Loudoun and Fairfax Sports Injury Lawyer Doug Landau asked, “Are Golf Carts Safe ?”
While golf carts look like fun, safe vehicles for traveling over golf courses, retirement homes and areas where short trips are the norm, they can be dangerous just like any other motor vehicle according to car crash injury lawyer Doug Landau. Golf cart safety has been in the news because the number of people hurt in golf carts has more than doubled, researchers say. Part of the problem is that the carts are faster than they used to be and they move with very little noise, unlike a diesel or gas engine car. The ABRAMS LANDAU trial lawyer notes that golf carts are also being used in ways they were not necessarily intended for and are carrying people — especially children — they should not. Writing in the July issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the researchers said that from 1990 to 2006, the injury rate had doubled. The lead author is Daniel Watson of Ohio State University.
Over the period studied, the researchers counted injuries in almost 150,000 people ages two months to 96 years. The study found that many of the injuries were caused by falls, which can occur at speeds as low as 11 miles per hour when the cart turns. Doug Landau has successfully prosecuted golf cart injury case where a golfer was ejected from a cart at relatively low speed. Newer carts can hit 25 mph. They often lack safety equipment, according to a co-author of the study, Tracy Mehan, a researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. For example, the majority of the carts in use do not have seat belts. A lack of front brakes makes the vehicles prone to fishtail, the study said. In addition to being injured by falling out, riders are hurt when the carts turn over. If you, or someone you know, has been injured in a golf cart or golf course accident, please e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU (703-796-9555)