Like bicycles, allow golf carts on Florida sidewalks, side streets, crosswalks

I don't understand the problem of golf carts using side streets, sidewalks and crosswalks. As an avid bicyclist, I've done all.

The danger is greater for me as I present a smaller visual target and have no structure to protect me. Golf carts are more visible than cyclists. Researching car/bicycle accidents vs. car/golf cart collisions should be revealing.

I understand the safety issue with golf carts using sidewalks. I always yield to pedestrians while on sidewalks on my bicycle and I trust golf cart users do also.

I hope I won't be required to carry insurance and registration in order to ride my bicycle. But as a motorcyclist, I do indeed need to register my motorcycle, and I am allowed to use any designated parking space.

Would it be any different if I occupied a "valuable parking space" with my motorcycle than if I used that same parking space to park my truck? It's not the vehicle that's shopping; it's the occupant(s) arriving in it.

As far as safety is concerned, golf carts present little if any danger. My truck far outweighs any golf cart and its passengers.

Given a choice to be hit by a car or a golf cart as a bicyclist or pedestrian, I'll take the golf cart. Bicycles are considered vehicles as per obeying the rules of the road and bicycle operators are required to follow traffic laws.

The only exemption for bikes and golf carts should be sidewalk and crosswalk use for safety reasons. So where or how do we draw the line?

Until we can present concrete safety issues concerning golf carts, I see no reason to deny them the same privilege I enjoy on my bicycle, so long as safety for pedestrians remains priority.

Gerrard Wilbur

Bradenton

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Like bicycles, allow golf carts on Florida sidewalks, side streets, crosswalks ."