[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

Agreed about the dangerous situation. But even on the MMPs there are a lot of dangerous situations caused by cart drivers who are ignorant of how carts handle, or of the law, or both.

In my opinion people who may have driven cars all their lives but are suddenly driving a cart in an environment with a whole lot of other carts are suddenly playing a game that they think they're familiar with, but aren't. Golf carts are NOT cars and do not handle like one. For one thing golf carts have a high CG and a narrow (and short) wheelbase. It doesn't take much to roll one: a couple of seconds worth of inattention or hitting a turn at too high a speed can upend you even if another cart, or person, is not involved. Another thing is that those one-cylinder four cycle engines don't accelerate well. Many times we've seen one cart try to pass another, where the cart being passed is going only slightly slower than the passer, and because of the slow acceleration and/or top speed you end up with two carts abreast for far too long. I've had to take the grass more than once to avoid two carts bearing down on me.

Second is the ignorance of the laws and rules regarding cart use. Snowbird season is coming and it is a guarantee that TV will be flooded with people who THINK they know how to operate a cart within the law, but don't. We'll see it here in TOTV. We always do; folks expounding on their version of how carts must be operated that very often are not just advertisements for their ignorance but if engaged in, endanger not only them but others as well.

Remedies? Why not, when the snowbirds pick up their gate cards or IDs, mandate a short video on how to operate a cart in the Villages environs? There are other things that could be done too, but won't be.

I agree in the 2nd paragraph about the high center of gravity for GASOLINE golf carts. The batteries in the E-carts keep the CG lower. Plus less pollution. And in the last sentence, I interpret the idea that there needs to be better enforcement of the Florida law about Golf Carts having a max speed of 20 MPH (and not the 30 or 35 reached when the governor is illegally jacked up.) This is a situation where local LAW enforcement could save local lives.
.........Also, the people who put bigger wheels on their golf carts INCREASE the CG and that makes a vehicle meant for low-speed golf courses into a vehicle likely to overturn around a corner.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I agree, but cars are larger and heavier, and they are equipped with thousands of dollars worth of mandated safety features.

The automobiles likely have a lower CG than a gasoline golf cart. Their suspensions are designed better than a golf cart - and the exhaust systems of the larger engine cars and trucks are QUIETER than most gas golf carts - that is the final insult to golf cart buyers by the manufacturers!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Altavia

Probably would not make much difference but I've wondered why stop signs are not installed at the gates?

That would help and be very LOGICAL. But SOMEHOW (?) the rules / laws about the color, the small size, and the no flags have been handed down on a stone tablet by some traffic DIETY!

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I realize this is confusing, but golf carts don't ALWAYS have to yield the right of way (just most of the time). When on a roadway where they are permitted, a golf cart is considered a vehicle under the law (so is a bicycle). So, let's just move this away from a gate crossing and into a residential neighborhood. A golf cart arrives at a 4 way stop sign intersection 2 seconds before a car----the golf cart has the right of way, NOT the car. Same is true of a bicycle. Another example----a golf cart is in the bike and cart lane approaching a merge point and has a 150 foot lead on a car----the cart may merge---he is NOT cutting off the car and is NOT required to yield. In fact, most signs in the merge zone require cars to slow to 20, which if obeyed would never allow a car to close the distance on a cart going 20. Of course we all know this is not what happens---most of the time the car driver speeds up to 40 to beat the cart to the merge (Usually the same driver that gives a single finger to a car driver that does the same thing to him when HE is the one in the cart)

Now, back to the gate crossing. WHEN there is a stop sign for cars, this is now a 4 way stop and the vehicle arriving first (or furthest right in the case of a tie) has the right of way (in theory)---Also something that we all know doesn't happen. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the stop sign for cars is only occasionally present. I suppose if they put up permanent stop signs at all gates it would be clear (maybe). The worst are those gate crossings where the visibility of oncoming cars is blocked by shrubbery or the gate house and the gate is removed. Inch forward carefully, since even if there is a stop sign and even if you have the right of way, you might end up being dead right.

When the normal functioning gate is in the heavy shade of a large tree, that gate is difficult to see. It is THIN and white with small RED painted lines. Hasn't it been proven that ORANGE has better visibility than RED? Hunters used to wear RED and now they often (due to laws) wear ORANGE vests. I am sure that someone else has pointed this out, but I KNOW that in dark shade from large trees, those gates are hard to see........and if the drivers are daydreaming.....then SPLAT, there goes another gate.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by djlnc

I wonder how bad emissions are from the carts. We might see new requirements slapped on them like most gas powered machines, bumping the cost up even more.

I worry about that. When I am outside and an older gas cart or a loud one with its governor jacked up goes by.......after about 7 car lengths past me, the smell is like that of an open container of gas. Gas golf cars have NO catalytic converter, a minimal suspension system, and a high center of gravity. Probably, the brakes are pathetic also, I am not sure.

[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by Lisanp@aol.com

Aren't these "Golf Carts of the Future" available today under the name Smart Car? Not exactly a "smart" option on an interstate, IMO. However, there are many foreign cities that have restricted zones in the city center where only electric (or low emission) vehicles are permitted. I find these fume free locations delightful to spend time in.

