Golf Carts Gone Wild in Discovery Bay

On Monday, the Contra Costa County Sheriffs Office will host a community meeting regarding driving golf carts and small-off road recreational vehicles around the Town of Discovery Bay.

In the past few months, the Town of Discovery Bay has been receiving complaints about juveniles riding golf carts, motorized motorcycles and bicycles when they do not have licenses to do so. In some cases, vandalism is occurring by use of these vehicles by riding on the landscaping, in parks and damaging lawns to even basketball courts.

According to a source, there have been more than a dozen complaints.

If You Go:
Monday, March 4, 2024 at  6:00 pm
Discovery Bay Community Center
1601 Discovery Bay Blvd
Discovery Bay 94505
Available via Zoom
*on-site capacity will be limited to the first 80 attendees and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information about the meeting, click here.

Editors Note:

California Vehicle Code section 38304.1 states that on private property, parents and guardians cannot permit children younger than 14 years of age to operate ATVs or other off-road motor vehicles if the children cannot reach the controls of the vehicle.

Golf Carts:

• CVC 21115 (a) If a local authority finds that a highway under its jurisdiction is located adjacent to, or provides access to, a golf course and between the golf course and the place where golf carts are parked or stored or is within or bounded by a real estate development offering golf facilities and is designed and constructed, so as to safely permit the use of regular vehicular traffic and also the driving of golf carts on the highway, the local authority may, by resolution or ordinance, designate the highway or portion of the highway for combined use and prescribe rules and regulations that shall have the force of law. No highway shall be so designated for a distance of more than one mile from the golf course if the highway is not located within a development or beyond the area of a development, provided, the finding of the local authority in this respect shall be conclusive. Upon the designation becoming effective it shall be lawful to drive golf carts upon the highway in accordance with the prescribed rules and regulations. The rules and regulations may establish crossing zones and speed limits and other operating standards but shall not require that the golf carts conform to any requirements of this code with respect to registration, licensing, or equipment, except that if operated during darkness the golf cart shall be subject to the provisions of Section 24001.5 regarding equipment.The rules and regulations shall not be effective until appropriate signs giving notice thereof are posted along the highway affected.

  A “real estate development offering golf facilities,” for purposes of this section, means an area of single-family or multiple-family residences, the owners or occupants of which are eligible for membership in, or the use of, one or more golf courses within the development by virtue of their ownership or occupancy of a residential dwelling unit in the development.

  (b) For purposes of this section, a “golf cart” includes a low-speed vehicle.

• CVC 21115.1 – a local authority may, by ordinance or resolution, establish crossing zones, for use by golf carts at any time other than during darkness, on any street, other than a state highway, that has a posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour or less and that is immediately adjacent to a golf course. The crossing zones shall be at an angle of approximately 90 degrees to the direction of the roadway. The ordinance or resolution shall not become effective until submitted to the law enforcement agency having primary jurisdiction over the street, the law enforcement agency finds and determines that the conditions pertaining to that street, with the addition of proper signs, markers, or lighting, or any combination of those, will permit the establishment of a golf cart crossing with reasonable safety, and the signs, markers, or lighting specified by the law enforcement agency are in place.
• CVC 345 – A “golf cart” is a motor vehicle having not less than three wheels in contact with the ground, having an unladen weight less than 1,300 pounds, which is designed to be and is operated at not more than 15 miles per hour and designed to carry golf equipment and not more than two persons, including the driver.
• CVC 385.5 – (a) A “low-speed vehicle” is a motor vehicle that meets all of the following requirements:(1) Has four wheels.

  (2) Can attain a speed, in one mile, of more than 20 miles per hour and not more than 25 miles per hour, on a paved level surface.

  (3) Has a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 3,000 pounds.

  (b) (1) For the purposes of this section, a “low-speed vehicle” is not a golf cart, except when operated pursuant to Section 21115 or 21115.1.

  (2) A “low-speed vehicle” is also known as a “neighborhood electric vehicle.”

• CVC 4019 – A golf cart operated pursuant to Section 21115 is exempt from registration.
• CVC 21716 – Except as provided in Section 21115.1 and Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1950) of Division 2.5 of the Streets and Highways Code, no person shall operate a golf cart on any highway except in a speed zone of 25 miles per hour or less.