Kansas Golf Cart & Low Speed Vehicle Laws

PLEASE NOTE: Golf Cart Laws may vary from City to City, so please be sure to check with your local municipality in regards to the laws in your area. We are in the process of gathering laws by municipality for you, however, this is a huge undertaking and does take time. Thank you.

This is an in-depth guide to Kansas Golf Cart & Low-Speed Vehicle Laws. We’ve created this guide to help you, the consumer, in determining Kansas’s laws.

Is this state Medium Speed Vehicle friendly? No State Law is Currently in Place.

Is License and Registration a Requirement? For LSVs, yes. For Golf Carts, no.

General Federal Law for Golf Carts:

Under current NHTSA interpretations and regulations, so long as golf cars and other similar vehicles are incapable of exceeding 20 miles per hour, they are subject to only state and local requirements regarding safety equipment. However, if these vehicles are originally manufactured so that they can go faster than 20 miles per hour, they are treated as motor vehicles under Federal law.

The standard requires low-speed vehicles to be equipped with headlamps, stop lamps, turn signal lamps, taillamps, reflex reflectors, parking brakes, rearview mirrors, windshields, seat belts, and vehicle identification numbers.

Find out more information on federal laws pertaining to golf carts and low speed vehicles here.

Kansas Golf Cart & Low Speed Vehicle Laws

Guidelines for Golf Carts and PTVs (Personal Transportation Vehicles)

Definition of a golf cart as defined by Kansas law:

• Motor vehicle that has not less than three wheels in contact with the ground
• An unladen weight of not more than 1,800 pounds
• Designed to be and is operated at not more than 25 miles per hour
• Designed to carry not more than four persons including the driver

Golf Carts are NOT allowed on interstate highway, federal highway or state highway. They are also not allowed on public streets inside the corporate city limits within the city limit unless the city has authorized it.

Golf carts are also prohibited from operating on roads with a posted speed limited of 30 MPH. They may, however, cross public roadways with speed limits above 30 MPH.

Golf Carts may only be operated between the hours of sunrise and sunset.

UPDATE (3-29-2018): The Senate has given the green light to drive golf carts at night as long as you have a slow-moving vehicle emblem and lights comparable to a motorcycle.

Guidelines for LSV (Low Speed Vehicle)

• Has four wheels.
• Within one mile can reach a speed of more than 20 miles per hour (mph) but not more than 25 mph on a paved level surface.
• Has a 17-digit conforming vehicle identification number (VIN)
• Has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 3,000 pounds.
• Must be certified to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to be registered and operated on public streets, roads, or highways.
• Not be operated on any roadway with a speed limit above 30 mph.

LSVs may look like a golf-cart to the casual observer, but is actually a motor vehicle requiring a valid driver license, registration, and insurance.

HELPFUL LINKS

www.kslegislature.org – Golf Carts
www.kslegislature.org – Low Speed Vehicles

Disclaimer
Although each of these state guides gives a thorough approach to the golf cart laws in your state, it is recommended that you perform the research on your own and reach out to your local municipality.