Rhode Island Gives Registered Electric Low-Speed Vehicles a Right to 35 MPH Roads, But Golf Carts Do Not Qualify

Rhode Island runs three separate low-speed vehicle regimes and they do not share a definition, so the first question is always which chapter you are under.

The statewide regime is chapter 19.6 of title 31, enacted by P.L. 2023, ch. 207, § 5 and ch. 224, § 5 effective July 1, 2024 and amended twice in June 2024 by P.L. 2024, ch. 403, art. 2, § 20 and ch. 428, § 1. Section 31-19.6-1(a) bars operation of a low-speed vehicle on any public way unless it is registered, displays the registration number as provided in § 31-3-10, and displays a slow moving vehicle emblem on the rear as required by § 31-23-47. It then grants a right rather than merely a permission: every person lawfully operating a low-speed motor vehicle has the right to use the public highways of the state, including any state highway, through highway, limited access highway or public highway or roadway posted at thirty-five miles per hour (35 m.p.h.) or less, and no low-speed vehicle may operate on any road posted above 35 mph. Subsection (c) preserves one crossing: an LSV may cross a highway posted between 35 and 45 mph at an intersection controlled by traffic signals or stop signs, provided both the road it is travelling on and the road it is crossing toward are posted no higher than 35 mph. Subsection (d) lets a municipality prohibit LSVs by ordinance on a laned roadway or local highway regardless of posted speed where it finds an unreasonable risk of death or serious injury from general traffic conditions such as excessive speeds, traffic volumes or heavy truck use, and requires the municipality to post signs giving notice.

Eligibility is decided by § 31-1-3(m), which adopts the 49 C.F.R. § 571.3 definition: four wheels, a speed attainable in one mile of more than twenty miles per hour and not more than twenty-five miles per hour on a paved level surface, electric, and a gross vehicle weight rating under three thousand pounds (3,000 lbs.). The same subsection lists the FMVSS 500 equipment a Rhode Island LSV must carry: headlamps, front and rear turn signal lamps, tail lamps, stop lamps, a driver-side exterior mirror plus either a passenger-side exterior mirror or an interior mirror, a parking brake, a conforming windshield, a VIN meeting 49 C.F.R. pt. 565, a Type 1 or Type 2 seat belt at each designated seating position, and reflex reflectors including one red on each side as far to the rear as practicable and one red on the rear. A gas cart, a three-wheeler, or a cart topping out at 15 mph is not a low-speed vehicle in Rhode Island at all. Section 31-3.2-1(8) separately confirms that golf mobiles and golf carts are not "recreational vehicles" either, so the snowmobile and recreational-vehicle registration route in chapter 3.2 is closed to them.

The two local chapters are broader in one respect and narrower in others. Chapter 19.4 covers Prudence Island in the town of Portsmouth and defines a low speed vehicle as electrically or gas powered, designed to carry four or fewer persons, operated at 25 mph or less, and conforming to FMVSS 500. The operator must hold a valid driver's license under § 31-10-1, must maintain financial responsibility, may not use a road posted above 25 mph, and may operate only between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm. Section 31-19.6-1(e) exempts Prudence Island vehicles from the statewide chapter entirely. Chapter 19.5 covers the city of Newport and reaches only commercial low-speed vehicles run as a jitney service: up to eight passengers, a chauffeur's license, a minimum operator age of twenty, a certificate of necessity from the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission, financial responsibility, a 25 mph road ceiling, and operating hours of 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. Section 31-19.5-1(i) subjects electrically powered commercial LSVs to the chapter 38 inspection program and chapter 47.1 emissions testing where applicable, and requires the owner at registration and renewal to certify under penalty of perjury that all lights, tires, seat belts and other equipment are in good working condition.

On licensing, note a caption that misleads. Chapter 10.1 is titled "Special Licenses for Motorcycles, Motor Scooters, Low-Speed Vehicles and Other Motor Driven Cycles", but § 31-10.1-1 requires the special license only of drivers of two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles and motor-driven cycles. A four-wheeled LSV is driven on an ordinary operator's license under § 31-10-1. What chapter 10.1 does impose on an LSV is § 31-10.1-7, which requires every low-speed vehicle to be inspected under chapter 38 and to display a certificate of inspection, with standards set by the administrator of the Division of Motor Vehicles.

6-1(a), and § 31-8-1 makes it an offense to operate, or for an owner knowingly to permit the operation of, a vehicle without the required evidences of registration. 00, and the emblem must meet the current standards and specifications approved by the administrator of the Division of Motor Vehicles. 00 under § 31-38-4. 6-1(b) makes low-speed vehicles subject to the traffic laws and regulations of the state, an LSV driver also answers for ordinary moving violations at the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal. 6-1(d) closing a road to low-speed vehicles, it must post signs to give notice to the public, so the prohibition is enforceable only where it is signed. 5 carries the identical prohibition for Newport commercial vehicles.