New Beaufort golf cart rules: Nighttime headlights and seatbelts for road use
Using new powers granted by the 2025 Legislature, the Beaufort City Council on Tuesday took the first step toward adopting an ordinance that carries several changes for the city’s thousands of golf cart owners. The biggest: Making nighttime driving legal, requiring seatbelts and officially designating the types of roads where buggies are allowed.
“The ultimate goal here,” Deputy Deputy City Manager J.J. Sauve says, “is to make sure everyone is safe.”
The ordinance also contains language that would allow the city, in the future, to build separate paths for golf carts. None are planned at this time.
Tooling around in golf carts is common in the coastal community of 14,000 residents and the proposed changes, Sauve said, have drawn high interest.
Here’s 10 things to know about the proposed changes contained in the city’s new golf cart ordinance:
1. Where will carts be legal?
Golf carts would be allowed to operate only on designated roadways, which are defined as non-primary roads with speed limits of less than 35 mph, within a four-mile radius of the operator’s address.
Golf carts would not be allowed on major roads including Ribaut Road, Boundary Street, Carteret Street, Trask Parkway or Parris Island Gateway, City Manager Scott Marshall said.
2. However ...
Golf carts will be allowed to cross such roads and those with speed limits higher than 35 mph at intersections with traffic control devices.
3. When can you drive golf carts?
Between sunrise and sunset.
4. However ...
Golf carts will be legal at night on the designated roads -- if they are equipped with headlights and rear lighting, Sauve says.
5. Are golf cart paths coming to Beaufort?
There are no designated golf cart paths in the city today. However, Sauve said the city might consider them in the future. That’s reflected in langauge in the ordinance. “We’re trying to look ahead,” Sauve says.
6. What about kid drivers?
You must be at least 16 and have a valid driver’s license to drive a golf cart if the rules pass.
7. Are seat belts required?
The new state laws requires that children 12 or under wear a seat belt. Under Beaufort’s new rules, seat belts will be required for everybody.
8. Will city decal be required?
Golf carts must be registered with the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV), insured and display the state-issued decal. Under the city’s new rules, operators also will need to purchase a $5 permit decal from the city. To get the city decal, residents will have to submit a copy of the SCDMV registration and proof of liability insurance. The $5 fee will help the city track the number of golf carts in the city, Sauve says
9. What are the penalities?
Violations of the rules are punishable by up to $100 and or in some rare cases, limited time behind jail bars. Police will issue warnings at first, particularly for seatbelt and lighting infractions, the city says.
10. Why now and what’s next?
A new state law, approved by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in May, is driving the changes. That law gave cities more powers to regulate golf carts on public roads with speeds limits of 35 mphs or less. That includes designating hours, authorizing night use with lighting and creating separate cart paths. The state law also required that kids 12 years old or less wear a seat belt.
Beaufort is the latest Beaufort County community to tackle golf cart regulation in the wake of the state law. The town of Bluffton also is wrestling with new rules as well.
The city’s rules pretty much mirror the state law except for the city’s stricter seat belt rule, said Sauve, the deputy city manager.
Residents have also raised safety concerns, said Sauve, and those concerns also are reflected in the new rules.
The city considered the ordinance on a first reading Tuesday when it passed with no comment from the public.
The city should require that golf carts have working signal lights as well, Councilman Neil Lipsitz said during the discussion. “Somebody holding a hand out, you can’t see it a lot of the time,” Lipsitz said.
A working signal light requirement will be added to the lighting rules for golf carts before the city votes on final approval Sept. 9, Sauve said.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
