More people are being injured by golf carts. (Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times)Golf carts are moving off the golf course, and the result appears to be a surge in injuries, a new report shows.
The June issue of The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports that injuries from being hit by or falling off of golf carts surged 132 percent from 1990 to 2006. Nearly 150,000 people, ranging in age from 2 months to 96 years, were hurt in golf cart accidents during that time.
One reason may be that golf carts have become much faster and more powerful. Reaching speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and traveling as far as 40 miles on a single battery charge, golf carts now offer quick travel in a variety of venues. They are now routinely used at sporting events, hospitals, airports, national parks, college campuses, businesses and military bases, the study authors noted. In some gated and retirement communities, golf carts have become the primary means of transportation.
But golf carts typically aren’t subject to federal regulations, and users often don’t even need a driver’s license to operate one. They don’t have seat belts or stability mechanisms, and a common injury involves people falling off, particularly from the back.
In 1990 there were an estimated 5,772 golf cart injuries, but in 2006 that number had surged to 13,411. About 70 percent occurred at a sports or recreational facility. About 15 percent of injuries happened on the street, and those injuries were most likely to result in concussions and hospitalization. Another 15 percent occurred around homes or on a farm.
Nearly one-third of injuries involved children. About half of the injuries were related to falling or jumping from a golf cart or the cart overturning. Children were at highest risk for falls, and a fall was twice as likely to cause a head or neck injury.
Rear-facing golf seats, in particular, pose a high risk for falls. One study showed that golf carts traveling as slow as 11 m.p.h. can easily eject a passenger during a turn. Another problem is that golf carts don’t have brakes on all four wheels. Rear-wheel brakes can cause carts to fishtail and the driver to lose control, particularly on hilly terrain.
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From 1 to 25 of 26 Comments
yeah, no kidding, look at the people driving…
— nickelsHonestly, I think this is pretty funny. Here comes fear from golf carts, like there is now fear in everything else in this world. Give it 10 years: golf carts will have standard front and rear disc brakes, airbags, 3-point seat belts, crumple zones, On-Star, and every other form of ridiculousness that is not needed on something it’s size. Oh, don’t forget that this will make the price probably increase by 10x.
Safer cars are a necessity. But this is going the same way as removing monkey bars from playgrounds: Our insane tendency to idiot-proof everything and make it ridiculously safe. There is that long-held belief that one learns from experience, mistakes, and accidents. What will happen when nearly everything is idiot-proofed and people no longer make these mistakes? More idiots.
— John-Robert La PortaI didn’t see any data on the increase in golf cart usage. Hard numbers on how many golf carts are out there in use or how many people use a golf cart daily/weekly/monthly/annually would put this into perspective. A 132% increase in golf cart injuries sounds drastic and terrible, but not if it’s accompanied by a 150% increase in golf cart use.
As it is, the numbers are just kind of alarmist, here, given that there’s no way to determine if more of the people using golf carts are being injured by them.
To be sure, as golf cart use increases, golf cart safety is a concern. Some of the carts being used as transport in retirement or gated communities should have seat belts and better handholds, and kids should probably be instructed that you’re not supposed to load eight people on the golf cart, with the ones hanging off the sides beating out a cadence on the roof while the whole ensemble sings sea chantys and Viking songs. And I’m pretty sure you’re really not supposed to joust with them.
…
Um, not that I’d ever go a-Viking with golf carts. I just hear stuff, OK?
— RowanPeople can’t walk to the holes anymore and are getting injured. How fat is this country getting?
— UnAmericanI thought the whole idea of golf was to hit a ball, walk a mile, hit a ball, walk a mile. I suspect these people would be less likely to get injured if they walked. Or the country clubs could just want the duffers off the course faster, given the greens fees are going to be the same, no matter what.
FROM TPP — Many golf courses don’t allow people to walk; they are required to use carts.
— G H WaiteWithout knowing how much increase there was in vehicle use, the figures on increase in injuries don’t mean much: we need to know how many injuries per vehicle mile travelled; and is that getting worse or better?
— Anonymous MDOtherwise, it’s just kind of amusing, isn’t it?
I don’t see much enthusiasm for air bags on carts, although seatbelts might be nice to prevent falls.
This something I wondered about. Golf carts are huge down here, and not just on the many golf courses. In the subdivision I live in, you see people driving them on the public streets year round. But their numbers swell in the Summer time when more and more tourists and second-home owners arrive.
There are laws that pertain to their use on public streets, but I see those laws constantly being broken. Two glaring examples are driving them after dark, which is illegal, and that they be driven only by those with legal drivers’ licenses.
It is the golf carts full of teenagers, with a teen at the wheel that worry me the most, as well as mother drivers with babies perched on their laps. It would only take one car running a stop sign to cause mayhem.
I expect that after a few catastrophic accidents, the politicians will wake up and change the laws surrounding their usage on the same streets where automobiles four times their size are operating.
On the other hand, I could see the day when entire subdivisions utilize golf carts instead of cars, which would be required to park in outlying parking lots, for use only to locations more than 10 or 20 miles away. The golf carts generate less noise and pollution, but all of this would have to be mandated. Americans will never surrender their love affair with automobiles until they are forced to do so.
— Rob L; N Myrtle Beach SCA friend was hurt just this past Monday going down a hill after a rain and lost it on a turn, probably because she didn’t know the area. She suffered a fractured pelvis. Not good. I also play golf and would love to walk but have Rhum. Arthritis and I just can’t do it with the hills.
