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Welcome to Car Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.
Hi and welcome to Car Stuff, I'm Scott Benjamin, and today we are going to talk about something
that I have found kind of interesting over the last several years.
I've been vacationing, I vacation a lot, I go all over the place, myself and my wife
and my daughter, we travel quite a bit, and you know, within the United States, outside
of the United States, it's a little bit of everything, but here in the United States,
I've found that a lot of the southern destinations that we go to, you know, someplace in Florida,
maybe along the Gulf Coast or even the Southwest.
I've found that a lot of places offer the ability for people to use golf carts everywhere
they go, so I'm going to talk a little bit about golf cart communities today and the
legality, I guess, of being able to ride on a golf cart, drive a golf cart on a city street,
and there's more to it than you might think, it's not just a matter of taking any old
golf cart and being able to drive it on the street, there are ways that you have to license
these things to make them street legal and you have to conform to the local laws and
what they will allow, what they won't allow.
But there's more to it than even just that, there's other vehicles that you can get that
are not golf carts that are still legal on streets and we'll go through all these at promise,
but we're going to talk about the differences between a low speed vehicle and a golf cart
because low speed vehicles are something entirely different than golf carts or maybe not entirely
but similar, different in other ways, what we'll talk about those differences and some
of the rules of the road, I guess, you know, for golf cart owners and what they're allowed
to do, what they're not allowed to do and why and talk about licensing, of course, as
we mentioned earlier.
And I do want to talk a little bit about customization and being able to kind of personalize these
things, make them your own so that it's not something that is just strictly for carrying
golf bags on a golf cart, it's something more of a utility vehicle for you and your family
if you happen to live in or near or around one of these communities or you're just visiting
and you want to make use of one of those.
So there's actually quite a bit to this, I didn't really think there was going to be a whole
lot until I started digging into it, but it's actually very popular and in fact in lots
of places and the reason, I mean, one of the main reasons, I guess, is that people really
enjoy these is, well, maybe the first thing we should say is that they're just a lot of
fun to drive.
I don't know if you've ever been on a golf cart, but there's something about it.
It's really kind of a cool little vehicle.
I know that there are gasoline power golf carts, but what we're going to be talking about
today is electric golf carts.
A lot of communities only allow electric golf carts and that's probably mostly due to
emissions and ease of being able to charge them versus having to go to a gas station to
fill them up, etc.
So it just makes a lot of sense, but they're also very simple to maintain, you know, they're
not like as complicated as an automobile would be.
They're very convenient.
It's easy to get in and just turn the key and go just about anybody can drive them.
And we'll talk about again, the licensing requirements, but you don't necessarily have
to be a licensed automobile driver in order to drive a golf cart.
In fact, I think in some communities, people as low as 14 can drive golf carts.
They're just fun to own or easily customize.
You can do just about anything with them that you want.
There's a little bit of golf cart shaming going on.
If you don't have it customized, if you don't have the lift kit that everybody else has
or the custom wheels or the fancy paint job, whatever the customization happens to be,
but a lot of people kind of give you the stink eye, I guess, if you don't have what they
have, it's not up to their standards, you know.
So there's a little bit of that going on, but the customization is another thing entirely
we'll talk about as we get to it.
One other thing I want to point out here before we go into some golf cart communities
and talk about just a few of the most popular communities around, not all of them, of course,
because they're countless communities now at this point, but some of the more popular
communities, some of these that I'm going to list are 55 and up.
So they're senior living communities, you know, that in 55, I don't know, I'm having
trouble classifying 55 as a senior these days.
I mean, I'm getting closer to that myself and I don't want to call 55 senior, but they
do call them senior living spaces, and of course, you have to be 55 or older, and there's
laws about, or rules in these communities about who can visit and for how long, and, you
know, if they're actual residents or not residents, et cetera.
So you have to look into those for yourself and figure out exactly what's allowed in
each of these communities.
But I guess I think we should probably just jump right in and start talking about some
of these communities and what they offer really, and the benefit to some of these.
You might think, well, why would you ever want to drive just a golf cart instead of an
unarmed mobile?
Well, a lot of them, a lot, you know, these communities do allow you to still have a,
I expect all of these communities still allow you to have a regular standard automobile.
You can still park your car on the garage, but you park your golf cart next to it or outside
for charging or whatever, because they understand that, you know, you're not going to be on
the property 100% of the time.
You're going to have to leave the property at some point.
You're going to have to go traveling or, you know, visit family or whatever it is or whatever
the case may be or something that's simply just off the property, a home improvement
store, whatever.
