RESERVE —St. John the Baptist Parish residents have until March 1 to get their golf carts street legal or potentially face a penalty.

St. John Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said state law requires golf cart owners comply with certain regulations to keep residents safe.

“The driver must be a licensed driver,” he said. “The golf cart must have headlights and turn signals, and the owner needs to have basic insurance. (The golf cart) also has to be registered with the state. It’s called making it street legal.”

Tregre said he would hold a town hall meeting to discuss the issue at 6 p.m. Monday at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 114 W. 7th St. in Reserve.

“I didn’t create the law but I have to enforce it,” Tregre said. “I understand that the (Parish) Council is going to pick up the issue to determine whether to make it a parishwide law that all golf carts have to be street legal.”

The No. 1 complaint with golf carts, according to Tregre, involves young children driving them.

“You have children less than 8 years old driving golf carts with younger children with them,” Tregre said. “They don’t know the rules of the road. They ride at night, and we get complaints about children more than anything. Most people seemed to be in favor of the law; I have more people in favor of it than upset about it. Our community has grown and there are more people on the streets with cars.”

The state law went into action Jan. 15, Tregre said, adding his office has been issuing warnings for those using golf carts that don’t comply with the law. That will change March 1, when the Sheriff said deputies have been instructed to issue citations to those operating golf carts illegally.

The Sheriff’s Office gets the most complaints about golf carts in Reserve, Tregre said.

Longtime Reserve resident and golf cart owner Gerald Keller said many people in Reserve use golf carts. Keller admitted he didn’t like the law, but said he would abide by the rules.

“In my neighborhood, we probably have 40 to 50 golf carts that go up and down the street,” Keller said. “It’s not all the time, but on weekends you see more of them. The problem I have was with the young kids after 10 o’clock riding down the road with no lights. I’m talking about at midnight when I’m coming home and I see young kids 12 or 13 years old riding, which is a curfew violation to begin with, but they are riding down the streets with no lights and going through stop signs.”

To make sure his golf cart is legal, Keller said he has to make alternations.

“If I want to continue to ride the street, I have to put a seatbelt in, and it’s a good idea — seatbelts are good,” Keller said. “Signal lights are also good. Before I was using my arm, now I have to put the real stuff in. I also need insurance. I love my little golf cart and I need to comply with what the law is.”