Woman Gets Ticket For Driving Golf Cart

LEBANON, Ind. -- A Boone County woman thought she was within the law when she drove her golf cart to the post office, but it cost her a heavy fine.

The legality of an ordinance that once allowed golf carts on Lebanon roads is now in question, 6News' Renee Jameson reported.

Nadine Urban rides her electric golf cart on the grass of her Lebanon home because she can't drive it anywhere else, but that wasn't always true.

"It's not hurting anything. There is an ordinance," Urban said. "It's being taken care of. It's not like it's just out there for grabs."

Last year, Urban got a permit from the city that allowed her to drive the golf cart in town, with certain restrictions.

When she returned home from a trip on the cart recently, an Indiana State Police trooper issued her a ticket, contending what she was doing is dangerous and that she was violating state law.

A local judge later agreed, but Urban's husband said he doesn't think what happened is right.

"They weren't licensable by the state motor vehicle, but we thought by the price of fuel and everything that we were trying to save money and use them for errands, running to the store, running across town, staying off state highways," Jim Urban said.

For now and the foreseeable future, Urban's golf cart is off the street and in a shed.

"Park it -- that's all we can do," Nadine Urban said. "What I would like is for someone to say, 'Hey, I'll help you. This is what we have to do.'"

City officials declined an on-camera interview Wednesday, but the Lebanon's clerk-treasurer told Jameson that the ordinance in question is essentially on hold and that no new permits are being issued.