They look like golf carts, but they’re not just meant for the green. The models offered by Global Electric Motorcars, a division of DaimlerChrysler, are designed to crisscross neighborhoods, campuses, state parks or resorts – even to take commuters to their jobs.
State Sen. June N. Gibbs, R-Middletown, heard about GEM cars from a neighbor who’d bought an orchard and wanted to use one to drive around. But while golf carts and their kin are allowed on private property, they’re illegal on public roads.
Gibbs set out to change that. And last week, for a tiny part of the state, GEM cars and other such low-speed vehicles got the green light to hit the road.
On Prudence Island, with only 150 year-round residents, tiny roads, limited parking, and no gas stations, the local planning commission decided the carts would be perfect – both for the permanent population, and for the 1,800-plus summer vacationers.
“They looked at it as a very economical way and very practical way to get around the island,” said state Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., a Democrat whose district includes the island.
To make it possible, the locals asked Gallison to sponsor a bill just like Gibbs’. And while at the statewide level, the chances of passage were slim due to opposition from the R.I. Division of Motor Vehicles and the state police – both were concerned that the carts would disrupt traffic and cause safety hazards on regular roads – for the island, there was a consensus.
“There was a lot of enthusiasm on the part of the people of Prudence Island,” said Gibbs.
The legislation, as approved, allows not only electric cars like the GEMs, which are completely emission-free, but any “self-propelled, electrically or gas-powered motor vehicle” designed to carry four or fewer people and to operate at 25 mph or less.
Even on private property, such cars are required to meet federal safety standards; to be road-legal on Prudence Island, they must be registered, insured and driven by a licensed driver, who in turn must obey all the rules of the road. The cars can only be used between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., and only on roads with speed limits of 25 mph and under (all of the island qualifies).
Gibbs, who drives a hybrid car and several years ago established a committee on sustainability, said she sees electric mini-cars like GEMs as a good way to reduce pollution, and she’s still hoping they’ll be allowed in more parts of the state.
“That’s the only reason I was willing” to back a Prudence Island-only bill, she said, “because I hoped it would lead the way.” She called the passage of the legislation, which had failed in the House last year, “a huge step in the right direction.” And she suggested other communities might want to join Prudence Island – especially places with a lot of tourists who need a cheap, safe way to get around.
“I would think that Block Island would like them,” she said. “They have mo-peds, and these would be a lot safer.”
Gallison said “seasonal communities” in South County and Aquidneck Island might also find the cars useful; perhaps Bonnet Shores?
GEM cars in particular are not yet sold in Rhode Island, but they’re available from Chrysler dealerships in Attleboro and Franklin, Mass.
