As Americans struggle to weather economically challenging times, more small town governments are looking at innovative uses of existing technology as a way to give residents new options for controlling rising costs. Take, for instance, the golf cart.
There was a time when golf carts were restricted to the golf course, a few forward-thinking resort areas that wanted to protect environmentally sensitive ecosystems and certain planned golf communities like Peachtree City, Georgia, which offers 80 miles of golf cart paths that are used by the whole community, including high school students.
But even while currently stable gas prices have given Americans some respite from last summer’s record-high prices, interest in golf carts as a means of affordable intra-city transportation is growing.
For several years now, golf carts as the primary mode of transportation have been the norm, not the exception, in the village of Bald Head Island, just like Santa Catalina Island off the Los Angeles coastline. At McIntosh High School in Peachtree City, Georgia, students use a specially designated golf cart parking lot on campus.
Ordinances permitting golf cart use on city streets have been passed or are being considered in towns throughout Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina and Virginia.
While local and state laws vary, owners of battery-powered golf carts in these towns can drive them on roads with a posted speed limit of less than 35 miles per hour. Safety concerns persist, however. Under-age drivers have been seriously injured in accidents with larger motor vehicles.
Most towns that have given the thumbs up to golf carts require they be outfitted with headlights, windshield wipers, seat belts and turn signals to make them street-legal. The carts need to be recharged about every 30 miles.
As Americans begin to feel the withdrawal pains of lessening our dependence on foreign oil, we’ll need to consider every possible way to lessen consumption and come up with alternatives to automobile-dominated culture.
What’s happening in your community? Are you seeing any golf carts zipping around?
A few weeks back, I pledged to use cash exclusively for ALL of my daily expenses — basically everything other than my fixed monthly bills. I knew going into the exercise that running off to the bank every time I needed lunch money could become a bit cumbersome, but the whole point was to test if watching cold hard cash drain out of my wallet would curb my spending.
