EAGLEVILLE — Golf carts may be leisurely, low-speed rides, but cart enthusiasts in this farming town an hour south of Nashville want to fast-track a new ordinance to allow them to drive on city streets.

They’re so eager, in fact, that the two-man police department recently issued a warning in bright red text on its website: “Carts are not yet legal to drive on roadways or sides of roadways. This is for your safety.”

But for those who already decked out their golf carts with “street-legal” necessities, including brake lights, seat belts and mirrors, the freedom of the road has been hard to resist.

“They’re just as convenient as the dickens,” said Councilman Andy Soapes, who rides his cart to the fishing pond, to the farm co-op three doors down and to the mailbox at the end of the driveway.

Soapes (“cleanest name you ever heard”) and his fellow councilmen could vote on an ordinance in the fall. Back in the spring, state lawmakers added Eagleville, population 600, into a small pilot program allowing communities to write cart-friendly ordinances. The initial eight pilot communities registered just three carts, and the program drew ridicule from Waverly City Manager Buddy Frazier as “one of the sillier things the legislature’s ever done.”

The recorder in Soddy-Daisy, who registered the three carts, wrote, “I couldn’t find anyone at the Department of Safety to send this information to.”

Eagleville officials said they want to use golf carts to put the city on the map.

“We’re gonna make a good push at it and do everything the way the state wants us to do it and hopefully attract some people to Eagleville,” said Nick Duke, Planning Commission chairman.

Duke also is lead organizer of what will be the city’s debut in the broader golf cart universe: the Highway 99 Golf Cart Rally, which runs today through Saturday. The event features a golf cart mud bog, awards for the

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