St. Johns embraces the rise of golf car living, but safety concerns, and a growing fleet, push the city toward tighter rules.
In St. Johns, Michigan, you can almost track the pulse of the town by listening for the soft whir of golf cars gliding down the road. These days, they’re everywhere: squeezing into traffic gaps, cruising past local shops, and carrying families out for evening rides. For a city of about 8,000, it’s a surprisingly large phenomenon. St. Johns officials estimate nearly 2,000 cars are now part of daily life, and that number shows no signs of leveling off.
So now the city is doing what dozens of Michigan communities have already done: tightening the rules to make sure the boom doesn’t turn into a safety problem, as reported by CBS News.
For longtime resident Cathy Kochensparger, her car isn’t a hobby it’s her go-to. She uses it almost daily as her “family cruiser.” But she’s also quick to point out the obvious: you have to drive these things with a different mindset than a traditional car. “You’ve got to be aware of your surroundings,” she said. “People and other vehicles.”
It’s exactly that balance (freedom and caution) that city leaders are trying to preserve. Mayor Scott Dzurka has seen enough close calls to know the risks. “Heaven forbid something happens on one of them,” he said. “If that golf cart gets in a wreck, it’s pretty disastrous.”
That blunt truth explains why St. Johns recently implemented new requirements. Now, golf cars must undergo inspections much like cars. They need functioning horns, turn signals, safe tires, and a proper braking system. And drivers must be at least 18 with a valid license. Local roads are also part of the rulebook: golf cars can only operate where the speed limit is 25 mph or below.
The rules didn’t appear because of a few hobbyists. They emerged because golf cars have quietly become an everyday tool for residents. And as the town learned, the craze extends far beyond golf courses.
Business owner Michael Fagan, who sells an impressive number of cars each year, laughed about how outdated it sounds to assume golfers are his core customers. “Golfers represent maybe five percent,” he said. Instead, his buyers want simple mobility and sometimes year-round use. “We put snow plows on them, salt spreaders… people look at me funny when I say that, but we probably sell fifteen to twenty snow plows a year.”
Yet not everyone is convinced that mixing golf cars and cars is worth the risk. St. Johns resident Ed Thelen doesn’t mince words. He’s seen enough to know how uneven the matchup is in a collision. “If a golf car hits a car, the golf car is just going to lose,” he said. “There’s nothing there to protect the people in the golf car.”
Still, as new rules rolled out, the town didn’t see many protests. Most residents understood why the regulations mattered. And people like Kochensparger say they feel perfectly safe as long as drivers use common sense. She doesn’t hesitate to take her grandchildren along for rides. “I wouldn’t take my grandkids on it if I didn’t feel safe,” she said confidently.
What’s happening in St. Johns isn’t unique. Across Michigan (and across the country) golf car culture is spreading from gated communities into downtowns, farmland, suburbs, and everything in between. They’re economical, they’re fun, and they make short trips feel like small adventures.
But the shift also demands new conversations about how these cars fit into the flow of everyday road life. St. Johns is simply facing that future head-on, trying to keep a popular trend from becoming a hazard.
In this town, golf cars are here to stay. The challenge now is making sure they stay safe, too.