They do realize that there's still a need for a standard automobile, but when you're on
the property, the idea is that you're able to access everything with your golf cart,
which is really kind of a cool idea, and you know, they have special golf cart parking
for these places.
And you can go to the movie theater, you can go to doctors even, you can go to restaurants,
you can go to grocery stores, you can go to anything that you can access in a normal
community with your automobile, you could access in these golf cart communities with your
golf cart.
And that's the benefit is that you really don't need to drive a standard automobile anymore
if you don't want to.
If you don't have to leave the property for one of those like specialty stores or something
like that, then literally you could drive this every day of the year and still be fine.
Some of them are weatherproofed, of course.
You can buy, you know, coverings, you know, with zip up awnings almost like you would find
on, you know, I guess like the soft windows that you would have on a convertible, something
like that, you know, they're able to make it a little more weatherproof.
So if it's raining, you're able to do that.
So again, you could, you could drive these every day of the year if you wanted to.
And typically they're in these warmer areas, so you're not going to worry about snow,
you're not going to worry about ice and things like that.
So these are great places to go and live if you have the means and if you find this kind
of lifestyle or this kind of living interesting.
Number one on the list, this won't surprise too many people is the villages.
Now the villages is of 55 and over community.
So this is a community for seniors really.
And it has something, the villages, this is unbelievable.
They have 100 miles of golf cart only trails and roads within the villages.
Now I know the villages is an enormous facility, huge, huge place.
They've got multiple fire stations and shopping communities and whatever, activities
for everybody.
They have 150,000 residents and still growing.
I didn't know that this place was still growing, but 150,000 residents there.
They have grocery stores, restaurants, clothing stores, boutiques, doctors offices, the
post offices.
They've got just about everything that you want.
Of course, part of these communities so that you can use an operated golf cart all the
time if you want to.
Part of this is that they have golf cart dealerships right there on the property and you're able
to go to these dealerships, you can drive in, you can see on-site mechanics for whatever
you need.
You can get tune-ups, you can get golf cart customization parts, you know what I'll talk
about.
You know what, let's just take a moment just to talk about golf cart customization right
now.
Because I don't know where it's going to really fit in, so let's just do it now.
But you can get custom wheels like you could for any other automobile.
They're a lot smaller, of course, and they're going to be fitted for the golf cart, obviously.
They're going to be the right sizes and shapes and the right types of tires.
The other thing is you can get custom bodies.
Everything you can get for a car really, you can buy a body kit for these things.
So you can make your little golf cart look like a humvee if you want to.
You can make it look like a hot rod of any kind that you want.
You know, there's just fiberglass body kits that you can buy to install, take off the old
body kit or even add on to the body kit, the body that you've already got.
You can buy stereos, you can buy custom seats, you can buy just about anything.
Especially horns, whatever you want.
It's really, if you've never been to a golf cart customization web page, maybe you should
check that out.
Just do a quick, simple word search and find out exactly what's out there.
But you will be blown away if you haven't already seen these on the road or in some of these
communities.
When you look at what they do have available, you'll be amazed.
It's unreal, the number of features and options and lift kits and things like that
that they offer.
Things that you would never think would be something that you would ever want on a golf
cart.
But I guess if that's your only vehicle and it's something that you really want to make
your own, that's exactly the reason why people do this.
And it's the same thing with cars.
You know, people love to do that type of thing to their cars too, so I guess it all kind
of makes sense, right?
Oh, you know, one of the thing, the villages, this is another interesting thing and it's,
I guess it's worth a couple of minutes of time to look at.
I wouldn't spend too much more time than this, but the villages has something they call
the, well, they have like a precision drill team that operates on a, it looks like it's
a soccer field, maybe a polo field, I think, is what it is really precision driving.
So it's a, I know it's hard, it's hard to imagine precision driving in a golf cart,
but it's kind of interesting.
The ones, the videos that I've seen of this precision driving group and it looks like
it's about a dozen people that do this.
It's out on, again, this great big green field.
It's set to patriotic band music as if there's a marching band playing or something and
over the loudspeakers and they get into several formations, they'll drive, you know, toward
each other and just miss each other as they pass, it's, you know what it reminds me of.
It reminds me a lot of the routines that the Shriners do in their small cars when they're
in parades.
It's a lot like that.
Only imagine this happening on a big field and it's kind of interesting.
I guess it would be fun to do or fun to be part of a group like that if you were so inclined
to do something like that.
It's very slow speed, of course, and precision, I don't know, watch it and you'll see what
I mean.
It's not exactly precision, but they're not bad.
They're not bad for a bunch of guys getting together with the golf carts and trying their
best to stay in sync, but it's a lot of fun.
So maybe you want to check that out.
