Illinois

gornoman

Well-Known Member
HRC, there was a radio news story today that mentioned the town of Wheeling, IL (right next door to me) is going to allow golf carts to use village streets to run local errands and such. It also mentioned a few towns near Kankakee had allready started this. Who knows how far this could go in Illinois?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
That's good news...

I heard over the weekend that Braidwood Il. passed a law making golf carts legal there. Our cottage is in Braidwood so I'm hoping to find out more about it this weekend. From what I was told the new law makes the carts legal on all streets in Braidwood with a 35 mph or lower speed limit. The cart must have head lights, tail and brake lights, turn signals and a horn. A annual permit must be purchased for $35.00...
biggrin.gif
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
HRC, did you learn anything new about carts in Braidwood?

Is there a licensing procedure?

Any talk of the state getting involved?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
As far as I know it's a done deal. I'm hoping to get all the info on what the process is on getting permits for the carts. Right now neither one of my carts are ready. I need to add brake lights and turn signals to both of them.
Both of my carts have the premium light kits with the wires and dual element bulbs for the turn signals and brake lights so it's just a matter of getting the switches and wiring them up. I'll do that over the winter and be ready for next spring...
Have you heard any more about Wheeling?
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
No news on Wheeling, but I'v been pretty busy. We don't get the local paper so I would need to hit the Daily Herald, Pioneer Press, and Tribune websites for info.

I have seen TXT "factory" wiring harnesses for full lights sold on the web. That's gotta be the way to go on this stuff.
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
I'm thinking I'll use the 49 Chevy truck brake light switch like Andy and you have on your carts. I was thinking about using a factory harness. Do you remember where you saw them on the web?
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
Here is the latest on Wheeling, IL and the golf cart issue:

In short, they were only looking into the possibility of writing an ordinance. The police chief says it's a bad idea. Maybe I should drive the Z06 to village hall and educate the chief?
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Why do those damn police have to ruin everything...
tongue.gif
rotflmao.gif


They said they're worried about kids taking them out. If they enforce the law that shouldn't be a problem. They make a lot of excuses for why it's a bad idea but in my opinion the good out weighs the bad. I'm just glad our cottage is in a gated community and we can ride anywhere we please. There's hundreds of carts there driving on the roads and never any problems because of them.
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
Places I could drive my cart from my house without driving on a road with higher than a 35mph speed limit:

Jewel (grocery stor)
Dominick's (grocery store)
Post office
6 screen movie theater
Swimming pool
Liquor store
At least 15 parks, and 2 golf courses
Blockbuster
Village hall/police dept.
Culver's, Wendy's, McDonalds, Burger King
True Value hardware
School board meetings
Village board meetings
Bumpers (bar and billiards)
Church
Barber
Hawthorne Mall

The list is endless!
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
Same here Gorno. From home I can get to several adjacent towns without a speed limit over 35 MPH...

Out at Shadow Lakes I can only get to Braidwood once I go outside the gates. That would get me to the grocery store a couple fast food places a couple restaurants and a golf cart shop that I get parts from occasionally...
 

Andy4639

Member
If you have a Ezgo please don't use the cut ins. Those lights are worthless for seeing anything in the road, maybe up in the tree's. Buy the $20.00 lights at Advance or Auto zone and have some real lights.
thumbup.gif
thumbup.gif
thumbup.gif
thumbup.gif
 

Andy4639

Member
I have not seen a set yet that would help at night on these carts. I have installed extra lights on at least 100 carts because of it. Maybe it's something Grahams does when they install them. They have no adjustment either.
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
They look the same as the lights I use here. I use lights from Stretch Plastics and have never had a problem with them shining up in the air.
I also have them on both of my 99 TXT's and they work real good.

I've seen guys cut a little to high and when you raise the light up into the hole it will also tilt the light up. There's several companies who make lights that look the same as these but aren't. The Stretch Plastics kits are nice. The plastic bezels are much thicker than the cheaper lights, it would be nice if they were adjustable though. It looks like your brush guard may be in the path of the lights also.
dazed053.gif
 

gornoman

Well-Known Member
From the Chicago Tribune
Gas-sipping golf carts winning over small towns
By Steve Schmadeke | Chicago Tribune reporter
July 16, 2008

In Ashkum, Ill., Garry Lanoue and Jeannette Krutsinger test-drive one of his golf carts, which have been allowed on town streets since January to help drivers cut gas bills. (Tribune photo by Zbigniew Bzdak / June 17, 2008)



With gasoline topping $4 a gallon, retiree Carl Kaufman didn't see much point in filling up his Chevy truck just to get the mail and run errands in the small Iroquois County town where he has lived for more than 30 years.

So when Crescent City passed an ordinance last month allowing golf carts on its streets, Kaufman went out and bought one.

"I don't have to drive my truck around town anymore," he said recently. "It's been three weeks, and I'm still burning my first [5-gallon] tank."

