between Aug 11th and Oct 11th. There were 64 citations in all, 9 for Ran Stop Sign, 1 for Possession of Open Container – Driver, and 56 for No Motor Vehicle Registration. The No Motor Vehicle Registration meant that the non-street legal golf cart was operated in excess of 20mph while on public road – path portion or otherwise. The citation requires a court appearance. In general, offenders are required to demonstrate to the judge that repairs have been made to limit the cart’s speed to 20mph and pay court costs of $250. At the judge’s discretion, the several hundred dollar fine is waived."

When was the last time you saw a cop with a speed trap set up on a golf cart trail?

My understanding is that the multi-model paths are private property and law enforcement are not allow to ticket carts there. I believe there are some instances where they are allowed to ticket [ie obvious drunk driving], but speeding is not one of them....yet

Haven't read anything about this in a while, so I might be wrong.

I believe the law was recently amended to include gasoline carts.

so far we have 3 pages of comments and not 1 actual instance of someone getting a ticket for a violation while driving a golf cart? this seems really strange.

From a prior thread.



https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...10-11-a-32752/

My father-in-law received a ticket while driving his golf cart for going through a stop sign, coming out of the "hole in the wall" near the Savannah Center. Sheriff on a motorcycle waiting near the speed bumps. I don't remember the exact amount of the ticket, but it was in the hundreds.

I believe you can be ticketed when you are in the marked cart lanes on the streets.
The streets are public property.

Well judging from some of the comments we have quite a few nebies here. A cart legally modified to exceed 19.9 mph meaning it is registered as a motor vehicle insured and has he necessary safety equip can travel streets posted no more than 35mph. the street legal can go 25mph.

However a cart gas or electric not registered as a vehicle cannot go above 19.9 mph. if the art exceeds 19.9 an LOE can ticket the driver for driving a vehicle nto regitered as a vehcile since it can exceed 19.9. In addition to the ticket the driver/owner is rwequired to take the cart to a repair shop and adjust the cart so it cannot exceed 19.9 mph.

There have been times in the past when the sheriff set up stations on the cart paths to issue ticketd. This created a lot of discussion as to their right to issue tickets on private property (cart paths). I have not seen a sheriff stationed on a cartpath for sometime. so I am not certain if they cannot or if they OE to set up traps on Morse, Belverdere, etc and ticketcars for exceeding the post limit and golf carts that exceed 19.9 mph for driving a nonregistered vehicle. It does happen and those skeptics should keep a wary eye out for LOE if you have a non-registered cart that excceds 19.9.

What I am not certain of is what legally happens when a street legal cart travels 25mph on a cart path?

For all of the above and for the sake of safety I cut my power back to 19.9mph and delighted i did so

a week ago, maybe it was two, I saw a golf cart pulled over on Belevdere by a motorcycle cop.

The police do not have authority on the Multi-Modal trails (golf cart trails) since that is private property. They do have authority on the streets of The Villages.

However, the Developer has given police permission to cite carts on the Multi-Modal trails for drunken driving or endangerment if they see it. Get into a cart accident on one of the Multi-Modal trails and you do call the police.

An oblivious golf cart driver was on Buena Vista travelling south from the roundabout at Bonita, and going towards Odell Circle (Lake Miona Rec Ctr) and he was not a street legal cart. And of course there were no police around. Am I overly critical in assuming that golf cart drivers should be as accountable for their driving habits as those of us in an automobile?

I asked the same question about golf cart tickets,a while back and nobody came forth. They have better things to do. If you are acting like a jerk ,sitting in your golf cart drinking you could get a ticket. However know of no one. I always park and have a couple of beers and listen to the music,and have never had a problem. I even sat there talking to police,drinking a beer and nothing "ever" came up in the discussion.Just "chillin" and having a beer.

Just a heads up on the speedometer issue. When I'm in TV for my two months each year I use an APP called Limiteur (free). It is totally accurate and reliable, at least it is for me. YES, I did test it in a cart that also had a after market speedometer. It works on smart phones. Hope this helps someone.
Irish

You are correct
 

Vehicle regulations do not apply to multi modal pathways and exempt from county or State regulations.. Law enforcement has authority only on the streets but this does include the marked golf cart lanes. Also remember when crossing a street from the Multi Modal pathways you are fair game.

lucky
 

Just because you weren't approached about the drinking while sitting in your cart in no way means that what you were doing was legal.

I know someone that got a ticket. Does that count?

Nope - heresay.

What if I have an affidavit?

Yea right! How do you know you are exceeding the speed limit in a cart without a speedometer? If ignorance of the law is no excuse how is it that lawyer offices and judges chambers are wall to wall law books? Don't they know all the laws as we are suppose to??????

So are you saying the police ignored the matter?

Please tell us about it.