Fourth Quarter Accidents and Citations
 

While reviewing the minutes from January CDD 10 meeting, Lt. Siemer from the Sumter County Sheriff's Department presented, in part:

During the last quarter in The Villages, there were 290 vehicle accidents, 54 golf cart accidents, 26 citations were issued to golf cart operators and 462 citations issues to vehicle operators. Lt. Siemer stated that a good number of accidents occur due to speed or distracted driving.

Considering that there are close to 150,000 residents, in addition to visitors, employees and the fact that four major roads go through The Villages, is that a lot?

Good question.

I've long been of the opinion that such incidents stand out because of their (relative) rarity.

The Villages has an estimated 70,000 to 80,000 golf carts (Hagerty website) so for the sake of argument let's say 75,000. 54 golf cart accidents (assuming accidents per quarter are roughly equal) = 220 or so per year. That's just over one-quarter of one percent, or 1 in 400, in any one year. According to the News9 website (What Are Your Chances of Getting Into a Car Accident?), your chances of being in an accident in a vehicle authorized to go on public roadways is roughly 1 in 366 per 1,000 miles driven.

I know--rough statistics. But they do point out, in my opinion, that the news coverage MAY be convincing us that there are more carts involved in mishaps than actually are.

We should ban cars and golf carts.

Then the statistics would report walker and wheelchair collisions.

get a horse! then imagine the horse poop threads

IMHO, it would be great if these actually made into the (good times) Daily Sun, maybe some of the people would pay attention and slow down a little. I nearly broad sided another golf cart that ran the stop sign at the tunnel under Morse, they were coming from Sarasota area. I actually had to lock the brakes and I think it scared him.

I supposed it be too obvious to point out, that those numbers are "documented / reported" accidents.
Would not include low speed/non-injury incidents where both parties work things out sans police.
It can in no way, also factor in the seemingly countless near misses.

If speed limits were higher here, we'd all se a lot more actual collisions.

Cannot count the number of times other drivers have tried to intentionally rip into the round about to beat/cut off vehicles that are already in it. We've witnessed more than one hit 'n run, busted gate arms, cars on curbs/grass & even one large chevy suburban trying their luck on the multi-modal path....

Point being, reportable accidents maybe low per capita, but inept drivers here are not!

It's only Sumter county.

so an average of 5 citations a day encompassing the entire tv

If they would patrol Morse north of 466 with radar on a daily basis, there would be a major income in police revenue and a major slow down in speeding on Morse. I fail to understand why they don't set up radar patrol and nab the speeders on a regular basis. That alone would slow the speeding on Morse.

Even an automatic camera speed detection unit would be a win-win for safety and county income.

Age ……

Yeah that's very low. An officer should be averaging 10 to 20 Citations a day!

Speed and red light cameras would fix the problem.
We have them in our home town- I hate them , but they work!

Bikes riding on roads with cars and carts.
 

There are too many different vehicles on the main roads in the Villages. Something has to go. Bikes can use the multimodal lanes only or not be permitted on major roads within the Villages at all. They slow and interfere with auto traffic and do not follow road rules. I see comments about car and cart drivers but not 1 word about the hazard the bicycles are causing.

"You Cannot Be Serious"

Not entirely correct.
Red light cameras have been shown to not be beneficial and many cities have/are dumping them.
They tend to cause more accidents as drivers either speed up to beat the camera or panic brake to avoid being caught on the red mid intersection. Both often result in more accidents.
They also have been proven to lead to manipulation (traffic light timing & tweeking cam perspective) by less than ethical traffic enforcement agencies, solely to increase city/county revenue, resulting in greater court burdens, lawsuits, etc.
In some cases where that hasn't happened, audits have discovered that they cost more than they bring in, as the back end support, maintenance & contracts associated with them are a substantial money drain.

A similar thing happened to me. I was leaving the parking lot next to the driving range, so I had to cross the MMP. The MMP has a STOP sign, but I did not have one.

I saw two walkers going along the MMP, and I let them go. However, they were being closely followed by two golf carts, and the first one went thru the stop sign without stopping. I pulled up about 3 feet from him with my horn blaring and I did not stop honking until he was well out of the way. I bet the cart driver will not forget this encounter.

The second cart stopped at the stop sign.

I would take the red light cameras, potential abuse, and "money drain" over getting hit by someone who ignores the light. The abuses can be discovered an cured and the "money drain" might be less than the cost of additional traffic-enforcement personnel. The current system isn't working well and people are getting hurt.

Speed Cameras
 

Speed/ticket issuing cameras are a great idea. Enough is enough with the clowns who think they can treat traffic circles like the Daytona 500. The revenue could help make the area even nicer. Go for it, I’m a yes!

I wonder how many Golf Carts were cited for speeding and speed governor equipment tampering?

Thanks for your Transparency!

When and where I worked with calls for service, medicals, accidents and other calls I usually averaged 2 tickets a day. Unless someone only works traffic enforcement those numbers are not realistic.