Three Iroquois County burgs—Crescent City, Ashkum and Danforth—recently passed ordinances opening their streets to golf carts, and at least two other towns south of Kankakee were poised to enact similar laws. One of those towns, Gilman, scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday. Community leaders say their motives are mixed: They are acting in part to help residents cope with record gas prices, but also to regulate a mode of transport that has become more popular.



"We are going to look at it because the gas mileage on those [golf carts] makes the [Mini Cooper] look like a Hummer," said village manager Mark Rooney, who made clear that the heavily traveled state roads that traverse the town would make adopting an ordinance difficult.

Safety is a major concern. An 87-year-old man from Brook, Ind., died three weeks ago when the golf cart he was driving was struck on a state highway there, Newton County sheriff's police said. In both Illinois and Indiana, it's illegal to drive golf carts on a state road.

A study published this month found that golf-cart injuries have increased by an estimated 130 percent since 1990. About 15 percent of those injuries occurred on streets, said co-author Lara McKensie of the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio, who called the growth in golf-cart injuries "astounding."

Newly written ordinances in Iroquois County permit licensed drivers of golf carts that are outfitted with headlights, turn signals, brake lights and a reflective sign to roam on town streets that have speed limits no higher than 35 m.p.h. The carts are not supposed to go faster than 25 m.p.h., according to federal regulations.

In one town, Danforth, owners must also register their golf carts.

Illinois towns have been free to open their roads to golf carts since 1998, when state legislators passed an authorizing law over the objections of the Illinois Municipal League, which opposed it for safety reasons. At least 11 other states have similar laws, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Municipal League executive director Larry Frang said it has been rare for towns to give golf carts a green light. But, times have changed since 1998, when gasoline prices fell to $1.03 per gallon.

In Franklin County, the town of Sesser passed a golf-cart ordinance July 3, emulating nearby Breeze, said City Council Member Bob Woll. He said that it not only will help residents sick of high gas prices, but it also will save the town $600 a year by using a golf cart (Woll's) instead of a pickup to check water meters.

On Jan. 8, Ashkum (population 724, with no golf course) became the first Iroquois County town this year to change its ordinance.

Now even Mayor Paul Heideman, a gas-company supervisor, can be seen driving an electric cart seven blocks from his home to Assumption Catholic Church on Sundays. He said the town acted in part to keep youths from driving the carts, but gas prices were also on their minds. The first paragraph of their ordinance touts golf carts' "energy-efficient mobility."

"Whenever you get in the car, it's going to cost you," said Bob Mitchell, 79, who drives his green cart 2 miles from home to the Ashkum cemetery about every other day to water the geraniums on his wife's grave. He also gets his mail, buys groceries, picks his grandkids up from the bus stop and drives to the ballpark to watch their Little League games.

After commuting more than 80 miles each way to his job as a window installer in the Loop, the last thing Brad Perzee, 33, wants to do when he's home is get in his car. So about a month ago, the Ashkum resident bought an electric golf cart and now takes his two daughters, 4 and 7, on rides just about every night.

"I just wouldn't be driving around town otherwise," he said. "It's a relief to get on the golf cart and take a ride with the kids."

Garry Lanoue, who runs Ashkum's car repair shop, began selling golf carts about three months after the town's ordinance passed. He sold seven and keeps a copy of the law on hand for those who come in to take a look.

Lanoue, whose blue work shirt is monogrammed "Grumpy," says the carts have made Ashkum a friendlier place.

"You drive around and everybody waves at you—it just makes a whole lot friendlier community," said Lanoue, who lives outside town and drives his cart on weekends. "You stop and talk to your neighbor, where normally you'd drive by. We [were] riding the other day and we stopped at three different houses—we'd have never stopped there otherwise."

Although the carts appeal to residents as a way to save on gas, their upfront costs—prices start at about $2,000—can put them out of reach. Karen Edwards, who works at the food mart, sees at least five people a week load groceries onto their golf carts and wouldn't mind having one, but the price tag makes it impractical.

"It's one of those things where you have to have the money," she said.

Mayor Paul Price of Gilman, the largest community to consider the ordinance so far, believes the town will adopt it, but thinks it might backfire. The three-person police force tolerates the four or so residents who drive carts now, he said. But once the ordinance is passed, he can see neighbors ratting each other out for driving a cart that isn't up to standards.

"It only takes two or three people to cause misery," he said. "Everybody knows everybody here."

[email protected]
 

HotRodCarts

Cartaholic
It's good to see more towns in Illinois considering making the golf carts street legal. My parents live 5 minutes from Crescent City and most of the small towns out that way already drive golf carts and just about anything on the streets. The town they live in doesn't have police. Iroquois county police are supposed to patrol their town but I've never seen a cop out there.
biggrin.gif
 
Top