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Tag: low-speed vehicle

Pickup truck collides with low-speed vehicle

Pickup truck collides with low-speed vehicle

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – A pickup truck collided with a low-speed vehicle (LSV) on Gulf Drive on Tuesday evening, resulting in two of the seven LSV passengers being transported to a walk-in emergency room for non-incapacitating injuries.

The accident occurred at the Gulf Drive and 52nd Street intersection at approximately 6:53 p.m. on July 1.

According to the report obtained from the Holmes Beach Police Department, Vehicle 1 (V1) was a 2004 Chevy Silverado pickup truck owned by a Bradenton man whose age is not listed in the report. The pickup truck was carrying one passenger.

Vehicle 2 (V-2) was a six-passenger 2025 HDKP-brand electric low-speed vehicle (LSV) owned by Just 4 Fun beach rentals in Holmes Beach. The LSV was driven by a 46-year-old man from Tampa, whose birthday it was, according to the birthdate listed on his driver’s license.

According to the police report, the pickup truck and the LSV were both traveling northbound on Gulf Drive. The LSV was stopped in traffic and attempting to make a left turn onto 52nd Street when the pickup struck the passenger-side rear of the LSV.

“I spoke with D1 (Driver 1) about what had happened and he stated that he was talking to his friend in the front passenger seat and he looked over at him during conversation and when he looked back V2 (the LSV) was stopped in traffic and he could not stop in time. D1 was deemed to be at fault and was issued a citation for careless driving,” according to the reporting officer.

The name of the person who received the citation is redacted in the report.

According to the report, no one was ejected from the LSV but two passengers were transported by Manatee County EMS to a Manatee Memorial walk-in emergency room with non-incapacitating injuries.

Alcohol use was not suspected as a contributing factor and the LSV sustained minor damage estimated to be approximately $500. Both vehicles were able to leave the scene under their own power.

Tuesday’s accident occurred one day after a 15-year-old girl fell out of a golf cart in Anna Maria and suffered traumatic head and chest injuries and was transported by helicopter to Tampa General Hospital.

Related coverage:
Teenager seriously injured in Anna Maria golf cart accident

LSV, golf cart talks take a turn

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – A new idea is before Holmes Beach city commissioners to help make streets safer for golf carts, low-speed vehicles, motor vehicles, bicyclists and everyone else – lowering the speed limit citywide to 25 mph.

In previous years, lowering the speed limit anywhere in the city has been met with concern from commissioners and residents because of a potential increase in time that it would take to travel along Holmes Beach’s main thoroughfares. Now, with a moratorium in place to give commissioners time to work on regulations for LSV rental companies and a boom in the use of the vehicles by residents and visitors, setting a citywide speed limit is being strongly considered with the support of Chief Bill Tokajer and City Engineer Sage Kamiya.

For the safety of golf cart and LSV users, commissioners have been considering lowering the speed limit along one stretch of Gulf Drive in the A-1 district from 35 mph to 25 mph and pushing the limited speed vehicles into more residential neighborhoods and off Palm/Marina Drive. During a Dec. 14 work session, Kamiya proposed a different solution – lowering the speed limit citywide to 25 mph or less.

In a Dec. 20 talk with The Sun, Tokajer said that he supports lowering the speed limit citywide for several reasons. The first is that it would eliminate the need to have a golf cart/LSV trail through Holmes Beach that would push more of the vehicles into residential neighborhoods where the speed limit is already 25 mph.

He said that by setting a 25 mph citywide speed limit, the need to educate visitors on the city’s LSV speed regulations and what streets they can drive the vehicles on would be eliminated because they could be driven on any city street other than Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive, where the speed limit will remain 35 mph for the foreseeable future. Those two streets are state roads and regulated by the Florida Department of Transportation, which has stated in memos to the city that golf carts and LSVs are not permitted to be operated on the two state roads.

In Holmes Beach there are only a few city-controlled areas where the speed limit is 35 mph – about three blocks in front of Anna Maria Elementary School on Gulf Drive, 10 blocks along Palm Drive and about eight blocks on Gulf Drive.

During his presentation to commissioners, Kamiya said that he drove three times through the city’s various 35 mph corridors to determine what the average time savings would be at 35 mph versus 25 mph. From White Avenue to 27th Street along Gulf/Marina Drive, he determined that the difference in travel time averaged 58 seconds. From White Avenue to Gulf Drive along Marina Drive, he determined that the average difference in travel time was only 28 seconds.

Tokajer said that the proposed citywide speed limit would be less confusing for motorists and golf cart/LSV users. He added that it would also reduce sign pollution in the city, eliminating the need for signs pointing to golf cart/LSV-friendly streets and allowing for many of the speed limit signs already in the city to be removed.

For Holmes Beach police officers, the change to a citywide speed limit would allow them to worry more about enforcing safety regulations such as the occupancy of LSVs and golf carts and the city’s seat belt regulations rather than being concerned about which speed zone the vehicles are being operated in.

The discussion will continue in January at an upcoming commission work session.

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Commissioners talk golf cart/LSV regulations

Commissioners talk golf cart/LSV regulations

Written by SUN contributor on . Posted in Community News, Holmes Beach.

HOLMES BEACH – Commissioners met Oct. 12 for a work session about potential golf cart and low-speed vehicle regulations, focusing on how to have those vehicles travel safely through the city.

A vehicle defined as a golf cart in Holmes Beach does not require a license plate. A low-speed vehicle can look like a golf cart, one of the mini-cars rented on the Island or other street-legal, non-traditional vehicles. These have license plates and can be driven in all three Island cities, except that they cannot be legally driven on state roads, including Manatee Avenue and East Bay Drive in Holmes Beach, although the vehicles can cross these streets. Because they are not supposed to be driven on Manatee Avenue, they should not be driven across the Anna Maria Island Bridge.

Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer said his concerns about golf carts and low-speed vehicles primarily include safety and speed. The slower-moving vehicles on main roads, such as Marina Drive, which has a 35 mph speed limit in some places, can cause issues for car and truck drivers because the lower-speed vehicle slows traffic down. It also creates a safety hazard, he said, because some LSV and golf cart drivers will pull into bicycle lanes to allow cars to pass or cars will pass slower-moving vehicles on the right through the bicycle lane. Both maneuvers are illegal and could seriously injure a bicyclist traveling in the bicycle lane if a driver pulls over without seeing them or stops ahead of the cyclist. Due to traffic congestion, sometimes cyclists move faster than the vehicles, Tokajer said.

His suggestion is to change the speed limit on a section of Gulf Drive along the beach from 35 mph to 25 mph to match the speed limit on the rest of the road. Doing this would give drivers of LSVs and golf carts a way to travel through Holmes Beach while driving only on roads with a speed limit of 25 mph or less.

To direct drivers to the correct path, he said stencils on the street can be used instead of signs and stickers placed on LSV rentals to alert drivers of the requirement to drive only on streets with a 25 mph or less speed limit, along with other regulations.

Tokajer also suggested mandating that all passengers on golf carts and LSVs be required to have their own individual seat belts. For children, a proper child restraint device is required.

The discussion is expected to continue at a future work session.

Related coverage

 

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New moratorium in effect on vehicle rental businesses

 

Golf carts causing frustration, accidents