MONROE - Monroe may be seeing more little electric vehicles on the streets in the near future.
On Monday, members of the Monroe Public Safety Committee saw no safety issues with allowing "neighborhood electrical vehicles" on city streets. The committee recommended to the Judiciary & Ordinance Review Committee that an ordinance be created accommodate them.
Neighborhood electrical vehicles (NEVs), similar to golf carts, travel between 20-25 mph, but are equipped with the safety devices, including headlights, brakes, bumpers, windshields, seatbelts, turn signals and rearview mirrors, found on street-legal vehicles.
Police Chief Fred Kelley brought the ordinance request to the committee after Thomas Smith, Monroe, contacted him about doing so.
Kelley said the ability to have such a city ordinance has been in place with the Department of Transportation for about six to seven years. As recently as two to three months ago, Kelley asked the city attorney's office to look into NEV ordinances, for the day when Monroe citizens would need or want NEVs.
"Gas prices are part of it, but more so, I think, people are seeing them in other places and coming back here," Kelley said. "They are becoming more and more adopted up here."
NEVs are seen more in the southern states, but a number of Wisconsin cities have already passed ordinances for the NEVs.
Kelley and Smith both said they had talked with seven or eight municipalities which have all passed NEV ordinances. They brought to the committee samples of ordinances from Stoughton and Portage.
Writing the ordinances would be "straightforward," Kelley told the committee.
Kelley said the NEV was "no more unsafe than mopeds and motorcycles."
"I'd rather see these on our street than mopeds," committee Chairman Chuck Koch said.
An NEV meets the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for a low-speed vehicle. The vehicles have a vehicle identification number (VIN), and drivers must be licensed.
Kelley said the NEVs would not be allowed on highways, but would be allowed to cross the highways at signal light crossings.
"I don't think we'd have a problem within the city of Monroe," Kelley said.
On Monday, members of the Monroe Public Safety Committee saw no safety issues with allowing "neighborhood electrical vehicles" on city streets. The committee recommended to the Judiciary & Ordinance Review Committee that an ordinance be created accommodate them.
Neighborhood electrical vehicles (NEVs), similar to golf carts, travel between 20-25 mph, but are equipped with the safety devices, including headlights, brakes, bumpers, windshields, seatbelts, turn signals and rearview mirrors, found on street-legal vehicles.
Police Chief Fred Kelley brought the ordinance request to the committee after Thomas Smith, Monroe, contacted him about doing so.
Kelley said the ability to have such a city ordinance has been in place with the Department of Transportation for about six to seven years. As recently as two to three months ago, Kelley asked the city attorney's office to look into NEV ordinances, for the day when Monroe citizens would need or want NEVs.
"Gas prices are part of it, but more so, I think, people are seeing them in other places and coming back here," Kelley said. "They are becoming more and more adopted up here."
NEVs are seen more in the southern states, but a number of Wisconsin cities have already passed ordinances for the NEVs.
Kelley and Smith both said they had talked with seven or eight municipalities which have all passed NEV ordinances. They brought to the committee samples of ordinances from Stoughton and Portage.
Writing the ordinances would be "straightforward," Kelley told the committee.
Kelley said the NEV was "no more unsafe than mopeds and motorcycles."
"I'd rather see these on our street than mopeds," committee Chairman Chuck Koch said.
An NEV meets the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for a low-speed vehicle. The vehicles have a vehicle identification number (VIN), and drivers must be licensed.
Kelley said the NEVs would not be allowed on highways, but would be allowed to cross the highways at signal light crossings.
"I don't think we'd have a problem within the city of Monroe," Kelley said.