As summer vacations wind down and the weather (with any luck) begins to cool a bit, it seems the perfect time of year for families and college students to hop in the ol’ golf cart for a quick trek around Charleston.
And lots of folks seem to agree as streets are full of more golf carts than ever.
“They’re definitely becoming more popular,” said Charleston Police Sgt. Christopher Stinson. “We’re seeing more and more of them these days.”
And he’s not the only one.
“I see more than anybody and I’ve seen more than ever,” said Charleston City Councilman Mike Seekings, whose district covers parts of downtown Charleston, including the Battery.
Seekings chalks the numbers up to the ease of storage, convenience and high maneuverability on tight downtown streets for the growing numbers. But, he said, people may be more hesitant to switch their cars out for carts if they really understood how dangerous they can be.
In cart versus car, car will always win
Golf carts lack many of the safety features that traditional motor vehicles have — from sturdier frames to seat belts.
“They are not safe on the streets, period,” Seekings said. “They have very limited protections for people in them.”
Charleston County residents may remember the 2023 Folly Beach tragedy in which a newlywed bride died after the cart she was in got hit by a car. The incident rocked the Lowcountry for weeks, and the driver of the vehicle that rear-ended the just-wed couple’s cart was released from jail March 1, 2024 on house arrest.
“Carts are just built to be out of traffic, not in it, and in an incident between a car and a golf cart, the car is going to win every time,” Seekings said.
That’s why there are rules and regulations in place to help keep cart operators safe when sharing the road with heavier, stronger vehicles. Unfortunately, it’s clear to anyone who encounters carts on a street that many of their drivers have the maxim that rules are made to be broken.
All the same rules, plus
The S.C. Department of Public Safety (DPS) governs the South Carolina laws for golf carts, but the first thing to note is that all golf carts are considered motor vehicles subject to the same laws and regulations as any other:
- They must be insured.
- A driver has to have a valid license (so no 10-year-olds).
- They can’t be driven on a sidewalk.
- If they are parked at a meter, the driver will have to pay.
“When you’re driving a golf cart, legally, on the roadway, you need to operate it as if you were driving a car,” said Nicholos Pye, a community relations officer for the S.C. Highway Patrol. “You’re in traffic, so you don’t drive on the wrong side of the road, you don’t drive while using your cell phone, and you definitely don’t drive while you’re under the influence.”
And on top of those rules, golf carts have a few more restrictions. Golf carts:
- Must have a state permit decal displayed but do not have to have license plate
- Can only be driven within four miles of the driver’s home
- Can only be operated on roads with a posted speed limit of 35 mph or less
- Can only be operated during daylight hours
- Cannot be parked in Charleston garages, unless an emergency order is declared
- Cannot be used for commercial purposes in Charleston, such as a taxi
No nighttime driving
“The one I see violated the most is daylight hours,” Seekings said. “I see these carts operating at night regularly, and as days get shorter, I’m sure we’ll see more of them,” he said. “The thing I’ve seen that’s really crazy is people driving with young children in their laps, unsecured; whole families with dogs; and people driving with alcohol in their hand.”
Seekings said rules for golf carts exist for a reason.
“If you’re going to drive a cart, please just be safe,” he said. “The whole idea of operating them on city streets needs extra vigilance from the operator, the passenger and all the people who put the rules out there.”
Stinson added that when people are informed about the rules, they’re at much less of a risk of getting hurt.
“As long as they are being operated correctly, I don’t see them as a significant issue or safety concern,” the sergeant said. “When people do all of these things, they’re perfectly safe.”
Could things change?
The city of Charleston already has several ordinances that restrict golf cart usage, such as parking limitations and commercial use restrictions. Elsewhere in the state, cities are taking a page out of the Holy City’s playbook to crack down on carts.
In Columbia, for example, a recently proposed ordinance would outlaw the use of golf carts as taxis, citing the difficulty of enforcement for existing laws for the reason behind the change. That difficulty is seen in Charleston, too.
It’s really easy to find someone operating a golf cart, but it’s hard to determine if it’s within four miles of their home, for example, Seekings said.
Seekings added he would like to see stricter enforcement of the rules already in place before more restrictions are discussed. He also said it would be difficult for city officials to put more rules in place, due to the bizarre relationship between Charleston and the state Department of Transportation and their jigsaw-puzzle roads.
“It all just comes down to common sense,” Pye said. “If something doesn’t seem safe, it probably isn’t.”
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