Riddle made a presentation Thursday, Sept. 3, to council during their regular meeting. After hearing her information, council asked her to draft an ordinance that would legalize golf carts on city roads, impose a helmet requirement for young e-bike riders, and ban off-road vehicles such as ATVs and side-by-sides outright.
“I was very pleased with the discussion and questions asked as these topics are very nuanced,” Riddle said after the presentation. “I was able to gain clear direction from the mayor and council on each topic that will allow me to present ordinances at the Sept. 17 meeting for consideration and ultimately approval.”
Riddle’s presentation walked council through what state law under the Texas Transportation Code already allows – and where the city has room to write its own rules.
“State laws are written by attorneys, and a lot of times they’re very wordy and they can be difficult to understand,” Riddle said during her presentation. A local ordinance, she said, would give the city “a streamlined, easy-to-understand reference for citizens and officials.”
Under state law, golf carts generally cannot be driven on public roads unless a city passes an ordinance authorizing it. Riddle laid out the city’s options: prohibit golf carts entirely, restrict them from state highways and farm-to-market roads, or authorize them within city limits on roads posted at 35 mph or lower.
Council members voiced support for moving forward with an ordinance authorizing golf carts and to require them to have headlamps, tail lamps, reflectors, an orange safety triangle, a parking brake, mirrors, proof of financial responsibility, and a driver operating it to hold a valid driver’s license. Owners would also need a specialty golf cart license plate, obtained through the county tax assessor’s office for a one-time $15 fee.
They also agreed the ordinance should prohibit golf carts from operating on state highways and farm-to-market roads such as FM 1187, even in stretches where the posted speed limit drops to 35 mph or below.
Riddle told the council her department has not documented any incidents involving underage golf cart drivers, and that officers who have stopped carts since June have consistently found licensed adults behind the wheel — often headed to sporting events or shuttling kids to school.
Discussion also touched on low-speed vehicles, or LSVs – a distinct, federally certified category state law treats as a full motor vehicle requiring annual registration, unlike a standard golf cart. Riddle explained some manufacturers sell both golf carts and true LSVs from the same product line, and that only a permanent manufacturer certification label distinguishes a legal LSV from a golf cart retrofitted with aftermarket lights and mirrors.
That distinction became a point of public comment. Michael Culver, owner of golf cart dealership The Rec Room, told the council he was involved in a widely shared social media incident after being stopped while driving what he said was a certified LSV. He urged the city to require tags for golf carts and LSVs, arguing that vehicle registration would let officers immediately confirm a vehicle’s legal classification and reduce misidentification in the field. He also offered to serve as an industry resource to help train officers on evolving vehicle standards, including a manufacturer recall affecting several hundred thousand LSVs missing a required federal safety sticker.
State law treats e-bikes largely the same as traditional bicycles – riders must stay to the right, use hand or turn signals, and cannot operate motorized assistance without pedaling. E-bikes must also carry a manufacturer label identifying their class, top speed and wattage, and Class 3 e-bikes (with higher assisted speeds) must have a speedometer and can only be operated by riders 15 years old or older.
Council members appeared to coalesce around requiring helmets for riders 16-and-under, with Riddle recommending it based on injury research and her 26 years of experience.
“The chances of the severity of the injury are dramatically reduced if you have a helmet on,” she said.
The sidewalk question proved more contentious.
One council member argued against forcing e-bikes onto sidewalks, given their top assisted speed of 28 mph poses a risk to pedestrians. Riddle noted the city currently has no legal way to allow bicycles on sidewalks while barring e-bikes from them, since state law treats the two as equal.
Several council members described near-misses and complaints involving e-bike riders – running stop signs, popping wheelies, and cutting corners into traffic – while acknowledging the difficulty of separating reckless riders from the majority who follow the rules.
Riddle also raised a provision used by several other North Texas cities that shifts legal accountability to parents when a minor commits a traffic violation on a bicycle or e-bike. Council indicated interest in including similar language.
A resident and parent, Brian Trice, urged the council to prioritize education over restriction, telling council his autistic son uses an e-bike as an alternative to a motorcycle he’ll never be able to legally operate. Trice, who holds a motorcycle license, said he has ridden alongside local e-bike riders to observe their behavior firsthand and found most to be “pretty courteous,” while acknowledging some ride faster than they should. He suggested the city establish a formal rider-training program rather than relying solely on age-based rules.
Council did not finalize sidewalk or path restrictions and asked Riddle to bring back draft ordinance language for further discussion.
The final category – off-highway vehicles including ATVs, UTVs, side-by-sides and dirt bikes – drew the clearest consensus. State law already bars these vehicles from public highways in general, with narrow exceptions for master-planned communities or roads posted at 35 mph or below during daytime hours.
Council members raised safety concerns specific to this category, particularly the potential for modified side-by-sides to exceed 100 mph. Unlike golf carts, state law does not allow cities to authorize off-road vehicles by type or value, meaning a fully enclosed, roughly $40,000 UTV would be regulated identically to a dirt bike.
“It is in my opinion, in the interest of public safety, that we do not allow these to operate on our roadways in our city,” Riddle said when council asked for her professional recommendation. Council agreed.
“It was clear everyone’s main concern is the safety of our community and the ability for residents to continue to enjoy these modes of transportation, just in a legal and safe manner,” Riddle said a few days after the meeting as she works on the ordinances to be presented to council Sept. 17.
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