The issue of low speed vehicles such as golf carts on Madison city streets continues to be the subject of debate with the Madison City Council.
Councilman Eric Joyce brought up the city’s ordinance during the June 3 council work session and said the city had received complaints that the ordinance is not being enforced.
“I think the perception is those vehicles seem to be exempt from following the rules the rest of us follow,” Joyce said.
Low speed vehicles such as golf carts are not allowed on streets where the speed limit is above 35 miles per hour and are prohibited on sidewalks, Joyce said.
Councilman Rick Blanton said he was under the impression low speed vehicles were not allowed to drive on state roads, which would prohibit use of Main Street even in areas of where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour.
Madison Police Chief John Ashburn said he was concerned about low speed vehicle safety as Madison grows and traffic increases.
“I feel like since this ordinance was passed, our traffic has increased, residencies in downtown Madison have increased,” Ashburn said. “I feel like over time this is going to become a greater risk. We are going to see more and more people wanting to drive these low speed vehicles.”
Ashburn said he has seen numerous examples of small children sitting in the laps of adults in low speed vehicles, most of them upgraded golf carts.
“I would just ask that council members take the time and look at the ordinance and look at what our traffic really is and see if we need to stick with what our ordinance said,” Ashburn said. “On Washington and Jefferson [streets] it is really busy, and they are harder to see.
Ashburn said he had stopped people in low speed vehicles with small children riding in adult laps and the adults were unaware they were violating the ordinance. If we are going to stick with it, it needs to be made public to make people of what the regulations are.”
Registering and licensing low speed vehicles was also discussed, a process that would require owners of the vehicles to be aware of the regulations in order to get a sticker required for use.