There will be no golf-cart hot-rodding in Peachtree City without a seat belt.

If your golf cart is a 15-mile-an-hour slowpoke, don't worry. But if you want a "neighborhood vehicle" for travel at more than 20 mph, it will have to have seat belts, turn signals, parking brakes and a host of other equipment.

Federal standards enacted this summer by the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration make it mandatory that a "golf car" that fast has to have the same equipment as other "on road" vehicles.

The faster carts, amounting to small electric-powered cars, have been reclassified as "low-speed vehicles." The NHTSA "final rule" on the subject says the 20-25-mph carts are already being used "on road" in some retirement communities, and the lack of safety equipment has contributed to deaths and injuries in crashes.

Peachtree City Police Chief Jim Murray says the department is aware of the new standards and has tested its own "NEV" (neighborhood vehicle) in the city.

"What we found," he said, "is that our cart paths are not designed for speeds of 20 and 25 miles an hour. The average cart here goes about 18 mph, downhill. We don't have a golf cart speed limit." But the city does permit use of the carts on certain streets and roads, he said.

The federal ruling document said that some states like California and Florida are approving legislation allowing municipalities to let low-speed vehicles on regular streets. Other requirements for the "faster" four-wheelers include headlights, tail lights, rearview mirrors, windshields and identification (VIN) numbers.

There is already state legislation specifically for Peachtree City's use of golf carts, Murray said. Any changes in whether the slower-speed vehicles would have to be similarly equipped would be made on the state level, he added.

Gordy Wright, a public information officer with the Georgia Department of Public Safety, says there is new emphasis on seat-belt use in all vehicles through the "Strap and Snap" enforcement program begun this week.