Golf Carts Now Legal On Deer Park Streets

DEER PARK — There’s a new way to get around town in Deer Park. Beginning Monday, electric golf carts are legal on most streets in the city.

Deer Park actually based their ordinance on Liberty Lake’s law that was passed about two years ago. Deer Park decided to jump on the cart after an elderly man approached city council and asked to legalize carts as a way to avoid gas for in town trips.

“I thought, why not a golf cart?” Duane Golden says.

Although Golden retired in the middle of Deer Park, the streets outside his house might start looking like a country club soon enough.

“So I got thinking to myself, why not, let’s make them legal,” he says. “To me, it makes sense.”

It was Golden’s idea to legalize the carts on all Deer Park streets except the main drags.

“Just to make short runs, it’ll save on gasoline,” says Golden. “I’m in the donut hole now, so I need to save every place I can.”

The smaller, easier mode of transportation is perfect for Golden.

“I go down one block to the VFW, three blocks to the cafes,” he says.

“The main benefit is for senior citizens who want to ride golf carts around town,” says Deer Park Mayor Robert Whisman, “instead of little rascals. A little bigger, a little safer.”

Whisman signed the new ordinance about a week agom but the law places some restrictions. Golf carts that one can rent at any country club are not street legal, thats because they’re not equipped with seatbelts and lights. The driver must have a driver’s license and follow a speed limit of 25 miles an hour.

“It’s fast enough for me,” Golden says. “I’m in no hurry, I got plenty of time.”

A custom cart is waiting in the garage. For his first outing, he just wants to do something simple.

“I just want to be able to get around,” Golden says.

There are two roads that carts cannot ride on in Deer Park. Those are Main Street and Crawford Avenue. The city doesn’t expect to see a ton of carts at first. People at the Deer Park Golf Course say they only know of about five people in town with street legal carts.