POA questions golf cart seat belt issue
 

It’s about time that the POA has finally decided to take issue with the Sherriff’s Department recommendation against using seat belts for golf carts in TV. They are raising issues and challenging the Sheriff’s Department to provide accident statistics to support their anti seatbelt position. Here is a link to the article.

It makes no sense to me to apply the same standards for golf carts that are used exclusively on golf courses to those used in TV for transportation. Golf course carts are usually governed down to 14mph, travel mostly on unidirectional paths and soft fairways. The carts in TV are zipping in and out of traffic at 20mph, careening in and out of narrow two way tunnels, and dealing with other cars and trucks whose drivers think a stop sign means slow down a little.

The other day I watched a 6 year old hop into the passenger seat of a cart. His feet were a good 6 inches above the floor and he held onto his knees for support as the driver sped off down the road. It’s crazy. Please folks, get 3 point belts installed on your carts and use them on the streets of TV.

Ed, I didn't know the POA bulletin was delivered to Stonecrest. Only kidding I know you picked it up at Publix.:laugh:

Thanks, Ed....I agree.

Without a real roll cage, I'd rather get tossed out in an accident than wind up with a cart on top of me. Just sayin'.

I would have to vote No for seatbelts

It would help if you would at least read the article and comment from that standpoint instead of just making rhetorical statements.

Why bother when it's available on-line.

Ed, your comment "sped off" is pretty much key here! Seatbelts aren't needed "if" the folks driving aren't speeding and adhering to the rules of the road! Accidents do happen but mostly by folks who are distracted if you've read the POA in the past (they've been posting the accidents).

Ed, Are you suggesting these seatbelts for everyone or just for children? If for children, how old or how large? What about babies? Carseats?

I see Bicycle riders wear safety Helmets. They are also mandatory for children. Then same person gets in a cart with no belts or doors and travels 20 mph or faster.

With no protection seems like a accident waiting to happen. Did I not read on this site of a woman killed who flew out the passenger seat and hit her head on the road?

It's a free country and it's your right to not buckle up. In fact I come form a State where Motorcycle Helmets are mandatory. Here the hair is flying in the Breeze, or the glare is reflecting off the head!

But to chance flying out hitting your head on the concrete curb or a tunnel or tree makes the wife and I opt for the three point belt system

The real difference here in TV is that getting tossed out onto the street pavement in front of an oncoming truck or car going 30 mph....that then runs over us....is far more deadly or maiming than getting thrown out onto golf course turf. Many of the fatalities here have been from being thrown out and then getting run over by a much bigger vehicle.

Also, getting thrown out and hitting one's skull on a concrete curb or on pavement is a lot more likely to result in massive brain bleeding and spillage than if the head hits golf course grass.

Driver/passenger ejection studies done on golf course turf really do not apply to driving on paved city streets in 20-30 mph car/truck traffic here.

I just cannot believe that the State of Florida doesn't require helmets on motorcycles.

Apparently most injuries in golf carts happen when people fly out and hit their heads. Seems like seat belts or helmets would help. But they would certainly impact the feeling of freedom that a lot of wrinklies love.

Ed forgive me for being the one to point out the elephant in the room but since you are not a resident of TV do you think its right that you ought to be pushing suggestions that affect residents here?.....just saying

Makes sense to me !!

My grandchildren (ages 6 & 8) know they have to buckle up when riding in the cart. I would not have it any other way. A sudden bump, quick turn, etc. would be enough to throw a child from the cart. I am distressed when I see "Grandma" driving the cart with a little one on her lap. Not safe!

It is hard to know what is safer....without further rules.
 

So far I can't remember any reports of any little ones here being hurt due to a golf cart accident but...

I am fearful sometimes when I see little ones facing backward, with no adult beside them.

This is the summertime, the slow time of year for population and traffic and last high season, January, February and March, there was far too many serious accidents here with golf carts and cars and I am not sure just what would be the best way to prevent them.

