[kathyspear]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

got news for you, just cause you have driver’s license don’t mean you can drive regardless of what age

Of course it doesn't but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to keep people off the road if they are not physically well enough to drive. Requiring a license is a start.

k.

[billlaur]

keep it the way it is ,thats one of the things that keeps the villages a popular place...no license required...

[CFrance]

So, either Topspinmo or billaur has a purple golf cart.

KIDDING!!!!!!!!! Just kidding...

[Ladygolfer93]

I agree, I hope no one takes my remarks here as some kind of defensive stance, but, I don't think the inventors of the golf cart (don't know them but DO remember the old Harley Davidson kind with ONLY one front wheel !) had anything in mind other than driving them on anything but a golf course. Made it possible for many who never dreamed of playing or who had to give it up, able to play. Fast forward to ATV's, golf carts as taking the place of automobiles, government grants to purchase golf carts as "electric" vehicles, etc. etc. and what government could have possibly seen what is going on today ! Personally I can't believe the dangerous calls I have had with people who purchased a VERY fast vehicle designed to run on public automobile roads, and then what do they do, run on the golf cart paths in the V's like it's a race track. Often, this is accompanied with a strong shaking of the fist and unintelligible language as they speed around JUST having enough time to get back to the right before hitting an on coming cart head on. Why, why, why ? Not saying, just asking, would it do anything to make irresponsible people more responsible, more caring, less self consumed, to license them ? Did people stop driving drunk when it became illegal to do so ? Do boat owners never drive drunk in states where the state issues boat licenses ? Don't misunderstand, anything is worth a try ! But, sure have not seen the criminals saying to themselves, "Oh, I forgot, I HAVE to get down and register this gun". I tend to think, just a hunch, we'd end up having one more expense and the people like this one would STILL do exactly what this despicable person did. How sad. I will go on record saying I considered all sides of the controversy of teens being able to go to our local public course years ago and rent a golf cart when they could not yet drive an auto. Our park board and city council were all over the place on this. My final opinion was, unfair as it might seem, teens should NOT be able to rent gas or electric carts, but as an incentive to take up the game and not feel they were being discriminated against, could be allowed the use of the (then $2, LOL !) pull carts free of charge (in other words, included in the teen 9 & 18 hole rates) if under the age of 16. Walking is good exercise if you are physically able. Should a disabled teen be able to use a cart to get around, absolutely, life as a disabled young person is hard enough. Ok, some will probably get angry about all of this...as the person above mentioned.

[Ladygolfer93]

You are so right on that one ! Maybe 99% avoidable, 1% mechanical failure ? (breaks wet, steering cable break, etc. rare, most DRIVER brain dead, or, perhaps, just posting on Facebook while going along at 28, 29 mph ?)

[villagetinker]

I may be wrong, but my understanding is if you lose your Florida license, you are NOT allowed to drive ANY motorized vehicle, moped, motorcycle, motorized bike, or golf cart. BTW, I do find this confusing as you do not need a license to drive a cart, but if you have a license, you lose you right to use the cart if you lose that license, go figure....

As for high speed carts, in the last week I have personally clocked 2 carts at 30 MPH on Pinellas Place and Hillsboro, in both cases, I noticed that my cruise control was at 30 mph and I was not gaining on the carts!

I am not sure where I stand on golf cart ID numbers, I can see both sides.

[Velvet]

A student pilot certificate starts at age 14, you can fly solo at age 16.

[Ladygolfer93]

These are the circumstances where you pray someone will see these posts and call saying "I saw that, in fact, I figured plenty of others probably caught it on their cell phone cameras, but in case not, I DID take a quick shot just in case". Wouldn't that be great !

[Mikeod]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

I may be wrong, but my understanding is if you lose your Florida license, you are NOT allowed to drive ANY motorized vehicle, moped, motorcycle, motorized bike, or golf cart. BTW, I do find this confusing as you do not need a license to drive a cart, but if you have a license, you lose you right to use the cart if you lose that license, go figure....

As for high speed carts, in the last week I have personally clocked 2 carts at 30 MPH on Pinellas Place and Hillsboro, in both cases, I noticed that my cruise control was at 30 mph and I was not gaining on the carts!

I am not sure where I stand on golf cart ID numbers, I can see both sides.

Here’s what I learned from the DMV. There’s a sort of loophole. It’s true that if you lose your license, you can’t drive a golf cart. But, if you voluntarily surrender the license, or just don’t renew it, it’s not considered that the license has been taken away, so you can still drive a golf cart.

