If you use a golf cart on the golf course, you know how handy these little powered vehicles can be, allowing you to traverse the distance to your ball and between holes quickly.
Golf carts are so handy that some people choose to use them at their residences in Florida and elsewhere. If you own an acreage, you can use the golf cart to carry items across your property or to reach remote areas on the property in no time. In residential neighborhoods, some people use golf carts to drive around the neighborhood.
With golf carts in motion on city streets, though, there is always the chance of an accident. If the cart crashes while you are riding in it, or if it hits you while you are walking or riding your bicycle in the neighborhood, you could be injured.
Some personal injuries in golf cart crashes are extremely severe, leading to missed work time, pain that lingers, and possible disabilities. If this happened to you, consider retaining a Daytona Beach golf cart accident lawyer to represent your interests and protect your rights to receive damages.
Some people believe driving a golf cart is safer than driving a motor vehicle, because golf carts cannot attain anywhere near the same high speeds as a car or truck. However, golf carts do not have safety features designed to protect the driver and passenger, so even a crash at a relatively slow speed can be extremely dangerous.
Some of the design features of golf carts that can lead to personal injuries when the cart is involved in an accident include:
- Lack of safety gear: golf carts often do not have seat restraints and or air bags, which means the passengers have no extra protection when a collision occurs.
- Lack of a sturdy frame: golf carts do not have doors or a sturdy protective frame around passengers, leading to ejections and crushing injuries in a collision at a far greater rate than passengers in a car accident would have.
- Lack of safety lighting: golf carts rarely have headlights or other safety lights that make them more visible to motor vehicles at night.
- Rear facing seat: where a passenger riding on a rear facing seat at the back of the cart could fall off during a sharp turn or with a significant bump in the road, striking the pavement hard and suffering major injuries.
- Tip accidents: where the golf cart could tip onto its side because of its low center of gravity and small tires, potentially causing occupants to hit the ground hard causing injuries.
Allen Financial Insurance Group says about 10% of golf cart accidents involve a tip-over crash, which are twice as likely to cause the victims to require a hospital stay to deal with their injuries as non-tip-over accidents.
Passenger ejections are involved in about 35% of all golf cart accidents, according to Technology Associates, where a sharp turn of the golf cart causes a passenger’s momentum to move outward. If the passenger does not anticipate the turn, he or she cannot brace the body and could fall out of the cart, suffering personal injuries.
Determining Negligence in Golf Cart Accidents
If you suffered an injury because of a mistake a golf cart driver made, you must be able to prove that the mistake occurred because of negligence on the part of the operator. Showing negligence is a key component in attempting to win a favorable judgement in a personal injury claim.
Negligence in this case means showing that the golf cart driver could have taken a different action than he or she did, which would have prevented the situation that led to your injury.
A Daytona Beach golf cart accident lawyer from Bogin, Munns & Munns will study the facts in your case, interview witnesses and view any video of the scene, to attempt to show that you deserve compensation.
To consult with an experienced golf cart accident lawyer serving Daytona Beach
855-780-9986
Common Golf Cart Accident Injuries
Sometimes, a golf cart accident involves hitting another person on the golf course or even on the road.
Although it does not seem like a golf cart could injure a pedestrian in a collision, golf carts can travel 10 mph or more, which can knock a pedestrian over in a crash, especially if he or she does not see the golf cart coming. Battery powered golf carts make very little noise, so the pedestrian may be caught unaware.
If the pedestrian falls to the pavement or golf cart path after being hit by a cart, he or she could strike their head, which can cause a concussion, a traumatic brain injury, or facial trauma.
These types of head injuries can cause lingering issues, leaving the victim unable to work or enjoy life as he or she did before the golf cart crash.
Contact the Office of a Golf Cart Accident Attorney in Daytona Beach to Learn More Today
A Daytona Beach golf cart accident lawyer from the office of Bogin, Munns & Munns works on a contingency fee basis in a personal injury lawsuit. This means that we do not require clients to pay anything upfront to retain our services, which is helpful if you are unable to work because of your golf cart accident injuries and unable to earn any current income.
Instead, our fee will come from the final settlement or award in the case. When you retain our law firm, we will take over negotiations with the negligent party’s insurance company, seeking to come to an agreement on a fair settlement amount. Should the insurer refuse to settle, we will stand by your side and represent your interests in court.
Please also keep in mind that your case is extremely time sensitive. Memories and evidence fade, and the state statute of limitations puts a timer on how long you have to file a lawsuit.
In Florida, you typically only have two years to sue for damages after your golf cart accident. Do not delay contacting our team. We are standing by to offer free consultations today.
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