I think most of us would be open to some change that might affect a plus to us all being more safe. I am thinking more and more about some numbers being attached to golf carts, but who would be in charge? There are many golf carts that drive on our streets from surrounding communities such as Stonecrest. In a situation like this, it can become a bureaucratic nightmare, but with more and more golf carts and no way to identify drivers who are driving erratically, it is hard to think of a way to let someone know who can stop someone who is a potential threat to safety.

Anyone have any good ideas?

P.S. Ed, it would be such a good idea for you to move here to The Villages. You are such a great benefit to us when it comes to information of any kind. I would vote for you for mayor, but we don't have a mayor, just a king and we didn't vote for him. But so far I like the king.

I see nothing wrong with wanting to protect the grandchildren of TV residents when they are riding around TV on the streets that my county tax dollars maintain.

I would feel safer with a three point safety belt. To get throw from a cart or be in an accident at 20 MPH could result in severe injuries without a seat belt.

I always use my seat belt in my car and would want to use it in any traveling vehicle.

Just sayin........

When I came to TV for the first time I'm May, my creekside villa came with a golf cart included. The first time I took it for a spin, I was leaving the main street from the villas (Merriweather Way?) and took the turn perhaps a bit too fast to the golf cart path. I almost fell out and held myself in by hanging on to the steering wheel. Having never driven a cart before, it was a rude awakening! And those particular carts don't even go faster than 12 or 14 mph! I was MUCH more careful after that, became comfortable with the cart, but was always reminded of how dangerous it could be. I LOVE driving them around. Easy, peasy, and fun! But we need to be mindful of the dangers! I would not be adverse to a seat belt, for sure!

Sorry for going off topic but enough of "just sayin", which adds nothing to a post.


Phrases To Be Banned: Just Sayin'

Oh Gracie, you’re too kind. Me Mayor? Rubicon and BogieShooter would go berserk.

I think the best that seatbelt proponents should hope for in TV is that after reviewing all the evidence and historical data, the Sheriff’s Department reverses its stand against them due to the special nature of the enormous golf cart transportation community that TV is.

In the past, any discussion about the merits of using seatbelts on carts would invariably end when someone would post that the Sherriff’s Department regularly attends community meetings and recommends against them.

So if the Sherriff’s Department even changed to a neutral position on this, at least people could make up their own minds without feeling like they’re going against official recommendations.

Hopefully, the POA will continue to keep the dialog running. It's too important to ignore.

Maybe you should start a separate thread about "Phrases that Should be Banned from TOTV". Just saying. :)

If one feels the need for a golf cart seat belt go for it. How one protects themselves should be up to them. Case in point..........

http://i1223.photobucket.com/albums/...64406438_n.jpg

I can tell you about some people thrown from a car and died as a result of that occurrence. However I have also seen where people were thrown from their vehicle without injury and the remaining people in that vehicle sustained fatal injuries. I can tell about a guy who is now a quadrparlegic because of the fact that in a roll over his seat belt damaged his spine Or the woman who went over an embankment with the vehicle on its top in low water (creek) but because she was locked in by her seat belt she drowned.

Let's look at the practical side here. First those in favor are desirng to create a law that does not now exist without any supporting and long term data and impose their desire on an entire community. The large costs associated with installing seat belts are an issue. The fact that seat belts cannot be properly anchored are another. Just exactly how many people who presently have seat belts installed in their carts use them while driving on these cart paths? How about the roads? A guy I play golf with had seat belts installed before he purchased his cart. He has nothing pleasant to say about them. By creating a golf cart seat belt law means the law has to be enforced and to be enforced it requires law enforcement, law enforcement that is already over burden . Finally to be enforced means to suffer a penalty normally a monetary penalty.

If the position of Mayor opens up I would like to throw my hat in the ring and campaign on this issue.

I had seat belts installed by C&C in a Yamaha with a MEE cab. Because of the cab I couldn't install 3 point belts so just have belts around the waist. They were anchored to the underside of the seat and it would seem to me that any cart could be installed with seat belts anchored that way. The belts go through the back of the seat. We feel much safer with these belts and the cost was reasonable.

