Quote:
Originally Posted by LianneMigiano
From the Daily News front page 8/17: The number of golf cart fatalities in Sumter County between 2020 and 2024 was 12! Roughly half of those took place between El Camino Real and CR 466.
Well, look at a map of that area. On the west side of Buena Vista are the Villages of Glenbrook and Polo Ridge with Alhambra to the north and Santa Domingo to the south of El Camino. The Polo fields and a nature preserve flank most of the east side of Buena Vista. I have lived just a bit north of this general area for 15 years and have not noticed any of the accidents occurring along Buena Vista Blvd. From its' intersection with 466, an easterly trip ALL along 466 shows NO villages other than a very small one (Bridgeport at Laurel Valley) and golf course areas on the southern side of 466. The northern side is almost completely used by the Developers' families. The only remaining area occurs northerly from 466 toward El Camino/Paige Place - i.e. MORSE BLVD! So, maybe I can assume that most of those fatalities have occurred among the numerous villages along that thoroughfare. With the poor folks having to compete too close to motor vehicles for that entire stretch of about 2 miles it's no wonder that it might be where many of the fatalities have occurred. Why are so many folks denying the need to better protect golf cart drivers along that stretch and redesign something to travel more safely on???? We rented in that area for two separate visits before our purchase - and driving along Morse Blvd. frightened the devil out of me!
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I don’t get the Daily Sun so I cannot read the article - perhaps it answers these questions…
- Of the fatalilities along Morse, how many involved another vehicle?
- Of those that involved another vehicle, how many were caused by a golf cart pulling out in front of a car or turning left in front of a car? (I remember two but there could have been more)
- What improvements, short of banning golf carts in a golf-cart community, would have prevented those accidents?
Most of the deaths I remember were due to head injuries. Lack of seatbelts is usually blamed, and they may have helped in some cases, but a belt across my lap is not going to keep my head from hitting the pavement if my cart rolls to the driver’s side. We can’t prevent golf cart drivers from pulling into traffic, we can’t keep them from turning too quickly and rolling the cart, we can’t keep them front entering a tunnel too fast and driving head-on into the wall, but we CAN protect their heads.
If we want to save lives we won’t get far by waiting for the county to change Morse and even that would only prevent maybe 1/3 of the fatalities. If we want to save lives we can strongly promote, and even push the state legislature to require, head protection. We claim foam helmets protect bicyclists and we require DOT-certified helmets for motorcycles, perhaps now is the time to require helmets for golf carts too.