Golf Carts, Neighborhood and Medium-Speed Electric Vehicles in Washington

The class definitions sit together in chapter 46.04 RCW and are drawn purely by the speed attainable in one mile. RCW 46.04.1945 defines a golf cart as a gas or electric four-wheeled vehicle originally designed and manufactured for operation on a golf course for sporting purposes with a speed attainable in one mile of not more than twenty miles per hour, and adds that a golf cart is not a nonhighway or off-road vehicle under RCW 46.04.365. RCW 46.04.357 defines a neighborhood electric vehicle as a self-propelled, electrically powered four-wheeled motor vehicle whose speed attainable in one mile is more than twenty and not more than twenty-five miles per hour and which conforms to the federal low-speed vehicle standard at 49 C.F.R. Part 571.500. RCW 46.04.295 defines a medium-speed electric vehicle the same way but for a speed of more than twenty-five and not more than thirty-five miles per hour, with the added requirement of a roll cage or crush-proof body design. Washington does not use the phrase low-speed vehicle in its own definitions; the federal LSV standard is imported into the NEV and MSEV definitions instead.

Golf carts get street access only where a local government has opted in. RCW 46.08.175(1) lets the legislative authority of a city or county create a golf cart zone by ordinance or resolution for the incidental operation of golf carts on a street or highway with a speed limit of twenty-five miles per hour or less. Subsection (9) requires the city or county to mark the zone with signage at the beginning and end of each street in it, complying with the WSDOT manual on uniform traffic control devices. Outside a signed zone there is no street-legal golf cart in Washington.

Inside a zone the operator rules are specific. Under RCW 46.08.175(2) the driver has all the rights and all the duties of any other driver under chapter 46.61 RCW. Subsection (3) sets a minimum age of sixteen and requires the driver to have completed a driver education course or to have previous experience driving as a licensed driver, which is a qualification standard rather than a licence requirement. Subsection (4) bars anyone whose licence is revoked under RCW 46.20.285 from driving a cart in a zone. Subsection (8) requires reflectors, seat belts and rearview mirrors, and that short list matters because RCW 46.37.010(7)(b) otherwise exempts golf carts operating within a designated golf cart zone from the whole vehicle equipment chapter except as provided in RCW 46.08.175(8). Local option extends further: subsection (5) lets the city or county ban cart operation from a half hour after sunset to a half hour before sunrise, subsection (6) lets it require a decal or other identifying device and charge a fee for it, and subsection (7) lets it keep carts out of designated bicycle lanes inside the zone.

Neighborhood electric vehicles need no local ordinance at all. RCW 46.61.725(1) permits operation on any Washington highway posted at thirty-five miles per hour or less, absent a local prohibition, subject to four conditions: no use of a state highway listed in chapter 47.17 RCW where the posted limit exceeds thirty miles per hour, a current registration and displayed plates under chapter 46.16A RCW, a valid Washington driver licence under chapter 46.20 RCW, and liability insurance under chapter 46.30 RCW. Subsection (1)(e) governs crossings: a driver may not cross a road posted above thirty-five miles per hour unless the crossing begins and ends on roads posted at thirty-five or less and happens at an intersection of approximately ninety degrees, and never at an uncontrolled intersection on the state highway system unless local authorities have authorized it.

Medium-speed electric vehicles run on the parallel section, RCW 46.61.723, with the same thirty-five mile per hour road ceiling, the same thirty mile per hour cap on listed state highways, and the same registration, licence, insurance and ninety degree crossing rules. The Department of Licensing must track both classes in separate registration categories for reporting, and under RCW 46.61.723(5) and RCW 46.61.725(5) collision reports must flag separately when an MSEV or NEV was involved.

The local control boundaries differ between the two electric classes in a way that is easy to miss. Both sections let local authorities regulate by ordinance, and neither lets them authorize use of a listed state highway posted above thirty miles per hour or impose their own registration requirements. But RCW 46.61.723(3)(b) forbids a local authority from prohibiting medium-speed electric vehicles on any road posted at thirty-five miles per hour or less, while RCW 46.61.725(3)(b) protects neighborhood electric vehicles only up to twenty-five miles per hour. A city may therefore ban NEVs from a 30 mph arterial but may not ban MSEVs from the same road.

Washington also writes a geographic exception for its ferry-served island counties. RCW 46.61.723(4) and RCW 46.61.725(4) both provide that in counties consisting of islands whose only connection to the mainland is by ferry route, the road ceiling rises from thirty-five to forty-five miles per hour, with the crossing rule adjusted to match. That provision, added by 2016 c 17 and effective April 1, 2016, is what makes these vehicles genuinely practical on San Juan and Island county roads.

725(2) each state that any person who violates the section commits a traffic infraction. 110(7). 30 RCW. 61 RCW. 175(4). 175(10).