Back to All About SoWal

Another Big Reason to Hate Golf Carts in SoWal

Beach Fanatic
20,872 views
This makes me so mad. :pissed:

We already have a problem with sign pollution. The Walton County Sheriff's Office will be placing signs up and down Scenic 30A and connecting roads for golf carts (LSV) - a whole list of laws like no texting while driving, seatbelts required, stay off bike path, etc. (Rental carts are already required to have stickers on them with this info.)

Why make us all pay for golf cart driver ignorance? Why not make renters read the laws and pass a quizz before they can rent? I had to do such before renting a small sailboat one time while on vacation. Why not just make it clear to people they have to follow the same laws as car drivers. We have penalties in place to enforce driving laws. THE LAWS APPLY TO GOLF CARTS IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND!

Scenic 30A is getting less and less scenic. Will things like this make us lose our scenic highway designation?

Replies

76
30A Skunkape avatar
Skunky
#2
If I understand correctly, there will be a hard push to get the situation under control and once that happens, the signs will be coming down in a few years. If the bitter pill works, I am all for it.
bob bob avatar
Beach Fanatic
#3
Will they be billboard size like realtor signs?
Will B avatar
Moderator
#5
Tourist can't read....excuse me....won't read. I can't imagine that there will be any appreciable changes as a result of mean old signs...
Dawn avatar
Beach Fanatic
#6
To let golf carts on real roads with real traffic is insane. Real trucks, fast cars, delivery trucks, construction workers, SUVs, it's ridiculous.

Time to ban them, not put up signs.

Vacationers get in golf carts and right away it feels like fun. Like driving toys. No laws or signs will change that.
30A Skunkape avatar
Skunky
#7
To let golf carts on real roads with real traffic is insane. Real trucks, fast cars, delivery trucks, construction workers, SUVs, it's ridiculous.

Time to ban them, not put up signs.

Vacationers get in golf carts and right away it feels like fun. Like driving toys. No laws or signs will change that.

It would be a dream come true, but, I don't know that they can be banned, at least the street legal ones, on public roads where they can be legally operated. Maybe Florida law trumps local say on this issue?
jodiFL avatar
Beach Fanatic
#8
Florida laws are very specific on the issue. They have very strict definitions of what is a golf cart and what is a LSV and where they can be operated. I think it comes down to holding the owners of the things financially responsible and making the fines high enough to get their attention. I met one family that was told by the rental company that the LSV they rented was "street legal" and they decided to drive it to Publix on 98. After the multiple close calls and horn blowing on 98 and a WCSO escort back home and a couple of really freaked out parents of small children in tow they figured out they should have asked more questions about WHAT roads they were legal on.
Beach Fanatic
#9
South Walton is a total sht show on this issue. They were controlled until the county lowered all the speed limits on and around 30a to 35 or less.
Beach Lover
#10
Best way to “outlaw” them is to raise the speed limit. They are only “legal” on roads with speed limits below 35mph.
Matt J avatar
SWGB
#11
This is a result of tourists whining that they didn't know. The sheriff lobbied to put these up so tickets and arrests will be simpler and stick. There are areas that should go back to 45 mph like between Water sound and Water sound west beach, also from Grayton to Blue Mountain. Can't get there by gulf cart? Use a car, Uber or novel idea don't effing go.
Beach FanaticAuthor
#12
Whining be damned. You break the law you pay. We don't need more stinking signs. We should be ticketing tourists every chance we get to pay for deputies they make us hire.
Beach Fanatic
#13
Best way to “outlaw” them is to raise the speed limit. They are only “legal” on roads with speed limits below 35mph.
Agree..Simply raise the speed limit to what it used to be in many areas… 45 mph…We don’t need any more signs on scenic Highway 30A.
Beach Lover
#14
Only need to reach 25 mph to be street legal? Am I alone in thinking that is silly?

And most of them won't reach 15 mph. Keep them on the golf course and private communities like Sandestin please.
PoppaJ avatar
SoWal Insider
#15
Only need to reach 25 mph to be street legal? Am I alone in thinking that is silly?

And most of them won't reach 15 mph. Keep them on the golf course and private communities like Sandestin please.
They are referring to LSV’s
Matt J avatar
SWGB
#16
Whining be damned. You break the law you pay. We don't need more stinking signs. We should be ticketing tourists every chance we get to pay for deputies they make us hire.

