Galveston Police Chief Charles Wiley was right to ask the city council to set policy on golf carts.
Obviously, golf cart owners have some political power. They were able to get a change in the law that will require the city to make some policy decisions about where golf carts can and can’t go. Had a delegation of teenagers gone to Austin to make the same case for all-terrain vehicles, we doubt the Legislature would have been so receptive.
We also agree with Wiley that public safety is involved in this debate. For the past few weeks, the loudest voices have been those of golf cart owners who want the right to drive them on city streets where the speed limit is 35 mph or less.
But we’ve also heard, through the years, from motorists who’ve come close to running over golf carts in places where they didn’t expect to see them. In many cases, those callers have been angry and frightened, a natural reaction to a near miss that could have cost people their lives.
Wiley has been accused of saying all kinds of things. What he said was this: “My intent was to get the council to carefully consider it. There was a move afoot to do nothing, and that’s a problem. This is a matter we should talk about. It’s a public safety issue.”
He’s right. Police officers shouldn’t have to guess what the city’s rules are. The city council should spell them out.
+++
Coming up
Council members plan to discuss the golf cart issue again at their Oct. 22 meeting.
