New York Registers Low-Speed Vehicles but Not Golf Carts

The chain of definitions matters here, because it is what decides whether a four-wheeled cart may leave private property in New York. Under § 125 a motor vehicle is every vehicle operated or driven on a public highway propelled by any power other than muscular power, and the six exceptions the section lists are mobility assistance devices for people with disabilities, electric personal assistive mobility devices outside a city of one million or more, rail vehicles, snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, bicycles with electric assist and electric scooters. Golf carts are not on that list, so a golf cart driven on a New York street is a motor vehicle, and § 401(1)(a) provides that no motor vehicle shall be operated or driven upon the public highways of this state without first being registered.

Article 48-A is the registration route a slow vehicle has to take. Section 121-c defines a limited use vehicle as a motor vehicle with a maximum performance speed of not more than 40 miles per hour as defined in § 122-b, and § 122-b is the sticking point: maximum performance speed is the greatest speed the vehicle can attain and maintain under conditions prescribed by the Commissioner at the time of manufacture, as certified by the manufacturer and filed with and accepted by the Commissioner. The certification travels with the vehicle and, the section adds, remains as certified regardless of any modification made afterward. A golf cart built for a course has no such certification on file with New York DMV, which is why the DMV's guidance on unregistered vehicles tells owners a golf cart cannot be registered or driven on streets, highways, parking lots or other areas open to public motor vehicle traffic, while a similar-looking vehicle that meets federal motor vehicle safety standard 500 and appears on DMV's list of approved limited use vehicles can be.

The low-speed vehicle is that approved look-alike. Section 121-f defines it as a limited use automobile with a maximum performance speed greater than 20 but not greater than 25 miles per hour, or a truck in the same speed band with a gross vehicle weight rating under 3,000 pounds, and requires that all such vehicles comply with the safety standards established in 49 C.F.R. 571.500. That federal standard is what forces headlamps, stop lamps, turn signals, mirrors, a parking brake, a windshield and seat belts onto the vehicle, and it is the reason a cart bought at a golf course cannot simply be re-badged.

Operation is then capped by § 2262(4). No person shall operate a low-speed vehicle on any public highway with a speed limit in excess of 35 miles per hour, except that the vehicle may cross such a highway where it intersects with a highway posted at 35 or less. A local authority or the Department of Transportation may also prohibit low-speed vehicles on a given highway in the interest of public safety. Section 2262(2) adds that a limited use vehicle registration is not valid for operation in violation of any state or local law adopted under Title VIII of the chapter restricting limited use vehicles, and not valid on a controlled-access highway except on a bridge, tunnel or portion specifically designated for limited use vehicles by the authority with jurisdiction over it.

The rest of Article 48-A treats a registered low-speed vehicle much like a car. The applicant must be at least 16 years old, and registration fees for a limited use automobile are the same as if the vehicle were registered under § 401, in contrast to the flat $6.25 annual fee § 2261(3)(b) sets for a limited use motorcycle. Section 2265 subjects a limited use automobile to the equipment requirements applicable to a passenger motor vehicle, to the inspection requirements of Article 5, and to the insurance provisions of Articles 6, 7 and 8. Section 2264 requires the assigned plate or plates to be displayed at all times the vehicle is on a public highway, and § 2268 forecloses a workaround by providing that a vehicle primarily designed to be propelled by human power is not entitled to registration as a limited use vehicle merely because a motor was added.

Section 2262(3) makes it an offense to operate a limited use vehicle on a public highway where such operation is not permitted by that section, and because Article 48-A sets no fine of its own the general rule in Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1800 applies: a traffic infraction punishable on a first conviction by a fine of not more than $150 or imprisonment for not more than 15 days, rising to not more than $300 on a second violation within 18 months and not more than $450 on a third.

Repeat offenders lose the registration. Under § 2263 all registrations issued to a registrant under Article 48-A may be revoked where the holder is convicted of a second or subsequent violation of § 2262(3) committed within a period of 12 months, and once revoked no new limited use vehicle registration may be issued to that person for one year from the date of the revocation. Driving an unregistrable golf cart on a New York street is a different and simpler charge: it is operation of an unregistered motor vehicle under § 401(1)(a).

Because § 2265 applies Articles 6, 7 and 8 to limited use vehicles, an uninsured low-speed vehicle also exposes its owner to the financial security consequences that follow any uninsured car in New York, and a golf cart on the road is unlikely to be covered by any auto policy at all.