Accident by Lake Miona Rec?
 

This evening about 5:30 PM or so, there were emergency vehicles in the back parking lot of the Lake Miona Rec Center and the cart tunnel under Buena Vista was closed. Anyone know what happened?

This might be it?


"major accident
05/24/12 18:37
(the villages - 800 trs ps 2) engine company 44 on scene 2 vehicle motor vehicle accident with entrapment request squad 51 for extrication batt 51 incident command [fla074]" Sumter County, Florida (FL) Live Police, Fire, and EMS Scanners on RadioReference.com

It might be -- I did not see any vehicles at street level, but I guess the accident could have been in the tunnel. That tunnel has a sharp right angle turn on the east side.

I was driving by there at that time. I asked the gate attendant at Bailey Trail at Sunset Pointe. He said it was a golf cart accident, tipped over in the tunnel due to excessive speed. Seemed like a lot of EMS and police vehicles for a golf cart roll over. :shrug:

Thats because there were 7 adults in the cart with their legs hanging out and drinking heavily.:1rotfl:

It was a woman
 

My husband works at that rec. center. He said a woman was driving through the tunnel. It was slick from the rain. The golf cart flipped. He thought the wall there had something to do with it and maybe not going slow enough.

Sorry....an accident with injury is not funny.

Agree
 

It was an accident,someone got hurt hopefully not bad!

Really
 

It was an accident someone got hurt and right away the drinking crap comes out again. Not funny at all. Let's hope they're OK.

I heard all the sirens, Hope it wasn't too bad.

be careful
 

Twice in the last month I have had to brake to a stop when almost at the tunnel entrance (going toward Lake Miona rec center) because the other drivers were way left of center coming around the curve exiting the tunnel. I already was going slowly approaching it - thank goodness!

The other drivers did not even appear to have noticed that they were on my side of the roadway, and not just by a couple of inches, but several feet. Had I not stopped, there would have been head on collisions. And this was in the morning both times, don't think there were any drinking issues, just carelessness issues.

hope you and yours never suffer the same fate.

I came through that tunnel yesterday, just after the roll over. Couldn't have been more than a couple minutes after it happened, since there were only a couple folks there trying to help.

It was right at the entrance to the tunnel on the Miona Rec. Center end. It looked as if the cart likely hit the curb and flipped. There was a person still in the cart, lying on the ground, so likely injured to some degree.

I have no idea what the contributing factors might have been, but this was right after the rain and it's possible that the pavement [on the hill] was a bit slippery.

Looked a single cart accident...

Never meant to make light of someone getting hurt. Probably not one of my better posts. Sorry.

I hold my breath every time I take that tunnel and, sadly, I take it a lot. People go way too fast into and out of it, especially considering the curves on both sides. I stop or at least seriously slow down when I'm about 3/4 of the way entering it from Buena Vista -- you never know how another cart is going to take that corner and it is usually in my lane. Coming in from Bailey Trail isn't quite as bad, but I still slow down quite a bit just to be on the safe side. It is really a scary tunnel.

Hope the lady is okay and may this be a good reminder to all taking that tunnel to take it slow and easy.

No one ever wants to see anyone get hurt regardless of the circumstances. Thanks for your apology. I'm sure you didn't mean to make light of someones's injuries. An unfortunate post, but thanks for owning up to your error!

That being said, I encountered that tunnel for the first time a week ago on my LSV and thought it to be a bit dangerous! Now I know to be cautious when my build is finished and I finally get to be a frog! No wonder the rental carts are set to run so slowly!!!

I, too, have used that tunnel many, many times. I do not find it daunting at all. Just keep your speed lowered a little bit and there is no problem at all.

For a cart to flip on it's side - even with rain slickened pathways - she had to be moving very fast and turning very sharp at the same time.

We almost encountered an accident there ourselves a month or two ago. It was about 10 at night. We were going down the hill towards the tunnel, after passing past the Lake Miona entrance/drive-way. We had slowed down which was a very good thing as all of a sudden "TWO" carts came out of the tunnel abreast of one another. Obviously racing!! One cart didn't have their lights on...this would have been the cart we'd have collided with. After making the turn they got in single file--probably because of us! They were whooping and hollering! It was VERY scarey!!!

I a hurry to get to happy hour at LSL? :boom:

Gracious of you....accepted.

I would be willing to bet these were grandkids of Villagers racing around and Grampa did not realize what was happening. If there was an accident, Grampa could have lost everything he worked all his life to achieve.

Accepted... Thanks for doing that. :BigApplause:

buggyone: Perhaps I hold a bias but it appears to me that resdents, especially fulltimers are well acquainted and more in tune to the cartpaths dangerous/weak spots and hence more cautious vis a vis renters or those just visting. I make that statement based on the many many comments coming from fulltimers over the six years I have lived here.

I trvel tha tunnel often and have found on occassion when a golf cart operator has taken a "california turn" and had to stop

if anyone happens to travel thru that tunnel and hears a cart horn beeping as if it was stuck - no worry - it's a friend of mine who rarely uses that route, but when they do the let everyone know they're there! ;)

Made the mistake of trying to walk my dog through the tunnel back in February 2012. Never again. Had to pick him up and carry him quickly out of harm's way. Wished someone could have beamed me and him out of there.

That road there is not exactly user friendly to dog walkers, pedestrians, joggers, etc.

It's the old saying " you can't fix stupid".

:mademyday:

Well stated apology Penquin
 

Good for you Penquin. I respect you for that apology. I know you didn't mean for the post to sound the way other readers interpreted it. I understand your sentiment in that it was "tongue in cheek" and addressed the fact that often when an accident is reported in TOTV many people immediately begin indicting alcohol consumption as a cause AND the complaints about overcrowding on golf carts is always a recurring thread.

Swampy

I've thought many times that making the tunnel-exiting right turn a foot or two too soon could result in the rear wheel getting caught on the curb corner, causing it to flip. I always remind myself not to turn right out of the tunnel until my rear wheel is past the end of the curb on the right.

If the cause was related to a wet pavement, folks must learn that here in Florida we have something called Florida ice. After a long dry spell oil residue builds up and it only takes a little amount of water to make it very slippery. Add that to the fact that most cart drivers only know how to drive with the accelerator pressed against the floor.

Wonder why folks who don't drive their autos with the pedal to the metal think it's the only way to drive their carts. Slow down folks before golf cart insurance rates climb or, we go back to the days when you could only operate a golf cart in The Villages between sunrise and sunset. It took some time to have the priviledge expanded to 24 hours a day operation. Hate to see us lose that because of increasing accidents involving carts and reckless operators.