US citizens do NOT like the idea that Europe and other areas actually are more modern and thoughtful than we are.

[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

US citizens do NOT like the idea that Europe and other areas actually are more modern and thoughtful than we are.

Having just returned from 2 weeks in Europe, I can unequivocally state that is total BS

[Altavia]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

I hate golf carts, especially gas ones. That’s why we own three of them and almost never drive a car when at our Villages home. Sometimes I take the car out for a quick spin, just to circulate some fresh gas through the fuel delivery system, when it hasn’t been started for four or five weeks.

LOL!!!

Yep, over 75,000 golf carts in the Villages but the ten people who hate then have to post here...

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Altavia

LOL!!!

Yep, over 75,000 golf carts in the Villages but the ten people who hate then have to post here...

There may be 75,000 golf carts in The Villages, but most of them are not being used except maybe to play golf. Perfect weather today in the low 80's. But at Colony Plaza and at the rec center I visited, less than 5 percent of the vehicles parked there were golf carts.

[JMintzer]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

When the normal functioning gate is in the heavy shade of a large tree, that gate is difficult to see. It is THIN and white with small RED painted lines. Hasn't it been proven that ORANGE has better visibility than RED? Hunters used to wear RED and now they often (due to laws) wear ORANGE vests. I am sure that someone else has pointed this out, but I KNOW that in dark shade from large trees, those gates are hard to see........and if the drivers are daydreaming.....then SPLAT, there goes another gate.

So, after living in TV for 15 years, you haven't figured out that there is a gate at the gate houses (or just past the "little red button") and that you're supposed to stop?

[DonH57]

Originally Posted by JMintzer

So, after living in TV for 15 years, you haven't figured out that there is a gate at the gate houses (or just past the "little red button") and that you're supposed to stop?

LOL. We've lived here 10 years. I know where all the gates are and I haven't been surprised by a relocated one yet!

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

Do you scream as well????

The two trips over the 441 bridge I took to the Historic side, I screamed "Weeeeeeeee" all the way from one side to the other. I do love roller coasters so maybe that's why my inner child came out.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by vintageogauge

Most golf cars do not have AC, I bought a new Yamaha when we moved here, I don't golf, didn't find riding around in the heat very comfortable, had several near accidents that would not have been my fault, got rid of it and don't miss it at all. I would much prefer to be in a car with AC to go where ever I feel like going. For golf, there are rentals available.

There may come a time when we all have to face the fact that we must hand over our car keys. The best thing about the golf cart lifestyle in The Villages is you can still maintain independence when you give up driving your automotive vehicle AKA car, SUV, Truck, etc. That is the beauty of The Villages, drive a golf cart to just about everywhere that is essential in your life such as grocery shopping, doctor's offices, rec centers and the squares for entertainment, etc.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by djlnc

Every once in a while, you'll see someone waving on someone who does not have the right of way. This could be at a gate entrance when the cart has a stop sign and the car doesn't and the car waves the cart ahead, or at an intersection where opposing cars are stopped, one car signals for a left turn and the oncoming driver waves them ahead.

This is all very neighborly, but puts the driver who does not have the right of way in a precarious legal position if something happens. (And it gets drivers into a bad habit of proceeding when they don't have the right of way.)

I have said this before on this forum but I will say again.......When I'm in my golf cart, waiting to proceed at a gate, I will not make eye contact with any car as they approach the gate. This way, they will proceed through the gate and not try to "wave me on". I make my point........I, in the golf cart, DO NOT have right of way.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by golfing eagles

I think we both have speculated and opinionated enough, so here are THE FACTS, from the Florida Statutes:

First: definition of a "highway:

(53) STREET OR HIGHWAY.—
(a) The entire width between the boundary lines of every way or place of whatever nature when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular traffic;
(b) The entire width between the boundary lines of any privately owned way or place used for vehicular travel by the owner and those having express or implied permission from the owner, but not by other persons, or any limited access road owned or controlled by a special district, whenever, by written agreement entered into under s. 316.006(2)(b) or (3)(b), a county or municipality exercises traffic control jurisdiction over said way or place;

So, by legal definition by the State of Florida, a MMP IS a "highway" since it is public and carries "vehicular traffic"(carts, cycles, even scooters)

Next, the definition of an intersection:

17) INTERSECTION.—
(a) The area embraced within the prolongation or connection of the lateral curblines; or, if none, then the lateral boundary lines of the roadways of two highways which join one another at, or approximately at, right angles; or the area within which vehicles traveling upon different highways joining at any other angle may come in conflict.

So, again by definition by the State of Florida, the meeting of an MMP and the "car" road, even at a gate crossing is an intersection.

So finally, :

(b) At a four-way stop intersection, the driver of the first vehicle to stop at the intersection shall be the first to proceed. If two or more vehicles reach the four-way stop intersection at the same time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle on the right.

So in conclusion, again, according to THE LAW, an MMP is a "highway", where it crosses at a gate is an "intersection" and the first to arrive, EVEN IF A GOLF CART OR BICYCLE, has the right of way. PERIOD.

OMG.....all these years I have been driving a golf cart and a car here in The Villages, I did not know golf carts have the right of way if the cart arrives at the gate first. I was told that the car always has right of way at the gates. Hmmmmm.