Again, that's the tapping at the villages and I don't know if they still operate or not
these videos are from a few years ago.
So maybe they do, maybe they don't, I'm not sure, but it might be a little bit of fun
to be in something like that.
And just in case you were confused about where the villages are located, it's in northern
Florida because I think there might be other communities that call themselves the villages,
but the one that we're thinking of in this particular case is in northern Florida.
I think it's just outside of Orlando, as a matter of fact, I drive through there on the
way to Orlando to get to Disney World and things like that.
The next one I'm going to talk about is in Georgia, and this community is called Peach
Tree City, Georgia, and this one's unique in that it is all ages.
Again, you don't have to be a licensed driver in order to operate a golf cart on these
streets in these communities.
14 is the age limit, however, and even though these are low-speed vehicles, some people
have modified their golf carts to go quite a bit faster than the 20 or 25 mile an hour limit
because we're going to talk about the differences between low-speed vehicles and golf carts in
just a minute.
But one of the requirements is that it goes between 20 and 25 miles per hour and know that
these, some people have a few tricks up their sleeve.
They go a little faster than 25.
Now, in this Peach Tree City, Georgia, I guess there's a lot of different things.
It has a lot for young families, unlike some of the other communities that are 55 and
up, so they'll have things like not that older communities can't have this type of thing,
but they have activities for kids.
They have ice cream parlors and movie theaters and parks and things like that,
so it's just a little bit different in that case in that they're trying to attract people
of all ages.
So there's one thing that I write about here that they do and most of these communities
will do this.
They have an annual 4th of July parade, people decorate their golf carts in, I guess,
very patriotic ways, you know, the banners and signs and balloons and, you know, whatever.
And there's access to restaurants and clothing shops and grocery stores and doctors offices
and all that.
Again, this is very typical of what you would find in a golf cart community.
The next one I want to mention here is Laguna Beach, California.
Now, Laguna Beach, this is interesting.
This is a huge place.
Now, it has 3.8 square miles of open hillside and, of course, it's a 55 and over community,
so it's a, again, another retirement community or so-called retirement community.
But this is a big place.
There are cart designated paths and crossings that are all around this community that
has 12,000 homes, 12,000.
So it's a huge, huge community.
I mean, this is near the size of the villages, I think.
It's close to that one in Florida, but, again, this one is Laguna Beach, California.
And, of course, you know, they have services and amenities, activities.
Oh, another big thing that we haven't really talked about here is social activities.
And that's pretty important when you get to retirement age and you kind of don't know
what to do with yourself anymore.
You know, you've got to have some hobbies, you've got to have some things to do.
You would think that golf would be a big activity for a lot of these people in these golf
cart communities, but that's not necessarily the case for everybody.
You don't have to play golf.
You can do just about anything that you want, though.
There's clubs and social, again, social activities for just about everyone.
And, of course, electric golf carts are especially popular in this California community, as they
are in just about any other one, really.
I'm going to talk next about one that is in Arizona.
And there's a couple of them actually here.
You know what?
This one in Arizona that I'm going to mention is supposedly, I have to check this out.
I mean, they claim to be the first and original golf cart community in the United States.
And it's in some city, Arizona.
And it's what they call an adult-only community.
It's, again, 55 and up.
I would guess.
It doesn't specifically save 55 and up, but it's called an adult community.
So I would guess so.
This one was built by the guy named Del Webb in 1960.
So this one is going way, way back.
It's, I guess, it'd be almost 60 years old at this point.
So it's been around for a long, long time.
These places, of course, they have, as they mentioned here.
And this is, again, this is with most of these places now.
But they do have specially designed garages that can give you the opportunity to hold both your
standard car and your golf cart, as well as charging stations for them, along the way.
You'll find that mostly, the people that live in these communities do use their golf cart
far more than they do their standard vehicle.
So there's a lot to do to make a golf cart street legal.
And we'll talk about that, too, in just a moment.
But again, this one, the Sun City, Arizona place, claims to be the first and original
golf cart community in the United States.
The next one that I want to talk about, there's another retirement community, and this is
actually the last one.
And I know that there's probably dozens, if not maybe a hundred more of these that we
could talk about.
O'Cala, Florida.
That's the northern part of Florida again.
It's another retirement community, and very highly rated it.
And it's one of the 50 best master plan communities in the United States.
It's like one of the top or premier retirement communities in the United States.
These master plan communities, that's exactly what we're talking about, you know, where everything
is accessible, the doctors, the restaurants, whatever you need is accessible by go cart.
I keep saying go cart, golf cart.
Another big place, though, it's another 10,000 plus home community.
So it's a big, big place.
