COURIER-POST EDITORIAL BOARD OFFERS IT'S OPINION ABOUT BARRY WRIGHT & HIS GOLF CART

Below is a reprint of a Courier-Post editorial originally published on Sunday October 30, 2005.

Keep golf cart off the roads

A former police officer and elected official should know better than to illegally drive an unregistered vehicle on public streets.
It shouldn't be necessary to remind elected officials, especially those who were once police officers, not to break the law.
Yet Winslow Committeeman Barry Wright apparently needs to be told that it's not OK for him to ride a golf cart around the community while he campaigns for re-election.
At the Oct. 11 township committee meeting, Wright, a Democrat, admitted to using the golf cart after a Republican member of the township planning board saw him driving a golf cart on public streets in the Woodstream development.
"That golf cart, or electric mobility device, helps me get around to meet with all my constituents," Wright said at the meeting. "And . . . it's not against the law. I did check that out to begin with."
Where Wright got that legal opinion, however, is a mystery.
"If the vehicle cannot be titled and cannot be registered, it cannot be operated on public roads. And that is what a golf cart is," said Gordon Deal, a spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. "You can't operate it on public roads." The New Jersey driver's manual is equally clear in stating that only registered and titled vehicles can be driven on public roads.
While the upcoming committee election and the deep division between Republicans and Democrats in this township may be the impetus for this being brought to light, that doesn't change the fact that it's wrong for Wright to use the golf cart on public streets.
Golf carts are slower and smaller than legal vehicles. They also offer virtually no protection in case of an accident. On public streets, they're dangerous to the driver and passengers as well as drivers and passengers of other vehicles.
As a former police officer, Wright should know this. He also should know that, as an elected official and the township's director of public safety, he has an obligation to set an example to others. What he should not be doing is breaking the law and then making excuses for his actions or trying to reinterpret the law to justify it.
Wright should just admit his mistake and leave the golf cart at the links from now on.

Originally Published by the Courier-Post on October 30, 2005.