[fishpen0]

Coming from San Diego and moving to Boston has been a hilarious ride. In San Diego pockets of people in every neighborhood own literal battery powered golf carts and use them to drive to grocery stores and such. These things are perfect for the streets of Boston, small, easily maneuvered into small spaces. Instead they are illegal in MA with only very specific exceptions for park services and other municipal works departments.

Every time I ask about it people jump all over “they aren’t safe on the highway”. Okay cool. If you own a golf cart in SD, it’s illegal to drive it on the highway. Problem solved right? I mean we have mopeds, motorcycles, literal bicycles sharing all these streets too. Certainly golf carts and kei trucks can have a special license plate for non highway vehicles?

[chung8123]

It is a bit weird. Why do cars have to meet a certain safety standard and motorcycles do not? I try to wrap the logic in my brain and intuitively it makes sense but logically it does not (which is why we see developers making "motorcycle" class cars).

I wonder if we are headed towards of path of two different road systems with ebikes, golf cars, bikes, etc on a separate roadway.

[sidewndr46]

I've always considered it an open secret that the motorcycle industry in the US doesn't get the same kind of scrutiny that the automobile industry does. If they had to comply with even a shred of the same emissions & safety regulations it would instantly destroy the market.

[nytesky]

People feel pretty safe in a golf cart, it’s stable and goes slowly, let’s toss in the kids and grandpa.

Then they get rear ended by a one ton SUV or even just hit a pole at 25 mph and it’s fatalities all around.

Agreed a separate golf cart/e-bike line may make sense, but you need wide adoption to justify that much dedicated lanes. People won’t necessarily buy a several thousand dollar vehicle just to run local errands, especially in Boston when it’s a 2 season vehicle

[hippich]

To me personally it appears that difference in speed is a key to safety it the lack of it. Hence I feel comfortable traveling on motorcycle next to car (relatively of course), but I would not dare do the same on bicycle or golf cart on highway. May be the logic here is the same?

[xnx]

In other parts of the country (south and southeast) Side-By-Sides/UTVs are used the same way as golf carts are used as you describe. Motorcycles are allowed and small cars are not because small cars pose a huge threat to the auto-industry.

[rented_mule]

I believe UTVs are illegal everywhere on paved roads and even on some government maintained dirt roads in California. But I live in a rural part of California where several of us drive them (or ATVs) around town. Occasionally someone will mention getting pulled over and warned (I haven't heard of a ticket). But you rarely see law enforcement driving around our town at all.

I've been in an even more remote part of California, where I was riding my UTV for a few hundred yards on a 55 MPH paved road to get back to my car/trailer after riding in the dirt all day. It was California State Route 182 in Mono County (population density: 4.2/sq mi). A local sheriff saw me and followed me to my car. I was certain I was getting a ticket. He started by asking where I'd ridden and what my favorite parts were. Based on that, he shared some other places nearby that I might like to ride and told me which paved roads I can use to get between them. As he left, he told me to have fun.

[euroderf]

How tough can it be to specify what is allowed on the highway and what is not ? How 'bout some big signs like

"Minimum speed 40 MPH. 3 wheels or more requires airbags."

[Symbiote]

That's what the motorway sign (the divided road under a bridge) sign means.

[AlexandrB]

> “they aren’t safe on the highway”

This seems so dubious. Safe for whom? If we're talking about the driver, how are motorcycles legal? If we're talking about other highway users, then I'd rather be hit by a kei car than a lifted mega-pickup with wheels sticking out 6" beyond the body.

[lupusreal]

> If we're talking about the driver

Obviously.

> how are motorcycles legal?

They're popular with a fairly large portion of the American public who view them as a lifestyle they are committed to, banning them for any reason would be political suicide.

[thanksgiving]

> lifted mega-pickup

Speaking of which, it blows my mind that it is legal to lift your truck.