They have 3, 18 whole golf courses.
So if that is your kind of thing, if that is your relaxation, that's what you want to
do.
It's right there.
Oh, you know, one interesting thing that this place has, they have an RC flying field,
which I think is really cool.
It's a field that you're into the remote controlled hobby of flying airplanes.
They have a place that you can do that.
And there's a photo here of people with some large scale RC planes, and I'm sure that
everyone is welcome.
We've talked about this in the past on car stuff, these RC hobbyists and park jets and things
like that that you can fly either electric or gas or, you know, whatever, but they have
one of these RC fields right here on this property and it's a fun, safe place to be able to
fly your airplane.
Even some of these things are either they get so big that I know it's a little bit off
topic, but some of these things get so big that they do require you to let the local
airports know that you're flying them on the day that you're flying them and you have
to be licensed in order to fly them because they're large enough to cause some damage
if they crash.
You know, if you have to hit a home or person or anything like that, you have to be licensed
and insured and all that.
So it's kind of, it's was actually a very serious hobby for a lot of people, other people
it's just a lot of fun.
And I think this is one of the social activities that you can do later there.
You know, head out to the RC field and have a good time.
But again, if you're dining out or if you're just going to the movies or whatever, it seems
like this place is on top of the world community in Oklahoma, California, is one of those places
that is kind of a cool place to live, I guess, if you're into this kind of thing.
You know, I want to get into some of the rules of the road and some of the differences
between golf carts and low speed vehicles and we're going to do that, but first I want
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And we're back.
And as you might expect, you've got to follow the rules of the road when you're in these
golf carts.
It's not something that should be taken too lightly because you're out there with other
normal, I call it normal, but other normal traffic.
So you have big automobiles, cars, trucks, even bicyclers, or whatever, but you're out there
on the road with everybody else, and you have to obey the rules of the road.
So the villages, I believe, has posted the golf cart rules of the road online.
You can go find these if you'd like to.
Just simply search golf cart rules of the road, villages, and you'll find this.
And it really pertains to all low-speed vehicles, which we'll talk about in a minute, and
just neighborhood electric vehicles.
So what you're allowed to do, what you're not allowed to do.
But you have to follow the same traffic laws, essentially, as all cars do, including
any regulatory signs, you know, stop signs, yield signs, all of that, one-way signs.
You have to be able to do that.
You have to be able to use either a directional, so an arrow, an indicator, left or right
turns, or be able to give hand signals when making turns, or I guess, and or.
And of course, one thing that probably a lot of people don't realize if you're going too
fast, if you're breaking the laws, you're able to be ticketed in a golf cart, just as you
would be able to in a standard automobile.
And the citations do carry fines and points on your license just as would driving in an
automobile.
So you're really kind of required to keep these things up, make sure that they're road legal,
make sure that they've got all the safety equipment, make sure that you're obeying the laws,
and make sure that you're doing everything you should be doing.
Now, one thing that is important here is that these vehicles, these golf carts, I guess,
at least in the villages, is that it's understood that they won't go over 20 miles per hour.
So you're not supposed to travel at speeds in excess of 20 miles per hour when you're in a
golf cart in these communities, or at least in the villages.
Now, again, we've said this a couple of times already at this point.
You don't have to be a licensed driver, but the driver must be over 14 years of age in order
to drive the golf cart.
So you can't have your niece or nephew over, and if they're under 14 allow them to drive,
it might be fun, you know, to let them cruise around a little bit, and they might want to,
but they're just not allowed to.
They have to be over 14 years of age to be able to do something like that.
Now, here's where we're going to start talking about low speed vehicles.
Now, low speed vehicles, these are defined as four-wheeled electric vehicles,
whose top speed is greater than 20 miles per hour, but still less than 25 miles per hour.
So a low speed vehicle can operate on the city streets where the post-it speed limit is 35
miles per hour or less, and low speed vehicles can also crossroads that have a post-it speed limit
greater than 35 miles per hour.
The operator of the low speed vehicle has to be a licensed driver, however, so that's one
difference right there between golf carts and low speed vehicles.
And the low speed vehicles have to have a registered license plate and be insured.
It has to be equipped with at least the following safety equipment in order to be considered
street legal. It has to have a seat belt, has to have a windshield, has to have a rearview mirror,
horn, headlights, tail lights, stop lamps, side reflectors, and a parking brake.
And of course, turn signals are also important, and it does have to have a vehicle identification
number. So just like your car, it has to have a VIN, and the VIN then is associated with that
vehicle. I mean, obviously with the licensing and all that, you know, it all has to match up.
