The Lee County Department of Transportation is working on a proposed ordinance that, if adopted, would change the legal age to operate golf carts on public roads from 14 to 16, and would require all drivers regardless of age to have a valid driver’s license.
The ordinance would also require children who are passengers in carts to wear seat belts or be placed in child seats. It would also limit the number of passengers that can ride in a cart.
The proposed ordinance regulates the number of passengers in the cart to the number of seats the cart has. No standing in the carts or hanging from the back would be legal. All children under the age of 12 would need the same seat restraint systems that are used in cars.
This would not affect the Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association bike path, as it is privately owned. The posted age requirement on the path is 14.
Nan Summerall-Gonzalez, executive assistant to Lee County Commissioner Bob Janes, said she hopes that the residents of Boca Grande will be included in some sort of public forum to express their opinion on the matter. She suggested this could be done through the Boca Grande Community Panel.
Golf cart regulations are being scrutinized in light of complaints that Lee County commissioners have received.
“We’ve had calls in the past about establishing a countywide ordinance,” Summerall-Gonzalez said. “Boca Grande and Captiva have similar local regulations, and Captiva had already been looking at this and asking questions, because they are putting in a bike path next year. That was when we asked the Department of Transportation to look into it and start working on a county-wide ordinance.”
Summerall-Gonzalez said there is confusion among local law enforcement agencies and the county attorney’s office concerning existing law.
The GICIA has posted signs on its privately owned path that sets an age requirement of 14, but violations in reference to overcrowded vehicles and underage drivers are rarely given. Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputies have complained that enforcing the age 14 requirement is difficult because those operating golf carts can’t be compelled to produce identification.
State law currently concurs with the GICIA age requirement for operation of a golf cart on public roadways and right-of-ways restricted to those over the age of 14.
“Some of the things written in the ordinance might raise some concerns for people in Boca Grande,” Summerall-Gonzalez said. “Everyone needs to say their piece on this. When this comes out, if it is agreed upon, it will become a law.”
In 2000, the GICIA backed legislation in Tallahassee that would have set 16 as the age to operate golf carts on public streets. The bill would not have affected the privately-owned GICIA golf cart and bike path.
The bill died in committee. A separate appropriations bill containing a provision to make 14 the statewide minimum age was signed into law. At a meeting held in 2000, some GICIA members voiced opposition to requiring golf cart operators to have valid driver’s licenses. Many attending the meeting at the Boca Grande Community Center noted that there were a number of elderly residents who no longer have driver’s licenses who would no longer be able to operate golf carts if licenses were a requirement.
No public forum date on the matter has been set as this time.
February 11, 2008 at 10:19 am
In the State of Florida, a person only needs to be 15 years old to operate a gas powered motor scooter/moped on the public roadways. On these vehicles, the 15 year olds are allowed to operate up to the posted speed limit. The restriction of operation has to do with the overall size of the engine, being less than 50 ccs.
What about the common sense?
Is it logical to allow 15 year olds on the public streets operating gasoline powered vehicles, but require people to be 16 to operate golf carts which do not even have combustion engines and operate at lesser speeds?
February 9, 2008 at 9:34 am
If the cops are ever going to be able to enforce a golf cart law, the law must require operators of carts to have VALID driver’s licenses. Because licenses aren’t currently required, the cops can’t force an apparent under age driver to produce proof of age. If the kid says he’s 14, the cops have to go with it.
Even when an underage driver tells the truth, it usually turns out that the kid’s grandparents let him or her use the cart. And then grandma gives the deputies crap because, she believes, that the law doesn’t apply to her or her grandchild. Grandma should get the ticket in this case, not the kid.
The good part about this proposed law requiring licenses is that it will give the cops a way to enforce the law and it will get the DUI’s as well as the blind and deaf old folks off the road.