Gas carts have a higher center of gravity compared to an E-cart. Obviously, the battery is mounted lower in the vehicle than the gas engine. So, that makes the E-cart less likely to overturn in an accident or EVEN when on a side hill and doing a cornering maneuver. I doubt that locally they keep separate statistics for the 2 groups of Carts. Maybe there are some national cart statistics.
.......Again, I would propose that in residential neighborhoods, on straight areas, not curves, that there be some wider areas of the street to allow a car or truck to SAFELY pass a SLOWER golf cart. And, you-all KNOW that it happens ALL the time ! Better to have it happen somewhat more safely.

Lots of room for improvement. It is SO bad that it becomes humorous. I feel that there is NOT enough of a Police presence BOTH for ticketing bad driving AND for preventing robbery and serious crime. We are a Bubble surrounded by have-nots - it IS only logical to want a bigger Police presence. And friendly Officers without chips on their shoulders and too much feeling about their own power. Retired residents here DESERVE that!

Right, that seems a little on the "light" side.

So logical! I wonder if it is because there are NOT enough Officers. And I wonder who decides how many and what their pay should be? I am just asking. I obviously don't know.

Then they are SAVING LIVES there and WHY not here?

There are too many vehicles for the size of the roads during the winter season. We can't have less vehicles without something like a regular commercial bus service started. So, we need more lanes on the main roads and more multimodal paths.
......Since 1970 in most of Florida, the population growth has ALWAYS stayed ahead of the road building. When I was in TN. I noticed that the roads were keeping up with the population growth (at least where I was located). It is true that Fl. growth has been greater and faster than most states, but you would think that they could have SOLVED the problem since it dated back so long to 1970.

The thing about a bicycle commuting somewhere is that it keeps a gasoline CO2 spewing car off the road and increases the safety for the car passengers - a bicycle does NOT hurt car occupants in the event of a collision. So, a driver of a car or truck ought to LOVE to see more and more people riding bikes and E-bikes. If the cyclist were NOT going somewhere by bicycle, they would likely be taking their car. And that means one more car in a line waiting at a red lite and hoping NOT to have to sit through 2 or even 3 lights.
......Therefore, cars and trucks should HIGHLY RESPECT bicycle riders.

I am SOLIDLY in the camp FOR speed cameras and red light cameras. Someone in TV Town obviously does NOT want to pay for the necessary number of Police Officers needed. So, maybe cameras would be less costly and still be an improvement over the current speeding and reckless driving going on.
.........Plus TV Land is having MANY accidents and trips to the HOSPITAL and lost time are COSTLY.

Overall good move. But unfortunately, you had to ACT as an Enforcement OFFICER because none were around and you did NOT even get paid for it. Maybe if cameras were installed there, people would learn to RESPECT the stop sign and the SAFETY of others.
........The humorous (and sad) thing is that we are ALL retired and do NOT need to hurry up and run stop signs or lights. We are rushing to our noon NAP.

Small sampling of real data from a crossed the nation regarding red-light cams....

Study: Red-light cameras fail to reduce traffic accidents

Red Light Cameras May Not Make Streets Safer - Scientific American

USA TODAY

Red-light cameras being stopped across Southern California, country – San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Why Cities Hit the Brakes on Red Light Cameras

https://www.sog.unc.edu/blogs/nc-cri...onstitutional\

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-75e73043d60a/

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/researc...ue-controversy

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_ro...10c43c96f.html

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/aust...luding-austin/

There is a lot to unpack there and interestingly, some of those "studies" argue against each other.

- Rear-end accidents increased while T-bone accidents decreased. Yep, that's what you would expect if people are now stopping at the light rather than running it.

- Accidents decreased at non-camera intersections too. Of course they did. In the split second where you decide to stop or run the light you don't have time to think of whether this light has a camera; instead, you stop at every light. That just shows that a camera doesn't need to be installed at every light in order to get the benefit.

- Accidents didn't increase greatly after cameras were installed. Yep, the cameras changed behaviors. Accidents will again increase but it will take some time for those who would run the red lights to feel comfortable doing that again.

- Accidents increased from 30 to 34 the year the camera was removed but that is not significantly greater. I don't know, a 13% increase seems significantly greater especially if I was the victim of one of the four.

- The Dept of Transportation who installed the cameras doesn't have the authority to enforce traffic laws. Obviously, this doesn't speak at all to whether the cameras are effective at reducing severe injuries and deaths.

- Accidents continued to increase in spite of the cameras. Then this study can't provide any conclusions at all about the effectiveness of the cameras.

The USA Today article seemed very well done and non-biased. It stated that the majority of people (I believe) it was 75% liked the cameras (I guess.....people like safety.....who wants to die in a car crash???) Side crashes went DOWN 42 %. Rear-end crashes went UP 27 %.
........I believe that I would RATHER take my chances on the LOWER % rear-end crashes than the HIGHER % side crashes. With a rear-end crash the driver and one front seat passenger are shielded by the trunk and rear seat area of a typical sedan. With a side crash the driver or front seat passenger has ONLY the thin area of the front door to PROTECT them. So in the interest of life, limb, and safety, I would cast a vote to have MORE safety cameras and also MORE Police for any given city.
.......The idea of longer yellow light is REAL stupid, just a deflection. And I don't UNDERSTAND why any groups would resist this superior SAFETY technology? ......Maybe only the reckless drivers that are smug about themselves and do NOT value human life would OBJECT to it.