Easy life

A Missouri police chief, Rickey Jones, this week surprised a drug dealer in the middle of a deal. The really surprising part was how Jones arrived at the scene: rather than screeching to a halt in a squad car, he approached, almost silently, in an electric golf cart. "There's no engine, no loud motor, so he didn't hear us coming," he recalled.

When the suspect sped away in a car, Jones couldn't give chase: the cart struggled to go faster than 20mph. Instead, he radioed a colleague in a more traditional police vehicle, who intercepted the fleeing car some distance away.

Before long, the canvas-covered, open-sided carts may be less of a surprise on the streets, such as those of Pine Lawn, Missouri, a working-class suburb of St Louis. Under pressure from rising fuel prices, towns across the United States are passing bylaws to permit the use of golf carts on their streets as an alternative to cars, not just as a crime-fighting tool but for ordinary citizens.

"You can definitely save on gas - my cart's electric, but even the ones that run on gas hardly use any of it," said Paul Heideman, mayor of Ashkum, a town in rural Illinois.

Numerous other towns in Illinois, Indiana and North Carolina have implemented similar regulations or are considering them. And in several places where the carts are an increasingly common sight, another benefit is becoming clear: with no windows or doors to separate drivers from each other, or from pedestrians, the texture of daily life is changing. "It leads to a friendlier atmosphere," Heideman said.

A few hours away in the small town of Cerro Gordo, golf carts will become lawful street vehicles from tomorrow, thanks in part to the campaigning efforts of Shamarie Allen and her husband, who run a golf-cart customisation business. Golf carts have a serious image problem, however: many people associate them with old age and pensioners .

But with the help of Allen's company, LG Custom Carts, carts can be kitted out with chrome wheels, leather seats and high-end gadgetry - an effect slightly marred by the legal requirement to display a sign declaring that the cart is a slow-moving vehicle.

Despite the potential for savings on fuel, the carts may not be an ideal solution for those worst hit by the current economic downturn: a basic vehicle costs around ,000. And the danger of injury or death, especially in the event of a collision with a car or truck, is high.

Despite its limitations, though, Jones said they had transformed the job of policing Pine Lawn. "Now people can talk to them [officers] more easily," he said.

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