Golf-Cart Transportation Leads to Injuries/Death in The Villages, FL Community
A February 21, 2008 edition of The Villages community newspaper, The Villages Daily Sun, reported that one of its female residents had died as a result of an accident. Likewise, The Villages Daily Sun December 18, 2007 edition reported that two separate crashes resulted in injuries of two of their residents. The surprisingly link connecting all of these isolated incidents is that those who were injured were driving golf carts.
One of the reasons so many people enjoy living at The Villages is having the convenience to a system of multi-modal transportation paths that span the community. These paths are intended to be used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and golf cart drivers. The early developers of these paths may have not taken golf cart travel into consideration and the paths were therefore not constructed with golf cart drivers' safety in mind. The new path developers do seem to have taken more into consideration however, as the new paths are better designed, wider and paved with asphalt.
However, some are still arguing that the paths were simply created to be visually appealing, involving many blind curves and shrubs that can be dangerous to those traveling the path. The shrubbery growing right to the edge of the path and the sharp curves indeed provide a challenge and a great risk of collision, leaving little room for pedestrians or fellow golf cart drivers to avoid a potentially life-threatening crash.
While these multi-modal paths are an important part in aiding with the high amount of traffic in The Villages, they would prove to be much more beneficial if they were developed with the safety of their travelers as first priority. For the time being, it has been suggested that these paths be widened, the blind curves be eliminated and the shrubbery be cut back from the paths.
As a Florida golf cart injury attorney when I review a golf cart accident, I look at the vehicles involved, the roadway conditions and construction, the speed involved and generally the lack of seat belts in the golf carts. Certainly the golf cart occupant is at a disadvantage in a cart vs. automobile accident. Our office will handle golf cart accidents throughout the state of Florida.
