advertisement:
She’s tired of the calls and the emails.
You can’t ride a golf cart on Bluffton city streets, emphasized Police Chief Tammy Schaffer Tuesday.
“Up until now I think everyone has turned a blind eye, but this is getting to be a real problem,” said Schaffer.
High gas prices have caused some people to seek alternative sources of transportation for short trips and golf carts are one means to putter about town cheaply.
At last week’s city council meeting, city attorney Andrew Carnall responded to a letter from a Bluffton resident seeking city permission to ride her golf cart on the city streets. He explained that because the state does not recognize golf carts as a motor vehicle, they cannot be operated on public thoroughfares.
Since that time, Schaffer has received letters, emails and oral assaults from people who are sure that Carnall is wrong.
Schaffer contacted the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police and received a response from Government Relations Co-chair Joe Pitcher advising that state law prohibits all-terrain vehicles, golf carts and other such vehicles on public streets unless they and their operators meet all of the requirements of a motor vehicle.
That includes a licensed driver, a vehicle registration, vehicle insurance and all of the multiple vehicle equipment requirements including seat belts.
“I have taught the traffic law segment of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy’s Basic Law Enforcement Officer’s School off and on since 1985 and that is what has been taught in that course for all of those years,” Pitcher wrote to Schaffer.
He added, “If a golf cart or other motorized vehicle such as an ATV does not meet all of these requirements, and it is operated on a public street, then it is subject to impoundment, just like a car that does not have proper registration plates.”
In his response to Schaffer, Pitcher also included a copy of the state code IC 9-13-2-94.5 that specifically states that the carts need to include headlights, front and rear turn signals, taillights and brake lights, reflex reflectors, exterior or interior mirrors, brakes, a windshield, a vehicle identification number and a safety belt installed at each designated seating position.
Now the law does specifically identify “low speed vehicles” as four-wheeled electrically powered motor vehicles, but Schaffer said she believes it also covers gas powered vehicles because the law does specifically specify the safety equipment requirements for a vehicle to be operated on a public street. It also identifies “low speed vehicles” as any vehicle with a maximum designed speed of not more than 35 MPH.
The law also specifically states that low speed vehicles may not be operated on a highway that has a speed limit in excess of 35 MPH.
Pitcher acknowledged that there are some communities that are trying to redefine the state law by passing their own ordinances.
“Unfortunately just because one jurisdiction says it is legal doesn’t mandate or authorize it statewide,” stated Pitcher. Apparently in Greenwood, where Pitcher is police chief, there are those who would like to make golf carts on city streets legal.
“I fear here in Greenwood we would experience innumerable accidents and other problems if golf carts and ATVs were legalized by ordinance—even though I don’t think that can be legally done,” remarked Pitcher.
Small communities appear to be the ones where the push is on to pass these kinds of ordinances. In Fishers—which Pitcher admits is no longer a small community—golf carts are permitted on streets where the speed limit is below 25 MPH, during daylight hours and only in residential neighborhoods.
But even in those cases, Pitcher didn’t believe that the ordinances were really legal. “What isn’t well known is that in most of those cities and towns, the state police has been issuing tickets and towing golf carts they find on public streets, notwithstanding local ordinances. Lebanon was issuing golf cart permits to its citizens, but the Indiana State Police came into town and wrote people riding these on the streets UTTs (uniform traffic tickets).
Schaffer ran Pitcher’s response by Carnall and he replied, “I believe Joe Pitcher’s analysis is right on.”
Carnall stated in an e-mail to Schaffer that because a golf cart is not exempted from the definition of a motor vehicle, it must meet all of the requirements of the BMV for registration and operation on a public highway.
“The golf cart must not only meet the requirements for registration by the (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) it must actually be registered with the BMV and display a license plate as required,” stated Carnall.
He added that the only way to get around the state statute would be if the city were to exempt golf carts from the definition of a motor vehicle, but he did not see how that would be possible. “State law pre-empts home rule in that regard,” stated Carnall. If anything, observed Carnall, the city could pass an ordinance which would add further restrictions on the use of golf carts on its streets if safety concerns dictated.
“We’ve really been caught in between on all of this,” said Schaffer of the Bluffton Police Department. “The City of Bluffton can’t create its own ordinance that overrides state law.”
She added, “Do I think that we will be really strict on this if one of my officers catches a person on a cart on a city street? I would advise the officers to use their own discretion, but we would make them (the golf cart riders) aware of the state law and if we catch them again, we have to enforce the law.” That could include impounding the cart.
Schaffer added that the law applies to unlicensed utility vehicles such as “Gators” as well.
She said that people have been pointing out to her that the county passed an ordinance permitting ATVs on county roads. She noted that the state law does permit for counties to pass their own ordinances regarding ATVs—and there is a special provision in state law for mopeds—but the county ordinance does not apply within the municipality of Bluffton.
by GLEN WERLING
Read this story in our E-Edition, Click Here
Talk about this story in our forums!