Florida golf carts seem to increasing in popularity and a recent article from NBC revealed that many residents in Florida are starting to trade in cars for golf carts. The reason behind this seems to be because they are much cheaper to run than conventional gas-guzzlers because of the rising price of fuel.
Golf carts are fully street legal in Florida as long as they have a license plate, seat belts, a windsheild and headlights. Other requirements are a horn, rear view mirrors and special brakes. The vehicle must not weigh more than 2499 lbs and must not travel faster than 25mph on roads.
Although this list seems exhaustive at first glance, many of the features above are standard and included automatically upon purchase which is another driver for popularity of the golf carts. One resident explained the benefits of electric golf carts over cars:
Fuel prices are continuing to rise so electric golf carts are cheaper method to travel in Florida. On one charge it can travel 15 miles and we just plug it in when we get home for every day use.
Mark