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 . . .

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