Golf Cart Accidents Can Be Serious – And Accident Rates Are Rising

Many people wrongfully don’t take golf carts seriously and don’t treat them like other motorized vehicles. Perhaps due to their reputation or perhaps due to the lack of state and federal laws regarding golf carts, people often treat them like toys or don’t realize that they could be in danger.
In reality, there are hundreds of serious golf cart accidents each year, and the rate and seriousness of these accidents is rising with every year. Safety experts believe that with rising gas prices and an aging population, more and more people are using golf carts for reasons other than golf. Because of this, we are seeing more collisions between golf carts and larger vehicles and more golf carts illegally operating on busy roads and highways.
In addition, more and more children are being harmed on golf carts. Because you do not have to hold a license in order to drive one, some parents assume they are safe. And because golf carts do not get the publicity that ATVs do, many parents don’t think that their child could be seriously injured in a crash or rollover accident.
Here are just three recent fatal golf cart accidents that took place in Texas over the past few years:

• In Pearland, a nine-year-old boy was killed and his sister was injured when the siblings drove the borrowed golf cart into a ditch. The golf cart rolled over onto the pair, who was not being supervised by adults.
• A Kingsland teen was killed in a golf cart accident after she was drinking with other minors at a private residence. She fell off of the golf cart while it was in motion and struck her head on concrete pavement.
• An elderly Gilmer man was struck and killed by a truck while riding his golf car on FM 49. He made a sudden left turn in front of the truck, which could not stop in time to avoid a collision.

If you or your child have been seriously injured in a golf cart accident in Texas, speak with a Dallas personal injury attorney today.