Wednesday, June 25, 2003
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Wednesday, June 25, 2003 |
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PTC cops delay enforcing ban on under-16 golf cart drivers By JOHN MUNFORD
Peachtree City will be getting a second legal opinion on whether state law requires golf cart drivers to have a state driver's license, which would exclude youngsters currently allowed to drive the carts under a city ordinance. For now, police aren't enforcing the restrictions, which were brought on by a recent appeals court ruling that states anyone driving a golf cart on a "public highway" must have a valid driver's license to do so. The law defines "public highway" as any publicly improved way, which applies to roads, streets and golf cart paths, according to Solicitor General Steve Harris. City Attorney Ted Meeker has asked Attorney General Thurbert Baker for an opinion on the matter, said Police Chief James Murray. Until that opinion comes back, police officers won't be "enforcing" the restrictions because of some confusion about how the state law is applied, Murray said. "We're just waiting to see what the final word is," Murray said. He recommends, however, that citizens abide by the recent interpretation of the state law. The recent ruling shouldn't surprise Peachtree City officials, who were warned about the ramifications of the case by Harris before the original case went to trial in January 2002. Harris said he notified Rick Lindsey, who was city attorney at the time, "so they could join in on any appeal to the Court of Appeals." Lindsey said he had warned the city council on several occasions that there was a possibility the appeals court could rule that driver's licenses are required to drive a golf cart. "We knew that was a risk," Lindsey said. "We've known it for years. ... Hopefully the legislature will address it because that's where it's got to come from." Harris noted that his office has prosecuted many other traffic cases involving golf carts, including DUIs and suspended licenses, which were involved in the case that was appealed to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Meeker was unavailable for comment. Even if Baker decides a license is required to drive a golf cart, citizens would be given a period of time to comply and the city will do an information blitz to get the word out, Murray said. And if licenses are necessary, Murray said he expects most citizens will abide by the decision. "What we actually have here is voluntary compliance," Murray said. "I have great faith that 97 to 98 percent of the citizens will comply with the law." The department also doesn't have the manpower to saturate the cart paths with officers to enforce the age restrictions, Murray noted. "We have much bigger fish to fry answering alarms and responding to accidents with injuries," Murray said. "It would be a serious drain on our manpower to enforce it all the time." An officer who stops a child for violating age restrictions could be tied up for two or more hours since the child can't be allowed to drive the golf cart home and a parent or guardian must be summoned to the scene to pick up the child and/or golf cart, Murray said. The department conducts some surveillance on the golf cart paths at night to curtail vandalism, Murray noted. Murray said a license requirement for golf cart drivers would hurt senior citizens and handicapped residents who depend on golf carts as their sole mode of transportation around town. "It would be an extreme hardship on them," Murray said. One solution would be to create a separate tier of licensing just for golf carts, the chief suggested. Ruling riles teens Katie Costello, 15, and Casey Langbehn, also 15, both attend McIntosh High School and planned to drive their family's cart to school. Langbehn said he planned to do so even after he turned 16 because parking spaces will be at a premium thanks to the expansion of the school's gym. "All last year I drove to school," Langbehn said. Costello said her parents bought a golf cart so they could put off buying her a full-fledged car. Most of the students who used the new golf-cart parking lot at McIntosh last year were 15 years old, Costello said. The parking lot was created to relieve overcrowding on a nearby street after the Peachtree City City Council decided to allow 15-year-olds with valid driver's license learners permits to drive golf carts unchaperoned.
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