John

The position of Mayor requires one to be able to stay on track and address the issue at hand. Nowhere in my original post did I even suggest a seatbelt law nor did the POA article that I referenced. And nowhere in my post did I advocate using them on cart paths as I specifically said “on the streets of TV”.

This thread is not about laws, regulations, fines, or installation expenses. It’s about the Sherriff’s Department taking a stand against golf cart seatbelts that may in fact prove to be more detrimental than helpful.

And as for embellishing one’s position with fictitious scenarios, I remember those very same fictitious scenarios being used over 4 decades ago when State seatbelt laws were first being debated.

Good point, "boy howdy". That's another one.

I'm pretty sure that the original point was not that a law is needed to force seat belts, but that common sense tells us it's not worth it to be ejected (which can easily happen) and.....either get run over by a car/truck, or hit our skull on curb or pavement and have brain hemorrhage/spill and death.

It's not about golf usage of the cart. It's about automobile traffic use and getting ejected on the street.

We had seat belts installed immediately after getting our cart and seeing how easily a front wheel and steering wheel can get jarred by a gutter grate which then can lead to hitting the curb and toppling.....or by seeing how easily the passenger or driver can get thrown because of a sudden needed maneuver like braking, avoiding something in our path, or having to suddenly get over to the right a bit in the diamond lane because a car beside you is dangerously close, etc.

Obviously we don't use the seat belts on the golf course. But we don't leave our driveway without them fastened.

Whatever . . .

:icon_wink:

:ohdear:Illinois doesn't require helmets for motorcycles either----there might be other States. I know it was a big isssue in Illinois a few years ago----first you had to wear helmets then "they" got it changed. Seat belts required in my golf cart----wear one if you want but they should not be mandatory. Next up: License plate for your golf cart ($100.00 a year) so we can find all the criminals riding around TV and put more sheriff deputies on patrol. "You have to be reasonable to reason." JustJim

And so did I. Long enough to know that there isn't an insurance company on the face of this earth that would advocate against the use of seat belts.

If you guys will read the POA article and then do a search on TOTV and other web sites for 'deaths from golf carts in The Villages' you might change your mind. The fact is that the last 10 deaths of people in carts within TV have been from some sort of head injury. Either getting thrown from the cart and hit their head, or get run over by landscape truck or car, or hit their head on any other object. The video that Sumter county shows is not relevant to what happens around our town. Not one accident in the past 7 years that killed anyone was from a roll over where the cart crushed them. Not one. There have been some bad injuries from roll overs but no deaths in that time frame. I have seat belts in my cart and I use them unless I'm on the course.

I also think it's about time we challenged the conventional wisdom (thanks for starting this thread Ed) since we have real data on our side from these tragic deaths.

Your opinion is very valued to me Russ, I think that you have good judgement and good evaluating skills, especially since you are now working in the hospital here.

Where did you get your golf cart seat belts installed and about how much do they cost?

Ah Russ, another breath of fresh air. Thanks for your factual input as always.

Gracie, the usual available retro fit retractable belt set is around $75-100 plus installation which is pretty straight forward. Just be sure to have one of the local cart shops (perhaps one that advertises on TOTV) install them. And be sure to get the retractable type so as Russ pointed out, you can leave them retracted away while on the course.

That is copyrighted by Gracie.............do you have permission to use it??

Boy Howdy. Some of us didn't get our nap.:boxing2:

:agree: I saw this at Lake Sumter Landing when I was in TV last month. Baby --about 6 months old -- sitting in "Grandma's" lap when they were in a golf cart driving around LSL right by the square. I'm not a mom or a grandma, but that did not look safe to me. Just my 2 cents.

Au contraire I did not say that, and the cases I cited were factual accident cases you labeled fictional. As you recall my initial post only question why someone not living in The Villages would take license to speak for said residents.

To say that x number of people died because... requires quite a bit of research....relative to what ? Injuries are categorize by type location ,etc over many years before any meaningful information can be gleaned by insurance companies and then they are not completely relied upon.

Finally I am not arguing for or against seat belts only attempting to expand on the complexities involving with this issue.