Michigan Golf Carts on Streets: the 65,000 Population Opt-In

The population test is the whole mechanism, and it is measured against the most recent federal decennial census rather than a current estimate. Under MCL 257.657a(1) a village or city with fewer than 65,000 individuals may by resolution allow golf carts on its streets, and a township under the same ceiling may do the same unless the county board of commissioners disapproves. That threshold was 30,000 from 2014 until 2026 PA 73, Enrolled House Bill 4644, was filed with the Secretary of State on 27 July 2026 with immediate effect, so communities in the 30,000 to 65,000 band, places such as Midland, Portage and East Lansing, became eligible only in mid 2026 and each still has to pass its own resolution before a cart may use its streets. Nothing happens automatically on reaching the threshold.

The township route carries a county veto that cities and villages do not face. MCL 257.657a(3) lets a county board of commissioners disapprove golf cart operation on a township's streets by resolution, but only after it conducts a hearing and finds that the operation would cause significant environmental damage or a significant concern of public safety. Subsection (4) requires the board to give public notice of that hearing at least 45 days beforehand and to give the township written notice on the same 45 day timetable.

A community that opts in gets one administrative power and a hard limit on it. MCL 257.657a(2) allows it to require carts and their operators to be recorded on a list it maintains, and forbids charging any fee for that listing, so Michigan cart communities run free registers rather than paid permits. Subsection (12) lets a local ordinance require use of a designated golf cart path adjacent to a street, and subsection (15) lets the local body designate roads or classifications of roads for cart use by resolution.

The operating rules are statewide and are not adjustable downward by the community that adopted the scheme. The operator must be at least 16 years old and licensed to operate a motor vehicle, MCL 257.657a(5). Speed is capped at 15 miles per hour and the cart may not use a state trunk line highway or any road posted above 30 miles per hour except to cross it, subsection (15). Subsection (16) bans operation from 1/2 hour before sunset to 1/2 hour after sunrise, which is why Michigan cart towns are daytime-only even in July. Riders must keep as near to the right side of the roadway as practicable, subsection (7), must give the turn and stop signals required by section 648, subsection (6), may not use a pedestrian sidewalk, subsection (14), and may not pass between lines of traffic, subsection (13), though they may pass in an unoccupied lane on the same terms motorcyclists get under MCL 257.660(5). No crash helmet is required in a golf cart, subsection (17), and under subsection (20) a cart operated on local streets under the section is not required to be registered for purposes of section 3101 of the insurance code, MCL 500.3101, so Michigan no-fault registration does not attach.

State trunk line highways are a separate and much narrower permission, and they are where the old 30,000 figure survives. MCL 257.657a(8) bars carts from trunk lines except to cross by the most direct line. Subsection (9) opens the one route around that: a local unit of government with a population of not more than 30,000 that has already adopted an ordinance under subsection (1) may ask the Michigan Department of Transportation to authorise a specific trunk line that is not an interstate or a freeway, and MDOT must solicit local comment and decide within 60 days. Subsection (10) limits what it may approve to a trunk line that is the only connection between parts of the community and that either provides access to tourist attractions, food service, fuel, motels or other services, joins two segments of the same county road on discontinuous town lines, or carries a bridge or culvert over water or a gully carts cannot otherwise cross. Subsection (11) lets MDOT close an authorised trunk line again on not less than 30 days' written notice to the local clerk stating specific reasons.

A low-speed vehicle is a different animal in Michigan and is not covered by section 657a. MCL 257.25b defines it as a self-propelled motor vehicle conforming to 49 CFR 571.3(b) and meeting the federal standard at 49 CFR 571.500, so it is a factory-built vehicle with lights, mirrors, seat belts and a VIN. Being a motor vehicle it falls under MCL 257.216(1) and must be titled and registered before it is driven on a street or highway, with no local resolution needed anywhere in the state. MCL 257.660(8) caps it at 25 miles per hour and bars it from roads posted above 35 miles per hour except to cross, and lets MDOT prohibit low-speed vehicles on any highway under its jurisdiction in the interest of public safety; MCL 257.660(7) keeps it off pedestrian sidewalks. Michigan then adds a requirement most states do not: MCL 257.658b(1) requires a person operating or riding in a low-speed vehicle to wear a crash helmet meeting the Department of State Police rules under section 658, unless subsection (2) applies because the vehicle has a roof meeting the roof-crush resistance standards of 49 CFR 571.500. A golf cart driver in a village that opted in wears nothing on their head; the same person in an open low-speed vehicle on the same street must wear a helmet.

A community may narrow the gap between the two by ordinance. MCL 257.657a(21) defines a golf cart simply as a vehicle designed for transportation while playing the game of golf, then lets a village, city or township require a cart registered in its jurisdiction to meet any or all of eleven low-speed vehicle safety standards as a condition of approval, running from two headlamps under section 685 and a tail lamp under section 686 through mirrors, a parking brake under section 705, a horn under section 706, a windshield under section 708a, a permanently affixed manufacturer's identification number, safety belts under sections 710a and 710e, and finally the section 658b helmet rules. That last item means a Michigan community can impose the helmet requirement on carts even though the statute itself does not.

Section 657a carries no civil infraction designation, and neither does section 660, which governs low-speed vehicles. 901(1) applies: it is a misdemeanor to violate the Vehicle Code unless the violation is declared a felony or a civil infraction. 00, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both. Driving a cart on a street in a Michigan community that never adopted a resolution, running one after sunset, putting an unlicensed 15 year old at the wheel, or taking one onto a trunk line without an MDOT authorisation are therefore criminal matters in the district court rather than mailed-in tickets.

657a(19) exempts a police officer in the performance of official duties from the whole section. 907(2)(a) with costs up to $100 and a $40 justice system assessment. 3101 registration for no-fault purposes, a cart crash also sits outside the personal injury protection system that covers an ordinary Michigan collision, which is the practical risk owners most often overlook.