If the new golf cart ordinance doesn’t specifically forbid something, then it’s not forbidden.

That’s the easy answer to an e-mailed query from a reader on the ordinance enacted by the Chesterton Town Council on Sept. 14.

The e-mail, in part: “Yet the article was not specific enough for all of the pertinent information. For example, where are the town limits? Could a person living in the Sand Creek neighborhood drive down 1100N to the WiseWay grocery store with the sign ‘Slow Moving Vehicle’ attached to the back of the cart? It seems dangerous. Could one also drive down Rail Road across 100E down South Calumet Road to the European Market on Saturdays? . . . Is the Sand Creek neighborhood and others on the east side of Ind. 49 eligible to drive their golf carts on Indian Boundary Road, 1100N, and 1200N as long as they do not cross Ind. 49?”

Associate Town Attorney Chuck Parkinson put it this way: a person may operate a golf cart on any public right-of-way in the Town of Chesterton if the ordinance does not specifically forbid doing so. The ordinance does forbid the operation of a golf cart on Ind. 49, at grade crossings of Ind. 49, and on sidewalks. It forbids the operation of golf carts nowhere else.

In short, a person may operate a golf cart on 1100N, East Porter Ave., and Indian Boundary Road so long as the operator goes not cross Ind. 49. A person may cross from the east side of Chesterton to the west side via Rail Road and then make his or her way via South Calumet Road to the European Market on Broadway on Saturdays.

If the ordinance doesn’t say you may not then you may.

On the issue of town limits: the best idea is to check a good map, because under the ordinance a person may not leave the Town of Chesterton and operate a golf cart on the public rights-of-way of unincorporated Porter County.

A reminder:

•Golf cart operators must be in possession of a driver’s license.

•They must obey all traffic regulations applicable to motor vehicles.

•They must display a slow-moving vehicle sign or red or amber flashing lights attached to the rear.

•The operation of golf carts on public rights-of-way is limited to daylight hours, unless the golf cart is equipped with headlamps, tail lamps, and stop lamps.

•Violations of the ordinance are subject to a fine of $100.

Posted 9/21/2009