Golf cart use on city streets is an unclear course for many

Remy Osso, the owner of Northwest Golf Cars, usually gets excited when the phone rings off the hook. Lately he’s getting frustrated, too.

“We’ve been getting numerous phone calls from people who want to drive their golf cars on the street, and I can’t find out what to tell them,” Osso said, sitting in the office of his Spokane Valley Yamaha dealership on Trent. “So far, I go by what Yamaha tells me – that’s the best I can do.”

Yamaha says its “golf cars” are not to be operated on city streets. But some of Osso’s customers tell him they drive the vehicles to and from local golf courses in Spokane and Spokane Valley. One man even made a trip to Costco from the South Hill, he said.

“And they tell me they don’t get pulled over,” Osso said. “It’s just very confusing.”

It was after the city of Deer Park passed an ordinance in September legalizing electric golf carts on most city streets that the questions started to come in. But Wednesday, the City Council repealed the new law.

“I’d say the City Council got cold feet,” said Robert Whisman, mayor of Deer Park. “I am asking when does city government stop taking all the fun away from people? If it was up to me I’d allow it.” Whisman said city attorney Charles Zimmerman advised the council there could be a liability issue if someone got in an accident driving a golf cart on a city street.

“I guess if someone gets in a crash they can come back and say to us, ‘You passed this ordinance so you have the responsibility,’ ” Whisman said. “To me, that’s like saying we should outlaw bathtubs because people can drown in them. But I doubt the council will pass a different ordinance.”

The city of Liberty Lake passed an ordinance regulating “golf carts or similar vehicles” in 2006.

“People were already driving their golf carts in the streets because we have three golf courses within the city,” Liberty Lake Police Chief Brian Asmus said. “We were getting complaints, mostly from pedestrians and from bicyclists, and we were trying to find a way to make it safer for everyone.”

A golf cart does not have to be registered or have seat belts, lights and mirrors to be street legal in Liberty Lake.

“Golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles are not the same,” Asmus said. “That’s where people get confused. An NEV has to have the same lights, mirrors and everything, just like a car.”

The Liberty Lake ordinance only requires lights if the golf cart is driven at night, and children as young as 12 can drive them, if accompanied by a parent, grandparent, legal guardian or someone who has had a valid driver’s license for at least five years. “There was a lot of debate in council meetings over the younger drivers,” Asmus said. “But I don’t think we have issued a citation yet – we have made contact with folks that are in violation, but we haven’t had any major issues.”

The biggest concern, he added, is parents who overload carts with kids, driving around with as many as eight people on board.

“That’s dangerous – these things don’t have seat belts,” Asmus said.

According to state law, NEVs are allowed on streets with posted speed limits of 35 mph or less, but forbidden on state highways.

“I guess that means you can drive them on the streets,” said Marlene Feist, spokeswoman for the city of Spokane.

Spokane has no plans to adopt a golf cart ordinance, Feist said.

“I fail to see how driving a regular golf cart in the street is safe, and our legal staff agrees,” she said. “I mean, if a golf cart and a car collide, there is no question as to who’s going to get hurt. The person in the golf cart is going to go flying.”

Feist said that over the summer, when gasoline costs more than $4 a gallon, the city received many questions from citizens who wanted to drive all-terrain or off-road vehicles on streets.

“That is not legal,” Feist said. “You can’t license those.”

An NEV is not your grandfather’s golf cart. It’s built over a much sturdier frame, and most look more like miniature cars than golf carts.

According to the Washington State Patrol’s Web site, to be street legal an NEV must be registered, display a valid license plate and carry liability insurance. NEVs that can go as fast as 35 mph must also have a roll cage or crush-proof body.

Among other requirements are: four wheels, electric power, headlights, taillights, stoplights, turn signals and mirrors.

Osso’s Yamaha dealership carries a line of Personal Transportation Vehicles that meet the state’s NEV requirements, once a light kit, seat belts and windshield are added. Such a vehicle runs a little more than $5,700.

“As gasoline got expensive we got a lot of inquiries about them this summer,” Osso said. “People are just looking for a cheaper way to get around, but I also think they look at it as less pollution into the air if they just drive their golf cart down to the course instead of firing up the SUV.”