Sunday, December 1, 2002

PTC police to hold educational meeting on new golf cart rules

The Peachtree City Police Department will host a special meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at the McIntosh High School media center to educate the public about the city's new golf cart ordinances and regulations.

Organizers plan to conduct the meeting as an open forum so the public can ask questions as necessary. Parents, students, teachers and concerned citizens are encouraged to attend.

In August, the City Council voted to allow 15-year-olds to drive golf carts unchaperoned as long as they have a valid Georgia learners permit. A later restriction was adopted that allows the 15-year-old drivers to have one unrelated passenger who is at least 15 also or no more than three immediate family members, which allows them to drive their siblings on the cart.

The city received a number of complaints in the following months about reckless driving on the cart path, but the police department asked if it could work to educate the public on the regulations before council enacted strict penalties for violating the rules.

Council also enacted several safety related rules in September, including:

No one may sit in the driver's lap while the cart is moving;

No one is allowed to stand on the golf cart while it is in operation; and

Anyone who has had their driver's license suspended or revoked cannot drive a golf cart on the streets or path system.

While they are operated on city streets, golf carts must follow the same rules of the road as other motor vehicles, according to city officials.

Council also changed the golf cart ordinance to allow grandparents to chaperone cart drivers between 12 and 14 years old. Previously only parents and legal guardians were allowed to chaperone the younger drivers.

John Munford



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