At night time, or if you're driving in low light conditions, of course, if it's going to be
street legal, it's important to understand this rule too, that in order to operate at night or
just before sunrise, the golf cart has to be equipped with headlights, brake lights, turn signals,
and of course, the reflective devices, you know, on the front and rear of the vehicle and the sides.
But the headlights have to be used 30 minutes, this is the important part of the rule here,
30 minutes before sunset, and 30 minutes after sunrise, the headlights always have to be on
when it's inclement weather as well. So if it's raining, headlights always have to be on,
that's the law, and that's one of those things that you'll be pulled over for if you're driving
around without that. Now, there are specifics, I should say, within these rules about where
golf carts can and go, and it lists very specific roads that you're not allowed on,
because this is specifically for the villages, but in general, low speed vehicles can be operated
on a road whose speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less, and a golf cart can be operated on a state
road that has been designated and marked for golf cart use. So you'll see these signs around town.
In fact, the town that I live in, I live in Roswell, Georgia, and recently I've been seeing signs
on the side of the road that state that golf carts or low speed vehicles are allowed to operate
on certain roads, considering that they are licensed and sure, they've got the headlights,
they've got the turn indicators, all that. Those are legally uses for those, but this 35 mile an hour
speed limit or less seems to be real critical in this case. They're not allowed to go on a road that
is above 35, simply because you're going to encounter other traffic that is going a lot faster than
you would be, and it's tougher for them to have to deal with, I guess, for lack of a better way
to say, it have to deal with you in your low speed vehicle, or relatively low speed vehicle,
and to get around. So they're not allowed on highways. That's for obvious reasons, and I mean,
we can all understand typical, or I mean, I guess, a safe uses of golf carts or low speed vehicles
in these different communities. Of course, no one's allowed to stand on the vehicle or ride on the
back platform. It's tempting as it may be, that's another rule in these communities is that you're
not allowed to stand on the vehicle. You know, where the, at the back where the golf clubs would
normally go. And it's, that's a lot of fun to do if you're out on the golf course, golf course,
rather, and it's fun to do around your property or maybe even in the neighborhood or whatever,
but don't let them catch you doing that on the main road. That's just not, not allowed. It's
very, very tempting, because it, it seems like it's built for that. I know it's for golf clubs,
but man, is it fun to stand on the back of a golf car when it's gone? For some reason,
I don't know why that is, but it is. It's always fun. And of course, you got to keep your arms and
legs in the vehicle at all times, just like when you go to the amusement park and they tell you to
keep your hands and feet inside the car. You got to do the same thing when you're in a golf
cart for safety reasons, of course. Of course, you have to make sure that you're responsible,
and this is really the last rule that I want to cover here, I think, but you are responsible for
being a safe driver. You got to make sure that you merge responsibly with other vehicles and
you allow them to pass when they need to pass. You allow the other cars right of way when they're
allowed right away. Now, golf carts are always, this is something I didn't know, but in these golf
cart communities, golf carts are always supposed to yield to other vehicle traffic in all cases. So,
if a standard vehicle and a golf cart are at a situation where they're both trying to get to the same
place, golf cart traffic always has to yield to the standard vehicle traffic, which I didn't know up
until just when I read this. I would think it would be the same for everybody, but apparently not.
I guess there is kind of a hierarchy or a power level there, I guess, that has to be adhered to.
And of course, golf carts and low speed vehicles are not permitted to travel on the sidewalks,
so they have to be on the roadways just as a normal vehicle would be as well. And you know, I know
this sounds like there's a lot of rules and a lot of regulations and everything and things you have to
do. But once you get your golf cart or low speed vehicle or whatever ready to go on the road,
God, it's got to be so much fun. It just kind of feels like you're not really supposed to be out
there doing that, but you're allowed to be out there doing that. And, you know, it's kind of,
just kind of a cool way to get around town. I've seen a few in my own hometown in this little
city that I live in, and it's really kind of interesting, and it does turn your head. You know,
you think, like, are they supposed to be out here doing that, but it looks like they've got a big
smile on their face when they're doing it, and it's a good time. And if you have any questions
about the rules or anything like that, I know the villages one that does this. I don't know about
other communities like if you were in Sun City or, you know, wherever it happened to Laguna,
but I believe that they offer golf cart safety clinics. So if you have questions about rules or
how to operate one of these or, you know, just general best practices for golf cart use and travel,
you can get those questions answered at these golf cart safety clinics. And I'm sure they offer
them several times throughout the year. I don't have a schedule or anything like that when these
are available or who offers them, but that's probably a good idea if you're new to a community like
this to just go ahead and check one of those out and make sure you're not ticking off. They're
either golf cart owner out there by doing something dumb that you don't even know is dumb, you know,
make sure that you're you're following the rules of the road. You're not making other drivers
angry in any way. Just try to get along with everybody there. So all right. Now I promised you that we
would talk about golf carts versus low speed vehicles. And that's one thing that we want to do here.
