Child Endangerment in Golf Cart
 

How many times does this need to be said?

And, is common sense totally dead?

At about 2:30 p.m. today, at Colony Publix, as I stepped off the curb to go to my car:

A young mom drove past the front doors of Publix in the black golf cart. She was holding her dog (small, chihuahua type) in one arm/hand, and driving with the other. That was bad enough.

In the cart passenger (bench) seat next to her, riding with no seatbelt, was her tiny little boy, probably no more than 2 years old. He was so tiny that with his legs completely extended on the seat, his feet barely reached to the edge of the seat.

I couldn't believe she was holding the dog in one arm, but the child was completely unrestrained.

Apparently she was visiting her parents or somebody here, because a couple of minutes later after I'd loaded my groceries into my trunk, I saw the same cart go by again, this time with the former driver riding in the back, jump seat and still holding the dog, and another lady was driving.

I can't believe it actually needs to be said.....again.......but PLEASE get golf cart SEATBELTS installed, and USE them!

That tiny tot could have flown out onto the pavement upon hitting even the slightest bump or by the driver having to brake suddenly or veer to avoid something.

And the mom holding the dog in one arm and driving with one hand could have made that happen even quicker.

You can't fix stupid

I do take notice of cart drivers that either hold their dog in their arms or allow young toddlers in their lap to steer their carts and then I look away. I suspect many if not most of those people do not recognize themselves even if they post and view TOTV threads such as this.

Cést la vie

Unfortunately, the only action that will force these people to act according to normal sociatel rules will be a legislative act.

As I had previous stated 20lbs @ 20mph weighs 400 lbs-- do know anyone who can hold 400 ls in one hand ? Basic physics- the child most likely will get TBI @ best most likely die !!

How did you come up with 400 lbs using basic physics? Just curious and lazy.

Kids & Golf Carts : Matthews & Megna

Some lawyers now specialize in golf cart accidents. Looks like defense.

Made a mistake, my energy calculator, corrected me its 267 + ft. lbs

Right on brother

I don't think that warnings in the paper will carry any weight unless they contain examples of actual injuries. It's human nature to do stupid stuff as long as you you think the risk is minimal.

More photo opportunities
 

Maybe instead of taking pictures of bad parking and putting it in the paper we should take pictures of unsafe golf cart riding as the OP described, and put it in the paper. People don't realize how dangerous it is by driving with an animal in your lap, or urestrained kids are in the cart.

Saw a new one the other day near Brownwood. Grandma and Grandpa were in the seat of a 2 passenger cart while 2 pre-teen grandchildren were standing in the back golf club compartment holding on to the roof for dear life. Looked like the old time fire trucks where the firefighters stood on the back of the truck.

Reckless endangerment of a child is a valid issue for concern of anyone who wishes to take on the issue. A child especially has no voice to object to dangerous treatment.

We once ignored dangerous child labor.

:agree:Seen that a few times as well. Completely ignorant and unsafe. Everyone knows what those thick black straps are for!:jester:

Reply
 

In a lot of tiny RV parks, it's common to see this and children driving the golf cart 100 yards to the pool or beach. Seat belts there are relatively scarce if seen at all. However the Villages is quite a different place with cars and carts often using the same space. I wonder if this is a carry over and adults are just not thinking and aware of real possible harm? This is a busy place where adults not children per se need to be hyper alert. It's not like we are always on golf cart paths.

I'm an exempt NJ Volunteer firefighter, it has been outlawed for firefighters to stand on the back step of any apparatus responding for over 40 years

Most of the offenders are Grandparents. They come here with no brains and get worse as time goes on. Unfortunately, they have no clue that they are doing anything wrong

Haven't seen a real lineman climb a utility pole in 40 years either [emoji53]

But, it was required as part of the civil service test for the communications lineman for the NYFD--we even had 2 poles for them to climb behind the StatenIsland Central office on Slosson Ave.

