Using a golf cart away from a golf course has become increasingly popular in Florida. Many people are using golf carts strictly for pleasure to just go for a ride. You can buy golf carts with lift kits, roll bars, huge tires, and fancy rims. Some are electric and some are gas and some can easily go 45mph. If you live in Brevard County, you are familiar with the Viera community which has built a town center with various neighborhoods surrounding the area. Golf carts have become the rage with people driving them from their homes to the Avenues and all the areas throughout Viera. Most people are using the sidewalk when operating their golf carts. Here is the problem. It is illegal to operate a golf cart on a sidewalk unless a county or municipality enacts an ordinance to permit it. To date, law enforcement has been looking the other way but now the Viera Company is formally asking the Brevard County Commission to modify the rules so people can legally driver their golf carts on the sidewalks in Viera.
I will be the first to say that it is a blast riding a golf cart around. However, this is really opening up a can of worms for many reasons. One of the biggest problems in Florida is the horrible lack of insurance coverage on the average vehicle on our roadways. This problem has gotten significantly worse in the last five years due to people looking for ways to save money. Of course insurance is always the first to go. So now we are going to allow golf carts on the sidewalks with pedestrians. Who is going to regulate this when a golf cart is going 30mph down a sidewalk at night with no lights? Who is stopping the 15 year olds from hanging off the sides with their buddies? More importantly, who is going to pay when a golf cart hits a car or a pedestrian? Homeowners insurance isn’t going to pay. Your auto insurance isn’t going to pay. Is anyone going to require a golf cart to have insurance? I doubt it.
There are a lot of potential problems with this. Stay Tuned.