Ramona Golfers Lose Bid to Get Into the Fast Lane

Legislation that would have allowed golfers to drive their carts alongside fast-moving traffic on public streets was shelved for the year Monday by the Assembly Transportation Committee.

The bill, by Assemblyman Bill Bradley (R-San Marcos), was sidetracked amid heavy opposition from the California Highway Patrol and Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sepulveda), the Transportation Committee’s chairman.

The measure evolved out of a controversy at San Diego Country Estates in Ramona, where the CHP began warning and citing golfers driving on public streets last summer.

The golfers were driving their slow-moving carts on three roads that had 45-m.p.h. speed limits. The carts, which generally go less than 15 m.p.h., are not now allowed on any street with a speed limit above 25 m.p.h.

Bradley took up the golfers’ cause after appeals to the CHP and a San Diego County traffic commission were rebuffed.

Bradley, who is hospitalized in San Diego with a bleeding ulcer, turned the bill over Monday to Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad). But Frazee was unable to overcome the opposition from the CHP and Katz, who argued that the carts would present a safety hazard to fast-moving vehicles because of their slow speed and because they lack basic safety equipment such as brake lights and turn signals.

Richard Ledford, an aide to Frazee, said the lawmakers and the golfers will try to develop amendments to appease the measure’s opponents and bring the bill back next year.