[ggm]

Not to deny this happens, but you realise a significant number of people die every day in high speed accidents? There is likely a statistical sweet spot of speed and survivability. These 25mph carts may actually reduce overall mortality, while being innately more dangerous than an SUV simply because of the net drop in driving speed.

Or, we could apply a 30mph max speed limit everywhere.

Your line of reasoning appears to be "if one person can die in a hypothetical situation we must ban it" when I think the reality is "if the net savings in lives and energy and costs overall are right, we can tolerate some risk"

The NHTSA might have a view. P.J. O'Rourke wrote about them quite nicely: a federal agency staffed by people who love cars, dealing with lardass drivers who keep stepping on the wrong pedal and want to blame it on Toyota.

[nytesky]

My point is that the golf cart is likely as deadly to its occupants at 25mph as a full size car is at a much much higher speed, and is mixing in traffic with enormous vehicles.

Creating “the Villages” nationwide where every neighborhood is only trafficked by small low speed vehicles would be great, but people don’t want to invest storage and money into a secondary vehicle of such limited use. Maybe a neighborhood ringed by garages where people store their long distance vehicles, and integrally self driving golf carts putter people around to schools, stores, and cafes? If they need to leave, grab a cart and head to the garage ring?

I love urbanism and spent about half a decade car free (then kids really made that way more difficult), and getting cars off the roads in neighborhoods or even towns would be astounding

Now you would have to worry about delivery trucks, trash collection etc?