Golf cart street-legal rules in Orange Beach and Baldwin County, Alabama

Alabama does not have a single statewide law that makes golf carts street-legal the way some states do. Along this stretch of coast, the authority comes from a local constitutional amendment specific to Baldwin County, and each city that wants to allow golf carts on its streets has to build its own ordinance on top of it. Orange Beach and Gulf Shores both did, and they did it differently enough that the rules genuinely change when your cart crosses the city line.

This page is the plain-English version for owners in this service area, read directly from the amendment itself and from each city’s own published ordinance. It is not legal advice; it is what the law and the ordinances say, with section numbers cited so you can check them.

The state authority: Ala. Const. Baldwin County §15.70

The amendment behind every golf cart ordinance in this county is Ala. Const. Baldwin County §15.70, also cited as Amendment 921. It reads, in relevant part:

• (a) “A municipality in Baldwin County may designate municipal streets or public roads within the municipality for use by golf carts,” after first determining “that golf carts may safely travel on or across the street or road,” considering “the speed, volume, and character of motor vehicle traffic using the road or street.”
• (b) The municipality must inspect any cart for the required safety equipment and verify the operator carries liability insurance “at the same [limits] as for operation of a motor vehicle” before issuing a permit, and it may charge a permit fee.
• (c) “A municipality may not allow a golf cart to operate on a municipal street or public road where the posted speed limit exceeds 25 miles per hour.” This is the hard ceiling behind every designated-street list in the county.
• (d) A municipality may limit operation “to only between the hours of sunrise and sunset,” though it does not have to.
• (e) The cart “shall be equipped with headlights, brake lights, turn signals, and a windshield” at minimum.
• (f) “No person may operate a golf cart on a public street or road without a driver’s license.”
• (g) A municipality may enact stricter rules on top of the amendment’s baseline, which is exactly what Orange Beach and Gulf Shores each did in their own way.
• (l) Unauthorized operation is “a violation for which the municipality may collect a civil penalty of up to fifty dollars ($50).”

The amendment also sets basic rules of the road for any permitted cart: full use of a lane, no passing in the same lane as the vehicle being overtaken, no operating between lanes or two abreast in a single lane.

Orange Beach: Chapter 70, Article VIII of the city code

Orange Beach’s current ordinance, most recently rewritten by Ordinance No. 2024-1487 (adopted October 1, 2024), opens with its own explanation for why the city’s rules look the way they do. The ordinance’s findings section states plainly: “The island has but three arterial roads, State Highway 180, also known as Canal Road; State Highway 182, also known as Perdido Beach Boulevard; and State Highway 161, also known as Orange Beach Boulevard, all of which are multi-lane state highways with speed limits in excess of 40 miles per hour.” None of the three is a designated cart street, and under the ordinance’s own terms none ever can be, since the amendment caps designated streets at 25 mph.

Outside those three roads, the ordinance designates a long list of residential streets by name, well over 170 by our own count of the ordinance’s published table, spanning three full pages of the code. The ordinance’s definitions section also confirms the list “may be amended by the addition of other streets or the deletion of streets previously listed, provided, however, no street on which the speed limit is greater than 25 miles per hour shall be designated.”

Permit and equipment. Under Sec. 70-274, the owner applies to the police department and pays a $100 inspection fee for a permit valid for four calendar years, beginning December 31, 2024. The department inspects each cart to confirm it has headlights mounted no higher than 36 inches, brake lights, turn signals, a windshield, a rearview mirror, brakes, and steering apparatus, and no permit issues without proof of liability insurance at Alabama’s standard motor-vehicle limits.

Operating rules. Under Sec. 70-275, the operator must hold a valid driver’s license, headlights must stay illuminated whenever the cart is in operation “regardless of the time of operation,” carts may not pass in the same lane, operate between lanes, or run two abreast, must yield right-of-way to overtaking vehicles, and occupancy is limited to the cart’s designed seating with everyone seated. Notably, Orange Beach’s ordinance does not set an hours-of-operation curfew the way the state amendment permits; it relies instead on the always-on headlight requirement.

Penalties. Under Sec. 70-276, a conviction carries a fine of up to $50, and the police chief may suspend a cart’s permit for up to 30 days per violation or revoke it outright, with a revoked permit ineligible for renewal or reinstatement for six months.

Gulf Shores: Section 21-13 of the city code

Gulf Shores took a narrower approach. Its ordinance, enacted under the authority of Act No. 2016-271 (the enabling legislation behind the constitutional amendment) and most recently amended January 9, 2023, designates cart streets only inside specific named subdivisions rather than across the city as a whole: Gulf Wood Highlands, Cypress Park and the surrounding area, Craft Farms, Martyn Woods at Bon Secour, Aventura, and the streets in and around West Lagoon Avenue. A street not inside one of those named areas is not a Designated Cart Street, no matter how quiet it is.

Equipment. The ordinance’s own definition of “Cart” requires “approved seat belts for each occupant, head lights, brake lights, turn signals, a windshield, a rear view mirror, efficient brakes, reliable steering apparatus, safe tires, red reflectorized warning devices on both the front and rear and an orange warning flag displayed at least six (6) feet above the ground.” That is a longer list than Orange Beach requires, adding seat belts and the orange flag on top of the shared baseline.

Age and hours. Under subsection (c)(1)-(2), the operator must be “a driver licensed by the State of Alabama… or… eighteen (18) years of age or [older],” and carts may operate “only between the hours between sunrise and no later than 10:00 p.m.,” with headlights illuminated at all times regardless of the hour, same as Orange Beach.

Other rules. No child under five may ride in a cart on a public street. No cart may operate on a sidewalk or bike path. No cart may park in a handicapped space without a valid permit displayed. The permit itself is a $25 annual fee, with the cart inspected each year.

Penalties. Unauthorized operation carries a civil penalty of $50 to the owner, and a conviction carries a fine of “not less than one dollar ($1.00) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200.00)” and/or up to 30 days imprisonment at the court’s discretion, with the Chief of Police able to revoke the permit sticker.

Side by side

What this means for repair

Three practical points follow from all of this.

1. Lighting and brakes are legal equipment, not options. Whichever city’s ordinance applies to where you drive, headlights, brake lights, turn signals, a windshield, and a rearview mirror are baseline requirements, and Gulf Shores adds seat belts and a flag on top. Our lights and street-legal equipment and brakes and tires pages cover both, with prices.
2. The rules do not follow you across a city line, or a state line. A cart legal on a designated Gulf Shores subdivision street is not automatically legal on an Orange Beach street, and neither Alabama ordinance applies at all once you cross Perdido Pass onto Perdido Key, which sits in Escambia County, Florida under a completely different statute.
3. We cannot title anything. We install and repair equipment. Registration, permits, and insurance verification are between you, each city’s police department, and your insurer.

For the full price list see pricing; for the questions that come up between the quote and the visit, the FAQ.