You do understand that's not how ticketing works in Florida?
beachmouse avatar
Beach Fanatic
#17
A couple years back, I watched a National Parks cop write a $1000 ticket to a woman who ignored the signs that said 'no LSVs' (or whatever the terminology there was) and drove one onto Cedar Breaks National Monument roads anyways and then didn't have her driver's license on her when the park cops pulled her over.

I have to say it was a beautiful sight. (Though not as beautiful as the amphitheater proper)
Beach Lover
#18
They are referring to LSV’s
There is no practical difference. A golf cart with brake lights and seat belts is still a golf cart.
PoppaJ avatar
SoWal Insider
#19
There is no practical difference. A golf cart with brake lights and seat belts is still a golf cart.
It’s fine to dislike them, but there is a practical difference which is why they require inspection before being licensed.
The only problem I have with them is the drivers. Locals seem to be more courteous and pull over for vehicles to pass where the drivers of the rental carts could care less. We should be able to co-exist.
Beach FanaticAuthor
#20
It’s fine to dislike them, but there is a practical difference which is why they require inspection before being licensed.
The only problem I have with them is the drivers. Locals seem to be more courteous and pull over for vehicles to pass where the drivers of the rental carts could care less. We should be able to co-exist.
If they are in front of traffic maxed out at 15 mph there is no difference. People get in both and act like idiots. No difference. They are treated like toys by people on vacation.

Can someone give me one good reason for them?
PoppaJ avatar
SoWal Insider
#21
If they are in front of traffic maxed out at 15 mph there is no difference. People get in both and act like idiots. No difference. They are treated like toys by people on vacation.

Can someone give me one good reason for them?
Section 320.01(41), Florida Statutes, defines LSVs as “any four-wheeled vehicle whose top speed is greater than 20 miles per hour, but not greater than 25 miles per hour.” LSVs must be registered, titled and insured with personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL) insurance.
bob bob avatar
Beach Fanatic
#22
Section 320.01(41), Florida Statutes, defines LSVs as “any four-wheeled vehicle whose top speed is greater than 20 miles per hour, but not greater than 25 miles per hour.” LSVs must be registered, titled and insured with personal injury protection (PIP) and property damage liability (PDL) insurance.
If every golf cart in SoWal only goes 15 are you saying they are all illegal?
PoppaJ avatar
SoWal Insider
#23
If every golf cart in SoWal only goes 15 are you saying they are all illegal?
I’m not saying anything. Direct your question to WCSO.
UofL avatar
Beach Fanatic
#24
As a visitor, I believe the golf carts should only be used in each neighborhood and only go across to 30A if there is parking available. It's time to adjust to the number of people who now visit 30A. If they want to drive golf carts, put in a big golf cart track/shopping retail area somewhere near 98 so they can drive around. Sort of an adult amusement park. Semi serious. Ellen
Imperialegg avatar
Beach Comber
#25
The tourists in the golf carts are renting the properties that keep income coming into this area. Without tourists this place will fall into financial ruin and our public places will too. Everyone is awful grumpy about the golf carts and the tourists, but you choose to live in a beach vacation destination. Golf carts are a wonderful device for carting all that beach stuff and families around, and yes for the driver they are fun to ride in, fresh air blowing through hair and sunshine on face. We locals do not get to have the roads to ourselves, the roads here are never going to be like the city you moved here from. This is a beach culture and the traffic reflects this fact. My advice is grow some beach spirit, be tolerant of our guests, accept golf carts and bicyclers as part of the landscape.
Beach FanaticAuthor
#26
The tourists in the golf carts are renting the properties that keep income coming into this area. Without tourists this place will fall into financial ruin and our public places will too. Everyone is awful grumpy about the golf carts and the tourists, but you choose to live in a beach vacation destination. Golf carts are a wonderful device for carting all that beach stuff and families around, and yes for the driver they are fun to ride in, fresh air blowing through hair and sunshine on face. We locals do not get to have the roads to ourselves, the roads here are never going to be like the city you moved here from. This is a beach culture and the traffic reflects this fact. My advice is grow some beach spirit, be tolerant of our guests, accept golf carts and bicyclers as part of the landscape.
lol I don't think tourists come here for the carts.

And leave bicycles out of it please. The roads here should be better than city roads which means fewer signs.

Checking your forum account

Please wait while we verify your forum account.

New posts