Golf Cart Accidents

Have you been injured in a golf cart accident? Call Rasansky Law Firm at (214) 651-6100 for a free consultation.

Injuries involving golf carts are on the increase in Texas, but only about half of those injuries occur on the golf course.

Recent reports show a high rate of injury accidents involving golf carts in the State of Texas. Additionally, reports of these type of accidents have been significantly increasing over the past ten years. According to the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), in the United States alone there are approximately 15,000 injuries involving golf carts which require emergency room visits every year. The CPSC statistics also show that 40 percent of these injuries occur due to someone falling out of the cart and most-often involve children younger than 16 years old.

Approximately half of all reported golf cart accidents occur on golf courses, while the other half occur in other locations including streets or on other property accessible to the public (especially in neighborhoods and communities close to golf courses). Golf carts are becoming a common sight in affluent neighborhoods and senior citizen communities due to the convenience as well as the lack of noise and pollution they emit.

It is unusual for golf carts to be equipped with seat belts, which is unfortunate because the majority of golf cart injuries are the result of a fall or ejection. The American National Standards Institute's golf car safety standard does not include seat belts as a necessity; instead, golf carts are supposed to be equipped with "passive restraints" to protect unbelted passengers from being ejected in the event of an accident.

Causes and common injuries.

According to studies, the most common mode of injury in golf cart accidents is the ejection of a passenger. There are many reports of both brain injury and wrongful death as a result of passenger ejection. Some of the best ways to prevent these injuries include the following:

• Installing seat belts.
• Providing mounted hand holds for children when they ride in golf carts that lack seat belts.
• Making improvements in the passive hip restraints in order to reduce the potential for passenger ejection.
• Making safety modifications to golf carts which are used for off-road purposes use such as hunting.

While each golf cart accident is unique, the following are the most-common causes of golf cart accident injuries:

• Collision with another golf cart.
• Collision with a stationary object.
• Collision between a car and golf cart.
• Collision between a pedestrian and a golf cart.
• Golf cart rollover accidents.
• Accidents caused by an intoxicated driver.
• Accidents caused by speeding.
• Accidents caused by driver error or reckless driving.

Because there are so many suburban neighborhoods in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, you may sometimes even see golf carts traveling along suburban streets as drivers travel to nearby country clubs or golf courses. This increases the potential for accidents to occur, especially when residents are not accustomed sharing the road with these smaller vehicles.

If you were injured in a golf cart accident in the Dallas area (or anywhere in Texas or Oklahoma), we urge you to call the personal injury lawyers at Rasansky Law Firm in order to discuss your case for free. We can help you determine if you have a legitimate claim, and we'll take your case on for no cost to you. We work on contingency which means that if we don't win your case, you never pay us a dime!

To speak to one of our Texas golf car accident lawyers today, send us an email or call our office (toll-free) at (214) 651-6100.