Golf carts are everywhere in Galveston: around beach rentals, in neighborhoods, and on the streets near the Seawall and the West End. Many people assume a golf cart is too slow or too small to count. It isn't.
How DWI law reaches a golf cart
Texas Penal Code Section 49.04 makes it a crime to be intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place. Section 49.01 gives "motor vehicle" a broad meaning: a device in, on, or by which a person or property is or may be propelled, moved, or drawn in the normal course of commerce or transportation. A golf cart driven on a street, a beach access road or a parking lot fits that description.
"Intoxicated" means the same thing it does in any DWI: not having the normal use of your mental or physical faculties because of alcohol or drugs, or a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.
Same charge, same penalties
A golf cart DWI is not a lesser offense. A first DWI is generally a Class B misdemeanor with a minimum of 72 hours in jail on conviction, up to 180 days, and a fine of up to $2,000. A blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more makes it a Class A misdemeanor. The 15-day license hearing deadline applies too.
Defending a golf cart DWI
These cases raise questions a car DWI usually does not:
- Public place: was the cart on a street or other place the public can access, or on private property?
- Operation: who was actually driving, and can the State prove it?
- The stop: what reason did the officer have to stop the cart?
- Field sobriety tests and testing: were the tests given correctly, on a safe surface, to a person who was just riding in an open cart in the wind and sun?
See also: Galveston DWI · Field sobriety tests · Public intoxication
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