Heard about a golf cart accident in Florida on Tuesday that resulted in the unfortunate death of man. He was standing on the back of the cart with another man driving on the community street, returning to their house from the Club. The driver hit an unlevel manhole in the street and the gentleman on the back of the cart fell off, hit his head on the pavement and died. The driver of the cart was intoxicated and was charged with DUI manslaughter. Such an avoidable tragedy.
Community and Club Boards, you have a responsibility to try to keep your residents and patrons safe. On the back bumper of every golf cart the words "NO STEP" or "STAY THE HELL OFF", something to that effect are molded into the plastic. How do you enforce that? From a practical perspective many Clubs and Associations have some policy regarding Cart usage, but they don't really deal much with crossing the line from the parking lot of the Club to the residential streets. Usually, the Club Staff is responsible for golf carts ONLY on Club property and once the Cart takes to the neighborhood streets, it becomes the Community Association's problem REGARDLESS of who owns the Cart itself.
You see the difficulties here. Boards, protect yourselves by communicating the safety of golf carts and guidelines for their use with EACH OTHER in a collaborative way. Community Boards, have an ad hoc committee tasked with this and do it in the "sunshine" so all residents can see the seriousness of the issue and steps being taken. Club Boards must be part of that as well so both can come together and create a good policy that protects both parties, and then educate and inform all golfers and residents about it. Train ALL Club staff, not just golf employees, and Association staff in how to proactively address the issue and what steps to take when things begin to get a little out of hand. Alcohol, Clubs, and Golf Carts go hand in hand and Boards should create an environment of heightened safety awareness.
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