Ramsey to allow golf carts, ATVs on city streets
By Tammy Sakry on June 20, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Golf carts and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) could be a common sight on Ramsey city streets now that the Ramsey City Council has approved an ordinance amendment.
The ordinance, which was approved on a 4-2 vote, will allow residents to drive on city streets with their golf carts and ATVs as long as they have a permit.
Councilmembers Randy Backous and Sarah Strommen voted no.
[...] If the city cannot require the drivers to have a driver’s license, then how can it enforce the rules of safe driving, Backous said.
It concerns Backous that if someone has had his/her license revoked for driving while intoxicated, they could still drive around on an ATV, he said.
[...] Allowing the golf carts and ATVs on the city streets with other traffic is not safe, said Strommen.
“We don’t have to allow (the golf carts and ATVs) on our city streets,” she said.
“Given the state of our roads, the last thing we need to do is add another (safety) factor.”
[...] Allowing the use of golf carts and ATVs on city streets is something he has advocated, said Mayor Bob Ramsey.
It is a freedom and liberty issue for him and he hopes the county will open its roads up to the same use, he said.
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There is a freedom and liberty, to thin the herd, but I'd hate to be the innocent driver going the other way on a road, or a whacked pedestrian.
The term OHV has received some usage, and is appropriate to consider in the context of the Ramsey 4-2 council vote. And there appears to be a mentality that goes with calling it a freedom-liberty issue. That said, the first time I saw an OHV was while hiking in the Snoqualmie Pass region of the Cascades in Washington. Years ago, slowly and safely and with a helmet, a camo dressed hunter was leaving the area on a graveled trail showing due caution for hikers using the trail, with a bear, properly tagged and all - a legal kill, and it seems that hauling vs. dragging out game for miles from the kill spot is one area where the item has a true place and purpose; as in "around the farm."
Ramsey roads? You decide.
____________UPDATE___________
Paul Levy of Strib reports, here, and his coverage suggests a yo-yo can get far out of control if you give it too long a string:
"We're cutting staff, cutting budgets, our roads need to be fixed and we're worried about golf carts?" said Randy Backous, one of the two no votes when the City Council passed the ordinance, 4-2.
"There was no need for this, no public outcry for it," Backous said. "This is an example of misplaced priorities, which are typical of this mayor."
Mayor Bob Ramsey said he wanted it because, "I'm tired of the fun police taking away our freedoms and liberty."
Got that? The motivating center, possibly, but possibly not:
In Florida last Sunday, Erika Robinson, 27, was thrown from the passenger seat of a golf cart on Land O' Lakes Road, the Florida Highway Patrol reported. She died from injuries suffered in the accident. Nathaniel Williams, 28, was driving the cart, though he'd had his driver's license revoked. The State Patrol did not immediately say whether alcohol was a factor in the accident.
Other Ramsey 'yes' votes
In Ramsey, the council members who joined the mayor in voting for the ordinance were Colin McGlone, Jeff Wise and Jason Tossey.
McGlone said that city residents already "are driving golf carts every day on the streets without any ordinance. We're just trying to give the people back their rights."
Mr McGlone's Neighborhood: McGlone said THAT? What in the world is he thinking? I want to see Clint Eastwood ride his horse down Highway 10 - the same thing safety wise and I want an ordinance saying it's normal. Other than clowns from Northfork on Alpine west of Armstrong and east of the country club curve (who think they own the roads as a matter of wealth and privilege), it does not happen. When was the last time you saw a golf cart in Clown Center? As to ATV traffic, that I blame on the mayor._________FURTHER UPDATE_________
Roger, a Crabgrass reader, emailed this, from the Grand Forks Herald:
Adams, N.D., ATV accident victim identified
Herald Staff Report - 06/22/2012
A 15-year-old girl injured in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Adams, N.D., has been identified. Kelsey Misialek of Adams was eastbound on a 2005 Bombardier ATV on Third Street when she was clipped by Kim Bylin, 60, of Adams as she attempted to pass his 2010 Ford pickup around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Bylin started turning left into a lot on Third Street near the intersection with Farup Street when the front end of his pickup made contact with the ATV, causing it to roll over. Misialek was thrown from the ATV and suffered serious head injuries. Misialek was taken to First Care Hospital in Park River, N.D., and then flown to an undisclosed hospital in Fargo by Life Flight. Her status remains unknown. Both Sanford and Essentia hospitals in Fargo said they had no record of Misialek being in their care. Bylin was not injured. The accident remains under investigation by the North Dakota Highway Patrol.
Ramsey did its thing without mandating or requiring helmets or seat belting, on Ramsey roads, because of the mayor's sense of entitlement to liberty I guess; as with the liberty of the unfortunate 15-year in the story.
Read about seat belt law, here, here, here and here (re "Click it or Ticket" being the slogan).
I recall being told of Leo Foley having frequently noted that of all his years as a state trooper [1954-1987], "I never unbuckled a dead man."
Minn. Stat. Sect. 169.686 "'SEAT BELT USE REQUIRED; PENALTY." does NOT exempt golf carts or ATV vehicles, when driven on public roads. I have an email in to Chief Jim Way, Head of the Ramsey Police Force, asking him to reassure readers that the seat belt law of the state will be fairly and equally enforced, i.e., for the toy riders too. I am hopeful of receiving a favorable reply. Minn. Stat. Sect. 168.002, Subd. 24 includes a "Neighborhood electric vehicle" within the definition of a "Passenger automobile," which is important because Minn. Stat. ch. 65B "Automobile Insurance" has requirements at law, for "passenger automobiles; see, e.g., MS Sect. 65B.001, subd. 3. Seat belt and insurance requirements of the state related to all public roads cannot be obviated by a deviant town board or council effort, and state law should not be ignored by local law enforcement officers, each of whom has to take an oath to uphold the law.
Somebody's kid gets whacked by an ATV, there better be driver insurance to cover it. Were Ramsey to turn a deliberate blind eye to the law, it is unclear what consequences might be in such a situation --- "Little Tommy who was reading quantum mechanics on the web as a three-year-old now is a quadraplegic with permanant brain damage for the rest of his life; i.e., not any longer likely to be or remain like Stephen Hawking; and Ramsey taxpayers through their elected officials did it to him, etc., so forth."
Mayoral views of liberty aside, the law is the law.
Last, for the Northforkers heading home from a long 19th hole stint, there is a sobering story (here and here) and an image:
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| This link. |
_____________FURTHER UPDATE____________
Hat tip to Chief Way. His prompt email reply:
Please refer to MSS 169.045, 169.345, 84.928, 84.9256, 65B.48, 169.70. These statutes should answer any questions that you have. Jim W
Readers intending ATV or golf cart usage on Ramsey's roads should carefully check out the statutes Chief Way cites.