Low Speed Vehicles?

At last nights council meeting they instructed administrative staff proceed with the necessary research and document preparation to prohibit the operation of low-speed vehicles on the streets of the City.

I wish I had been at the committee meeting last week to understand what brought this idea around, minutes of these committee meetings are not posted on the website yet.

For whatever reason it was brought up, I find it to be interesting. There was a representative there last night who sells these LSV's in a number of towns in Illinois, I believe this is his company's website, he mentioned if Columbia outlawed them they would be the first city in Illinois to do that, although it appears the city can prohibit them according to "Sec. 11-1426.2. Operation of low-speed vehicles on streets" which states the following

(c) The Department of Transportation or a municipality, township, county, or other unit of local government may prohibit, by regulation, ordinance, or resolution, the operation of low-speed vehicles on streets under its jurisdiction if the Department of Transportation or unit of local government determines that the public safety would be jeopardized.
(d) Before prohibiting the operation of low-speed vehicles on a street, the Department of Transportation or unit of local government must consider the volume, speed, and character of traffic on the street and determine whether allowing low-speed vehicles to operate on that street would jeopardize public safety. Upon determining that low-speed vehicles may not safely operate on a street, and upon the adoption of an ordinance or resolution by a unit of local government, or regulation by the Department of Transportation, appropriate signs shall be posted in conformance with the State Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices adopted pursuant to Section 11-301 of this Code.

I went back and found an article regarding LSV's in a retirement type community in Florida that I read last year in Wired Magazine that I thought of instantly when they were discussing thsi last night. Its worth a read and makes LSV's sound fun or at least interesting.

I don't see what they could hurt in town. I think most people need to slow down as it is. The law doesn't let them on Route 3, though they could cross it. The Illinois law requires a drivers license unlike the Florida situation in the Wired article I linked to. It may attract a new business to town, who knows.

Does Columbia need to be the first town in Illinois to challenge section "d" above? Probably not.

8:14 AM Wednesday
Ironic Followup: The new Issue of Wired arrived in my mailbox yesterday and the cover story is? The Tesla Electric Car and a good article regarding that company's influence on the global electric automobile industry and then some info on other electric cars to be released over the coming years. Please note that an electric car is not the same as a low speed vehicle, they can be confused as the same rather quickly.