Mayor and council, my name is Danny Allen, and I am a manager at Partners Pizza in Peachtree City, as well as a concerned resident. I know some of you have eaten at my restaurant and have family that has worked with me.
I tried to get to the council meeting last night, but was unable to attend.
I am the owner of a gas-powered golf cart, but more importantly I have been a bicyclist on the city’s path system for over 36 years. In those years I have come to appreciate the gas-powered cart, because you can hear them coming.
It doesn’t bother me … quite the contrary; I feel every teenager should be required to drive one. Their driving a silent electric cart is scary. I have had many close calls on the blind turns we have by the hundreds around town. My gas-powered cart is no faster than the electric.
I paid $1,000 more for a gas-powered cart then an electric, not only for the obvious sound advantage but the fact you cannot get stranded as long as you carry spare gas with you.
That has been a godsend at times. The babysitter takes my young son out on the cart, and we have the confidence the cart is coming home. And some people feeling some minor annoyances want to deny me and all others the freedom to willingly pick one product over another that is much safer.
My cart has a 3-horsepower engine. My lawnmower has a 5-horsepower engine that is not muffled like my cart. It’s much louder and three to four times a month I mow my lawn for over an hour each time. Should you ban mowing the grass?
I run that engine strictly for cosmetic reasons and it “bothers” my neighbors much more then my cart and puts out more emissions. People may claim the smell is bad, yet they walk on paths next to roads that have cars with 100-plus horsepower engines passing them.
I am not one of them, but some people are willing to trade freedom for safety. If this ban goes into effect, you would be getting rid of not only a freedom of mine, but you would be doing it at the expense of safety. A double whammy.
What should be banned is the bicyclist riding 15 miles an hour on the blind hills of Robinson Road or any other road with a speed limit over 25 miles an hour. That is an issue, not gas golf carts. I’ve even seen a gentleman riding his bike down the parkway towing a baby trailer with an infant inside.
If the ban on gas-powered golf carts goes into effect, I may actually carry through with plans on running for a position within the city government. Some of us long-time residents are scratching our heads at some of the changes around here.
Danny Allen
resident since ‘74
Peachtree City, Ga.