A low speed vehicle is not a golf cart. These are two separate things. Now golf carts are,
well, you know what, let's just start off talking about low speed vehicles. We'll do it that way.
Low speed vehicles defined by law is a four-wheeled vehicle whose maximum speed falls between 20
and 25 miles per hour. I think we said that earlier. And it has to be operated on a paved road
surface, paved and level surface really. Now here's another thing that's interesting. The total weight
of all its cargo, fluids, passengers plus the vehicle itself is limited to 3,000 pounds. If you look at
a low speed vehicle versus a golf cart, you're going to see that it typically looks more like a car,
more like a small truck, something like that. There are some typical uses for low speed vehicles,
not golf carts that you'll probably find these just about any city that you go into. You're going
to see them being used by meter maids. You're going to see campus security using them.
Grounds keepers will use these low speed vehicles to do whatever they have to do, maintain the
grounds. People use them for hunting. They use them for yard work. It's a pretty common thing now.
A lot of places that sell these now are like the motorsports places that sell motorcycles,
they sell snowmobiles depending on where you live. I guess snowmobiles are these UTVs,
the utility vehicles. But you'll find that these low speed vehicles are pretty common now. You
can find them just about everywhere. Again, the meter maids tend to use them. Anybody that has a
city job where they're doing a lot of stop and go driving, people that need to get in and out of
the vehicle quite often turn it on, turn it off, do small errands that are on a campus, maybe
or a facility that's several acres that don't necessarily want them riding bikes across,
or they have to carry something, whether that's people or equipment or whatever happens to be
tools, anything like that. It's just a great use for something like this. Now, low speed vehicles,
of course, they get really good gas mileage and it would actually, a lot of cases, they get better
gas mileage than even motorcycles in some cases, which is kind of surprising. The reason is,
because now that they're limited to 3,000 pounds, that means that a lot of low speed vehicles are made
with extremely light weight materials. We're talking about carbon fiber, we're talking about
fiberglass and materials like that that weigh less than steel would, so that they're not quite the
tanks, I guess, that some of these golf carts are. The low speed vehicles you'll find are typically
light weight, because they do have to adhere to that 3,000 pound limit, including the passengers
and cargo and all that. Again, ultra light weight materials are used in them, which makes them
really efficient to use and a good choice for a lot of people. Now, where can you drive these low speed
vehicles? You can drive them currently in about 33 states. They're allowed to be on roads, where the
post-it speed limit, again, is 35 or less. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that
well, LSVs are universally street legal by federal law. It's up to each state to regulate LSV
activity on its roads, so each state regulates exactly where and when they're allowed to use low speed
vehicles and exactly what that means for each state. There's a whole list of states where you're
limited to 35 miles per hour less and some that are even lower. Some are 25, some are 30. There are
a couple that will allow it up to 45 miles per hour, which is kind of a surprise, and that's Texas
and I believe Arkansas is another one I think it's Arkansas, but I believe there are two states that
allow that, and we'll be right back in just a minute, but first, I would like to take a break.
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And once again, we are back and you're listening to Car Stuff and I'm Scott Benjamin.
Now, safety is another thing that we really haven't talked about. And here's kind of the bad news,
I guess. The bad news for people that are interested in getting an LSV for street legal use.
They are not the safest vehicles out there on the road as you might be able to guess.
I mean, they're probably a little safe for the motorcycles might be because you've got some kind
of structure around you, but it's very important to understand that they're not required to
meet the safety standards that passenger cars have to adhere to. So even though you're out there
on the road with other passenger vehicles that are quick with things like airbags and crash
protection of all kinds, you know, like a roll cage or whatever it happens to be, just the steel
structure around you or the structure that keeps you safe when you're in a collision.
Low speed vehicles, and of course, golf carts really don't have to adhere to any of those.
So you can get a license. You can have it out on the street for regular use, but understand that
you are not going to be as well protected as you would be in an automobile of any kind, really,
that has to adhere to these, you know, the national traffic standards and national highway traffic
standards. A lot of reasons that you might think, well, okay, well, why would I even want to drive
on anyway? I mean, of course, there's the ease and the convenience and efficiency and all that,
but like I said before, it's just kind of a kind of a cool thing to get around town in, really.
I mean, it's kind of a fun vehicle to own. If you've never been in a golf cart, I mean,
if you've probably done it on a golf course, if you don't own one for your own personal property,
if you don't have like a state that you like to drive around on or something, you've probably
driven in a golf cart or ridden in a golf cart. And it's a lot of fun. There's just something to it.
