The city of Crestwood has amended its code regarding the operation of golf carts within city limits — an update that coincides with a rise in golf cart usage, according to a memo by police chief Jonathan Williams. The amendments were passed at the Crestwood Board of Aldermen meeting on Oct. 14.

The main update to the city code is the requirement of the use of headlights and taillights on golf carts. If golf carts are being operated when lighted street lamps must be used, as decreed by state law, then the golf carts must use headlights and taillights in a similar fashion to cars. This includes the night hours and the half hour before sunset and after sunrise; it would also expand to include stormy weather that darkens the sky and requires lamplight. Surrounding municipalities have similar codes.

“My thought is, if someone is going to be using their golf cart at all hours and they don’t have lights on it, we could cite them without lights,” Ward 3 Alderman Grant Mabie said. “But if someone says, ‘Yeah, I drive my grandkids to the Whitecliff Park playground on side roads during the day, and I’m not operating it during the rain or at night,’ I don’t think we should require them to retrofit their golf cart with lights.”

The code amendments also clarified Crestwood’s golf cart laws with other local and state laws. While golf carts have long been subject to applicable local and state traffic laws while operating on city streets, that was not explicitly stated in Crestwood’s code. Updates have been made to do so.