— Marj.UnderhillI wouldn’t be able to play without the carts but you really have to be careful.
I’m sure a fair number of injuries are attributed to rounds of “speed golf” and alcohol.
— MitchPJust the other day before a baseball game, I was walking to a gate at the stadium and got cut off by an official Oakland A’s golf cart. (It had the capacity to hold about 4 people plus the driver, and it was empty.)
I asked the guy driving it if he was going to cut me off or give me a ride, and he replied, “A little bit of both.”
The answer made no sense. He kept driving, I continued to walk, and he found a way around me and the many other people on foot.
— Jason in OaklandI wouldn’t be surpised if the majority of these “accidents” are alcohol related.
— RP from NYCmost ridiculous….article…ever…
Do we have any earth shattering data on the amount of mouth burns from coffee over the last 10 years that warrants a publication?
— goesaroundcomesaroundFools all, the game is so slow, who has 5 hours to kill? Carts are the way to go, go for a walk on your own time. This ain’t no gym.
— redThose accidents with golf carts would be considered “freak accidents” or stupidity whichever applied. Here are the means of transportation being used to move you from one hole to another and people getting hurt (or causing others to get hurt). Come on now !!!! All we have to do is giving all golfers a brief talk before entering the course.
— PhilfanI wonder how many of these were alcohol-impaired.
— SKVWho cares? On the other hand, if this could make a dent in some of the Tiger Woods worship, it might be worth bumping off a few unnecessary golfers, old coots, etc.
— JNDThis article explains why I have been unable to obtain liability insurance on a golf cart I just purchased to use on a clients plant site.
I have a cart I use for golf and pay $37/year for insurance. When I tried to get insurance on a new cart to use in getting around on a large plant site the insurance companies are unwilling to provide liability coverage at any price.
Maybe I’ll have to go to Lloyds of London.
— DSZFROM WHAT I’VE SEEN AND EXPERIENCED A SEAT BELT REQUIREMENT IS THE MAIN CURE. NEW DRIVERS JUMP START AND IF THE BACK PEOPLE ARE NOT HOLDING OUT THEY GO ON THEIR NOSE. SAME SIDEWAYS FOR ALL. THIS WOULD ALSO LIMIT THE NUMBER OF RIDERS. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE GULF CARTS PERMITTED ON CITY STREETS WHERE ALL STRETS SHOLD HAVE A BIKE LANE BIKERS [ THAT SHOULD BE ON A BIKE ] HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO AVOID CARTS [ THAT ARE DRIVEN SENSIBLY ] LETS NOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT DECADE
FROM TPP — Please do not use ALLCAPS when posting comments.
— Gefto No. 12:
— KHSorry you think this is ridiculous. Please tell that to my friend, widowed at 40, when her husband died due a brain injury caused when he was bounced out of a cart and hit his head on a concrete curbing. NO alcohol was involved. Just a very very sad and tragic accident. You can make light of the “people who drive these,” of the implications of alcohol, or whatever. The fact remains, more people are being injured.
I drive a cart everyday at the college I work for and there is the potential for harm everytime you use the cart. People just need to use their heads for good things instead of evil all the time.
— ?I concur with poster #3. However increases in injuries accompanied with increased use also points to a new trend of using golf carts for transportation uses not necessarily related to golf and alarmingly, increased use on public roads. Leisurely ride to your ball on an open golf course was all these things were designed for. Yet we are increasingly using them to go shopping, run errands, etc. on busy environments without making changes to safety equipments required for these environments.
Alarm seems appropriate - let’s see what happens.
— MichaelFor all of you who feel golf carts are harmless, shame on you. I was an innocent bystander, camping, sitting in my recliner, when a drunk driving a modified golf cart came through our campsite a little after midnight, hit me, trapped me underneath the cart and rolled me in a complete circle like another wheel, before coming to rest on top of me. The approximate weight of the cart and rider was close to 1000 lbs. My injuries consisted of a dislocated left foot, as well as broken left tibia and fibia, separated them and tore my tendon; 10 fractured/broken ribs, a crushed vertebra, herneated disk, and buldged disks in my lumbar spine, which resulted in fusion surgery of 3 vertebra. Lets not exclude the major contusions from my head to my feet. I have had 3 surgeries to date, and will have one more before the end of this year. Harmless, not worth looking into legal restrictions, fooey, live through the year my family and I have and perhaps you will change your mind!!!
— mary kI am a mother of three and have just spent the past 6 months of my life trying to figer out how to now be a mother of two due to a golf cart accident that took the life of my beautiful 14 year old daughter!For those of you out there that thinks golf cart safety is not a issue or that golf cart accidents are not on the rise then you need to do a little more research. There are laws about golf carts but they are not enforced at all. I think that if the laws were enforced we would not see near as many accidents as we do. My daughter was at a friends house in a subdivision when the accident occured. Neither of the girls were licenced drivers and there was no perment or insurance on the cart. We spent 9 long days in the PICU and we have outragous hospital bills that we are responsible for because they had no insurance on the cart. We need to make these laws known and enforce them.
FROM TPP — This is heartbreaking. What a terrible tragedy. Thanks for taking the time to write and remind us that there are real people behind these awful statistics.
— Tonya Taylorgreat, usefull 0_0
— jiimionaWhere can I find statistics on accidents on the golf course after dark and the liability thereof? I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out!
— John