I don't know what it is, but when you get in, you turn the key, and of course, it's electric,
and it just goes. Instantly, you know, it's got a lot of power surprisingly for, you know,
the little vehicle that it is. It's just a fun vehicle to get around in. And there's kind of like,
I don't know, they call it in this article that I'm reading here. They call it an undeniable cool
factor. And I don't know about cool, but but it is a lot of fun. It's just it's a fun vehicle
to own and drive. And we've talked about golf carts and LSDs here a little bit. And I guess maybe we
should describe what is different about a golf cart versus a low speed vehicle because we just went
through the low speed vehicle. Golf carts are typically under 20 miles per hour. So they're not really
going all that fast. They do have a lower price than a low speed vehicle will seek me to golf cart
a little bit cheaper. They're if you want to put it this way, I guess they're even less street legal
right from the beginning. So if you buy a golf cart from the factory, you know, and you're not
buying one second hand, you're not buying one used to, you know, a golf cart dealership or whatever
in one of these communities, you're typically going to find that a golf cart is not street legal
right from the factory. You'll find that most of them just don't have the headlights, the tail lamps,
the turn signals, you know, the windshield, all that that you really need to have in order to be
street legal vehicle. So you can go to places trying to think of where there's a few sites online
that you can go to. I'm not going to endorse anyone in particular, but for around, I think I've
seen the prices low as about $500. You can take a golf cart from the factory and make it street legal.
And that's just a ballpark price, but that's about what it takes to get everything put on your
golf cart that would make it allowed to be driven on some of these smaller city streets in these
communities. But again, it's very rare to find one from the factory or even actually at a dealership.
Most places won't do it because they don't know what the intended use for it is. You know, if it's
brought in to be a secondhand golf cart, I'm sure it's possible to find one that is generally
street legal or you know, you might have to update a little bit to make it legal for your locale
wherever that happens to be. But again, local laws exist that make golf cart street legal during certain
hours on certain roads and it's very specific. So you got to really pay attention to these laws and
rules and understand that you can be fine. You can be ticketed just as anyone else would in a car.
Most vehicle are typically built a little bit safer than golf carts in general. Golf carts are
a little bit more open. There's just not as much structure to them. Low speed vehicles tend to have
a little bit more of that even though we talked about how they're not really up to the federal
safety crash standards. Golf carts are completely, I mean, they're just, they're not at all. I mean,
there's nothing to them at all really for safety because they just weren't intended ever to be on
city streets and that's kind of the use for them in a lot of cases now. But so if you get into a
traffic accident, you're going to have to understand that it's going to be a little bit more severe than if
you were just in a standard vehicle and got bumped from behind or whatever the case may be,
it's going to be a little bit more harsh on you and the vehicle itself. So understand that. Now,
I guess just overall let's just kind of go through the list of differences and what's legal,
what's not legal and kind of wrap it up with that because I think I'm just about done with this.
Again, I always intend these podcasts to be just kind of a starting point, a jumping off point for
you to kind of look into what you know what you're interested in. So if there's one little part
of this that you're interested in, if you're interested, maybe low speed vehicles or golf carts or
you want to find out about customization to golf carts, just go online, check all this stuff out. But
the main differences that I want to point out before we go here are the differences between golf carts
and low speed vehicles and we'll kind of leave it at that. I'd love to have people write in and tell
me that they live in a golf cart community or they have a low speed vehicle that they use in their
non golf cart community that has kind of over the years sort of allowed it on certain streets and
maybe in a historic district and in that part of the city or whatever. I just love to hear stories
like that because I don't know, it just seems like it's a fun way to get around. It's just an
interesting, I don't know, I don't know if I can call it a hobby or not really. It's just kind of
a way of life for a lot of people really at this point. So maybe it is a hobby. I don't know,
maybe right to me and tell me that too. If you have a golf cart or a low speed vehicle hobby,
I'd like to know about that. So here are the main physical differences between golf carts and
LSVs and again, we're going to leave it at this. But speed again, golf carts can travel up to 20
miles per hour, but low speed vehicles can travel up to about 25 give or take. Many people modify those
things and go a lot faster than that. So there's ways around that. You don't have to govern it down
to 25. Not that I'm condoning that, but we're recommending that, but it happens. We know it happens.
Safety, okay. LSVs do have additional safety standards. The golf carts do not, but again,
the whole federal safety standards thing doesn't apply to them as it does to automobiles. So be careful
when you're out there on the roads. Make sure that you're following the rules and everything should be
okay, but just be wary. Just understand that it's not a simple matter of just a bumper to bumper
collision when you get hit in one of these things. It's a little bit more harsh. It can be, I should say.
