Stoneage Ramblings

By John R. Stone

The City of Glenwood has spent quite a few months going over a potential ordinance that governs golfs carts and ATVs.

Some of what is being talked about makes sense. For example cars have license plates. This not only tells law enforcement the car is legally licensed, it allows them to be able contact owners if the vehicle is stolen or is unoccupied and parked where it shouldn’t be. It’s a time saver.

In my humble opinion, that should be the prime reason that golf carts and similar vehicles used in the city should be registered with the city. And that fee should not amount to much.

As I see it, there are some advantages to allowing people to use golf carts in the city limits.

They are not fast, probably not more than 15 miles per hour, and that means no high speed chases or getaways.

You can probably park three golf carts in one car parking spot, something that would be handy during summers when sometimes parking downtown becomes scarce.

They are environmentally friendly. Short hops in regular cars are the hardest miles on cars and the most likely to add to air pollution.

They are much easier on streets. Pretty hard to do much pothole damage in a golf cart or much wear on a roadway.

I do see one risk, and that is one that probably bothers law enforcement and emergency personnel. Car-golf cart collisions would be serious for those in the golf carts. And that is a legitimate concern. Also people are concerned about young people driving the carts although my understanding is that drivers would have to be licensed drivers. That, too, makes sense. And I suspect some drivers won’t follow the rules, for example they cannot travel on state highways, even in the city, they can only cross highways.

Here’s my fee issue. I saw one commissioner quoted in this paper saying that a fee should be $100 to $125 since vehicles can cost $17,000 or more. While that price range certainly may be true for some ATVs, brand new golf carts can be purchased for less than $10,000, with really fancy ones less than $15,000. Polaris owns GEM Car that makes small cars for $15,000 that are actual small cars that can seat two or four passengers depending upon the model. There are lots of used golf carts listed in Facebook Marketplace in the $2,000 to $4,000 range.

But what does the city charge when a regular car drives down the street? Nothing. Cars are licensed by the state so that ownership can be quickly traced.

I’m not sure how the ordinance covers bicycles. But there are electric bicycles, some with throttles that work just like a motorcycle or motorized scooter. There are also two-wheeled golf carts that are like motor scooters. Of course there are motorized scooters and skateboards.

Complicating all of this more is that there are some state rules regarding some of these vehicles. ATVs have some rules and so do Low Speed Vehicles (LSVs), golf cart like vehicles that do not go over 25 mph and have auto features like mirrors, turn signals, seat belts and brake lights and headlights. The GEM car I mentioned is an LSV. I have also seen golf carts that meet LSV specifications.

I know there are a few of us in Glenwood who would like to be able to drive a golf cart from our homes to Minnewaska Golf Course. I don’t own one now, I still walk, but as I age a cart might become nice. I could see senior citizens in the Plaza or Ridgewood Villa using such vehicles to get around town in the summer and using Rainbow Rider for winter trips. And I could see people using a golf cart as a second car for summer use and being able to get along with just one car. So I don’t see golf carts as just toys, for some they can be affordable, non-polluting, transportation.

It would be nice to see this looked at as a way to enhance the liveability of Glenwood.