Local Ordinance Lesson: Golf Carts

Speedway is a very small town. So small, in fact, that it seems perfectly reasonable to me that one would get a golf cart to drive around the town. How nice would that be to be able to take a golf cart from Meadowood to Main? How about taking a golf cart to the Speedway H.S. football game from Old Speedway neighborhood near 10th and Main? Of course, I understand that we don't want golf carts on Crawfordsville, Lynhurst, 16th, 10th, High School, or (sort of) Moeller Rd. However, one can pretty much get anywhere in town on back roads.

Alas, our local laws prevent it.

Speedway Code Section 10.24.030(5) states, "It shall be unlawful for any nay person to operate a golf cart, all-terrain vehicle (ATV), snowmobile, pedal cab or any similar vehicle on the streets of the town. Any person in violation of this section shall be fined $75.00 per offense." Believe it or not, this applies on Race Day as well. Does that make sense? People who live in Speedway can't transport people TO the track in a golf cart, yet IMS can have people AT the track to transport people in golf carts. In fact, the Speedway P.D. is empowered to confiscate any golf cars they see operating in public.

Huh.

I think Speedway should repeal this law and replace it with a law that specifically allows the use of a golf cart on "secondary" streets throughout town. It would be necessary for Speedway to pass that law in order to permit use of golf carts locally, as Indiana Code Section 9-21-1-3.3, which states in relevant part, "A city, county, or town may adopt by ordinance traffic regulations concerning the use of golf carts or off-road vehicles, or both on a highway under the jurisdiction of the city, county, or town."

How about it Town Council?

Any interest in allowing the residents of Speedway to operate golf carts on the "Secondary" streets? I won't even get into how this could positively affect the so-called "parking problem" we have in Speedway, but suffice it to say that a standard golf cart parking space is 4' X 8', whereas the standard vehicle parking spot is 9' X 18'. By my calculation, that means that parking a car requires 162 sq. feet and parking a golf cart requires 32 sq. ft. Stated another way, a golf car requires less than 20% the parking space as a standard vehicle.

Huh.