Price, that's another important thing. Golf carts again tend to be a few thousand dollars cheaper
than low speed vehicles do. So it's definitely a more economical choice, but there's pros and cons to each.
You should probably look up a list of golf cart pros, golf cart cons, low speed vehicle pros,
cons, that kind of thing, and see which one is really the best fit for your needs. Of course,
the law is really important, so you got to remember the legal driving age, and it's 14, and a lot of
these communities, I believe the village is 14. Again, you don't have to be a licensed driver in
order to do one, but as always, I'm going to tell you this every time, check your local laws to make
sure that you're not violating anything, any of those. Don't go by my word. Make sure you check out
the local laws to get all the information you need before you attempt to drive one of these on the
streets. Of course, the legality issue, most states are allowing these low speed vehicles on public
roads at this point. Street legal golf carts are allowed as well, but factory stock golf carts
generally are not allowed to be out on the road. You can't just drive it from the golf course right
onto the road and expect it to be legal. Or if you have one that you use around your property there,
if you have a couple acres or whatever, you can't just generally jump on the road and go. You have to
make sure that you are making that thing street legal, make sure that you're following the rules
that are in effect for your community and make sure that you're hearing to everything else because
you don't want to get a ticket and you feel kind of like a fool if you get pulled over. I think I'm
going to golf cart, but please. The last thing is that in golf carts, typically, when you buy them,
they tend to have less street legal parts on them. If you're going to buy one, understand that you
are going to have to modify it. You are going to have to invest some money in it to get it ready.
These low-speed vehicles typically have that stuff already in place. Even though there's a cost
difference that we mentioned, golf carts are a little cheaper to begin with. If you're buying from
the factory or even a dealership, you'll find that you are going to have to invest some money in a
golf cart versus a low-speed vehicle in order to make it street legal. With that, I think we've
covered this stuff probably more than you ever wanted to know about golf carts and low-speed
vehicles. If you were even interested at all, I guess if you're still listening at this point,
you were at least a little bit interested in them as I am. I don't know if it's really for me.
I'm on the fence about this. I've vacationed a lot in some of these communities in Florida
and around the Gulf Coast, and I don't know. I mean, it's interesting to see, I don't know if I
could be something that I would be interested in changing my lifestyle to accommodate a golf cart
in my life, I guess, and being able to go to all these places on a golf cart, although it'd be fun.
I just don't know if I could adapt enough to it. I love my car too much. I love being on the open
road. I love going fast. I love, I guess, the safety that an automobile affords all the convenience
features, and I know that some of these, they get pretty fancy. Some of them, you could add on
tens of thousands of dollars of options. I mean, and it does get expensive. If you go to the
the customization sites that I had mentioned or any of them, you'll find that the accessories are
very, very expensive, but you can get just about anything you can in a car on these is of course
that you don't have to add it on though. When you're giving up the speed, you're giving up the
ability to take it off the property in order to go on to the open road to take a long road trip in.
If this is your only vehicle, in most cases, a lot of people have both vehicles, a standard
vehicle and one of these. So that seems like a decent way to handle it, but I don't know if I could
make the lifestyle change that's necessary to live in a community like this. It's fun to visit.
It's fun to be part of it. It's fun to see it, and it's interesting if you go at a time of the year,
you know, Memorial Day or maybe Fourth of July or something like that when I have a parade or
something like that. It's fun to see and it's interesting, but I just don't know if it's really
something that I want just yet in my life. Maybe later, maybe as I grow older, I want something
like that, but I'd love to hear everybody's thoughts and opinions on this, and I want people to
write in and tell me, you know, your experience is with golf cart communities, and you have this
as a hobby, or if you're someone who likes to customize golf carts or low speed vehicles or you
sell them, or you know, whatever. I'd like to just know your association with these, and you could
do that. You can contact us in a lot of different ways. We're on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,
where we are car stuff HSW at all of those. And the other way, if you want to email us, and I
would be happy to read your email, maybe even on there, who knows? As we start to get more email
here for the show, our website is carstuffshow.com. That's where you can find all of our archives,
all of our previous episodes. There's something like 900 episodes there. So just about something for
everyone, really, I promise you, we've going all the way back to around 2008. If you don't find what
you want there, you can write in and suggest something to us. We'd always be happy to get some
suggestions from listeners. So if we always look for that, and again, thank you for listening today.
I really appreciate it. We'll be back again next week with another show. Thanks.
Carstuff is a production of iHeartRadio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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