What BS

Please do not excuse the parent who is driving the golf cart. The vast majority of grandparents here are smart, law-abiding citizens who have common sense about child safety.

Babies and toddlers in cars are required to be in car-seats from the day they are born, until they are big enough to use a booster seat which goes on for a few years. The concept of child restraints and laws requiring them have been around throughout this young mother's life. She knows car seats are required. If baby/child restraints are required in a car to avoid lethal injury, it doesn't take a PhD to know it's even more needed in an open golf cart.

And flying around unrestrained inside a car with doors locked would be a heck of a lot safer than an open golf cart from which the toddler would definitely be thrown onto pavement, concrete curbing, or into oncoming automobile traffic.

This tiny boy was sitting on the seat with legs fully extended and was not holding onto anything like an armrest or grab handle. His little hands were in his lap as he sat there like a doll on the seat.

His mom should have been arrested (I followed for a couple of blocks but they went down into the tunnel by Colony Rec Center and I lost sight of them, as I was driving my car on that street). If I see them again, I'm calling the sheriff and following them till police come.

I would hope that neighbors of the grandma or other cart drivers said something to them.

The kinetic energy for this child at this speed is 267.22 ft-lbs.
It is 1/2MV^2 1/2 the mass by the square of the velocity in ft per second. The child is moving at 29.3 feet per second, so consider that speed and suppose he hits the dashboard. Deadly.

Consider this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, imagine a 26 pound weight on a 10 foot lever or pipe, this is actually torque (ft.lbs).

The sad part of this item, yes, child endangerment, the village is big on happy hours, an item in today's paper covered a woman accident in a cart, she said maybe she had too many drinks, there was an open bottle of vodka in the cart. The village is proud of their happy hours and the folks who do drink way too much and then they do drive home,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, or to the liquor store?
Most important here of happy hours, the Village is making the big bucks right?

It's not safe to take pictures while driving my car, as I was.

More importantly, putting a picture of a minor in the newspaper without the parent's permission would probably be lawsuit material they'd use to have the photographer prosecuted and soaked for a giant monetary judgement, while they wouldn't get prosecuted because there's probably no law on the books that says child restraints/seatbelts have to be used in golf carts.

If you want to blame the developer for people drinking without anybody holding a gun to their heads, start a thread of your own on that topic.

I understand where OP and other posters are coming from, however, I am concerned that we could be starting down a very slippery slope. First legislation requiring mandatory seat belt use on all golf carts and then all children under four/five in a special seat and belt on golf carts. Then drivers license required for the driver. Then a license plate for the golf cart. Then mandatory insurance. Then annual inspections...... Well, you get the point. Think real hard about this----is this what we want. Careful what you wish for. Just a thought.......

Yeah, think hard about certain aspects of his posting.

Driver license for a golf cart ... why not? It might get SOME of the worst cart drivers off their carts.

License plate for the cart ... why not? Good way of identifying lawbreakers.

Mandatory insurance ... why not? If someone hurts me, my family, or property with their golf cart, they better have LOTS of liability coverage!

Why would anyone be against those?

I'd guess the vast majority of people already have this. They are called cars.

I saw a similar scene last night at the square. A young woman drove up in a golf cart with an infant in her lap. No seatbelts. Baby in her lap! I have trouble holding on even in a speed-controlled cart. I have a related question. Where do I go to find a restraint system so my dog can ride with me safely? Do I have to create something on my own or do they already exist for golf carts? Both my dogs are medium sized and they might ride with us together in a 4-seater.

I am sure yours was a tongue in cheek remark ... but just to clarify: Separate driver license for golf carts (or an add-on to the regular license), license plate for the golf cart, mandatory insurance for the golf cart.

Remember, the insurance companies are not stupid. After an accident, they test or inspect the cart for illegal modifications. They may not pay off for liability if the cart is modified. That leaves the owner on the hook!

Still curious. Are you assuming crashing into a brick wall at full speed?

Or you could just move to California. I'm sure they have all kinds of rules regarding golf carts. Plus the weather is nice.