[Ladygolfer93]

The speed of these carts is really getting out of hand. The retail places in the Villages think they are getting around this by refusing to sell carts that go over the Villages "allowed" speed. I recently found out it's not just "a little" business they loose, more and more people are buying from dealers outside the V's, so not selling carts that exceed the limit probably has little impact. Of course there are also those who work on their own carts ! When you think about it, should it be up to the Chevy DEALER to make sure the cars they sell will not go over 70 even though the car will do close to 120 or more ? I just think there are people everywhere that think nothing applies to them personally IF it is not something they wish to follow. We have a large sign here that says Please DO NOT place dog feces in this trash can. I mean it is summer, in Florida and some human being has to CLEAN this can, well all understand this, yet, everyday you see a person to whom this does not apply. While others are all over the place with their fast food type disposable gloves, their plastic bags of poop to carry home to dispose of at their own property, there is always someone dropping it right into the trash can for all to enjoy the aroma while lounging around the pool or postal station. It's life any where, always some special people. Same with those who will walk their dogs 2, 3 blocks away and stand in the street while they WATCH their dogs do their "duty" in someone else's lawn...then, without any shame, walk into the yard and pick up the poop (IF the home owner is lucky !), if not, they simply leave the poo ? Sure better than letting fido poo in their own grass on their property for sure ! People ? What are they thinking ? More and more I have to force myself to ignore this, with the huge population growth here, I guess the actual percentage of such people does not change, it's just that the development has grown so large so perhaps I notice the disrespect and dangerous behavior more compared to years past. Same with renters, I never used to see any difference rather a "renter" or an "owner", now, well, I don't want to seem like a negative person, so I try not to notice the rude behavior, don't want to paint every "renter" with a broad brush, but the way some of them drive the owner's golf cart, makes you wonder. Over Easter holiday the rental home down the street (comes with a cart) had four "children", one definitely looked old enough to have a license, the others no way. They were out riding every single night of the vacation, driving late at night, I tunes blaring from their cell phones, honking the horn of the cart, going as fast as possible around and around the block (probably had been told NOT to leave the immediate vicinity ?). I kept telling myself, kids will be kids, do NOT turn into a crabby old lady who calls the police....LOL ! Wish I did have the answers too all these things mentioned in this and the other forums ! I want to make sure to stay a happy, positive, person. I guess I will have to work hard to keep my eyes, and my ears, closed...LOL !

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by Ladygolfer93

The speed of these carts is really getting out of hand. The retail places in the Villages think they are getting around this by refusing to sell carts the go over the Villages "allowed" speed. I recently found out it's not just "a little" business the loose, more and more people are buying from dealers outside the V's, so this probably does not really make a big impact. When you think about it, should it be up to the Chevy DEALER to make sure the car will not go over 70 even though the car will do close to 120 ? I just think there are people everywhere that think nothing applies to them personally IF it is not something they wish to follow. We have a large sign that says Please DO NOT place dog feces in this trash can. I mean it is summer, in Florida and some human being has to CLEAN this can, well all understand this, yet, everyday you see a person to whom this does not apply. While others are all over the place with their fast food type disposable gloves, their plastic bags of poop to carry home to dispose of at their own property, there is always someone dropping it right into the trash can for all to enjoy the aroma while lounging around the pool or postal station. It's life any where, always some special people. Same with those who will walk their dogs 2, 3 blocks away and stand in the street while they WATCH their dogs do their "duty" in someone else's lawn...then, without any shame, walk into the yard and pick up the poop (IF the home owner is lucky !), if not, they simply leave the poo ? Sure better than letting fido poo in their grass for sure ! People ? More and more I have to force myself to ignore this, with the huge population growth here, I guess the percentage of such people actually does not change, just that the development has grown so large perhaps I notice the disrespect and dangerous behavior compared to years past. Same with renters, I never used to see any difference rather a "renter" or an "owner", now, well, I don't want to seem like a negative person, so I try not to notice the rude behavior, don't want to paint every "renter" with a broad brush, but the way some of them drive the owner's golf cart, makes you wonder. Wish I did have the answers !

[Retiring]

Getting back to the OP accident. Would an ID sticker on the GC that hit him or her made a difference? As the OP said, the offending GC “drove away before I had time to get out of my car.”

Accidents are going to happen, TV is a city with Guinness Book numbers of GCs. I don’t know the reason for the person to run, maybe panic. Is adding several layers of bureaucracy to drive your GC the answer? Anytime the government increases regulation it never seems to be enough, it just brings on more regulations and that will bring on more regulation, and so on. Regulation is a slippery slope that makes me cringe because it can easily get to the level of ridiculous. BUT I will concede if GC driving becomes a real problem, meaning we’re unable to police ourselves, then we must increase regulation.

[tophcfa]

Originally Posted by Retiring

Getting back to the OP accident. Would an ID sticker on the GC that hit him or her made a difference? As the OP said, the offending GC “drove away before I had time to get out of my car.”

Accidents are going to happen, TV is a city with Guinness Book numbers of GCs. I don’t know the reason for the person to run, maybe panic. Is adding several layers of bureaucracy to drive your GC the answer? Anytime the government increases regulation it never seems to be enough, it just brings on more regulations and that will bring on more regulation, and so on. Regulation is a slippery slope that makes me cringe because it can easily get to the level of ridiculous. BUT I will concede if GC driving becomes a real problem, meaning we’re unable to police ourselves, then we must increase regulation.

Good post, I agree.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

That's why I don't think a drivers license on the driver is going to be useful, or helpful, in checks and balances against hit and runs. You need to be able to identify the golf cart. Once you do that, you can figure out who was driving it. Perhaps requiring the carts themselves to be registered and provided with a plate, or special identification sticker - whether the driver is licensed or not. Maybe it could be tied to the cart insurance.

[Chatbrat]

All the white rental carts have 4 digit ID #'s, what would be so difficult with having a golf cart with an ID #, on a data base ?, @ least the owner can be traced when a new cart is purchased a tag is issued --a tag for a trailer is approx $14.00