New golf cart law needed, but no exemption for the elderly

(Click here to read the letter sent to Lee County Department of Transportation by the Boca Grande Community Panel regarding the proposed county ordinance.)

What’s your opinion? Email your thoughts and ideas about the proposed golf cart ordinance to the Lee County Department of Transportation. Deadline for comments is Friday, March 7.

Commentary: The proposed Lee County ordinance that would, if adopted, expand restrictions on the use of golf carts on county streets was recently debated by the Boca Grande Community Panel.

The Lee County Department of Transportation had asked the panel to gather public opinion on the proposed ordinance. Boca Grande is one of the few communities in the county where public streets have been approved for golf cart travel. Actually all of Boca Grande’s Lee County streets, excluding Gulf Boulevard and Gasparilla Road, are designated for golf cart use.

The ordinance, if adopted, would not affect the privately-owned Gasparilla Island Conservation and Improvement Association path that extends north from First Street.

The proposed county ordinance contains language that would require golf cart operators to be at least 16 years old and be licensed drivers. Current state law requires that you must be at least 14 to drive a golf cart.

Local deputies have found the age 14 requirement difficult to enforce on a number of levels. The problem is simple. A deputy spots a young person driving a golf cart. The deputy suspects the young person isn’t 14. All that the deputy can do in this instance is ask the driver’s age. If the young person responds that they are, in fact, 14 the deputy can’t compel the driver to produce proof of age.

In instances where the young driver admits to being under 14, it often turns out that the driver didn’t know there was a minimum age. In many cases they were handed the keys to the golf cart by Daddy or Grandma and told to go have a good time. There have even been instances where the grandparents have told police that the law is for “other people” and doesn’t apply to their little ones.

Wrong.

Deputies obviously aren’t eager to write up a 13-year-old in this situation. The ticket, clearly, should go to Grandma or the kid’s folks - whoever provided the cart to the kid. But, unfortunately, this can’t happen. Not under current law, that is.

Island kids have been driving golf carts for years without problems. Many started when they were 12 or so. They were taught to drive by their parents. Our kids were initially restricted to the neighborhood. As they grew older and gained more experience, we would allow them to take the cart to the Community Center. By the time they were 14 or so, they were permitted to go downtown.

Most, if not all, island parents treated the golf cart thing seriously. And so did the island kids. Clearly, most people - especially those who have watched these kids grow up behind the wheel of a golf cart for 12 months out of the year - understand that our young island drivers aren’t the problem.

Ask a young visitor to the island what they like best about Boca Grande. Golf carts usually get mentioned. And why not? For the first time in their young lives they are experiencing freedom. They can hop into Grandma’s golf cart and go to the beach, the Community Center or downtown for ice cream. They don’t need Mom or Dad to drive them, and there is no pedaling involved. For them, golf carts are a big part of the Boca Grande experience.

Few of these vacationing teens, however, have ever been behind the wheel of anything. And, unlike our island kids, they haven’t had any training and they have no experience dealing with traffic. Still, however, very few golf cart accidents and incidents involve kids - even kids who are here for just a week or so each year. Virtually none involve island kids.

Unfortunately, if Lee County is going to give deputies an ordinance that will remove 10-year-olds from behind the wheel of a golf cart, the county is also going to have to strip 14-year-olds (and others) of their cart driving privileges.

The community panel has endorsed language that would require drivers to be 16 and licensed to drive. It’s probably been a long time since many of our panel members have had a teenager running around the house. Accordingly, they can be forgiven for not knowing that in Florida you can obtain a restricted license (aka a “learner’s” permit) when you are 15. This license, which requires a vision test and a written exam, allows 15-year-olds to operate a real car if a licensed adult driver is in the front passenger’s seat.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for a deputy to cite a 15-year-old golf cart driver in this situation with any hope whatsoever that the citation would stand up if challenged in court. A simple requirement that golf cart drivers be licensed - with no mention of age - would make life a lot easier for our deputies. It would further eliminate the need for the county to re-open the ordinance down the road to fix it.

At the recent meeting, two members of the community panel put forth a rather odd proposal that elderly drivers who no longer had licenses be exempt from the proposed ordinance. As panel chairman Lynne Seibert noted, once you hit 65 “you’re home free.” Panel member Ted Hoopes also supported an exemption for seniors.

It was up to panel member Linda Aley to point out the obvious. If an elderly person is no longer permitted by this state or any other state to operate a motor vehicle, there is usually a pretty good reason.

Near blindness, for instance. A physical impairment. Or, perhaps, we’re dealing with a person who hasn’t had a truly lucid thought since the end of the Carter administration.

Cpl. Bill Held of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office did a good job of making a case against the proposed Hoopes-Seibert senior citizens exemption.

“If they can’t get a driver’s license, I’m sorry, but I don’t think they should be driving a golf cart. It’s strictly a safety issue,” Held explained.

Fortunately, the majority of the panel agreed with Held. (You can watch the video of this exchange at bocabeacon.com.)

Due to enforcement problems, the current state law is useless. Unfortunately, if we are going to come up with an ordinance that actually works, golf cart drivers will have to be required to have valid driver’s licenses. And no exceptions for those on Social Security.

There are other problems with the proposed ordinance, including a seat belt provision. But these issues can, and likely will, be worked out. It’s a good ordinance. Let’s get it done and move on to the important stuff.

Like iguanas and one-way streets.

Gary Dutery is editor of the Boca Beacon.