If you watch golf cart fails often, then chances are, you have seen a flipped golf cart. Maybe not videos, but a Golf Cart Flipping Over Gif can show you exactly what I’m talking about.
Yes. Golf cart crashes are a thing.
Don’t know if you have bumped into funny golf cart videos, but if you’ve seen golf cart crashes, you would know they are pretty serious.
Don’t worry, this guide is not here to scare you.
This guide will show you what a flipped golf cart is, the dangers involved, the causes, who to blame, and how to prevent your golf cart from flipping over.
How often do golf carts get flipped?
Very often actually.
Have you ever witnessed someone flip a golf cart while you were golfing?
Maybe you’ve seen one cart hit a tree, two carts driven into a pond, one cart teetering over the edge of a bridge guardrail, another cart tipped over, or several stuck in the mud. Or maybe you’ve seen none of these!
For me, when I see golf cart fails of this nature, I begin to wonder whether the drivers of these carts were sleeping on the steering, or maybe the golfers at these clubs drink way too much.
Then we could see cases of people getting hospitalized because their golf carts flip over on a course. It’s not strange to see golf cart crashes over the weekend.
Golf cart rollover accidents are quite common at country clubs and golf courses, but who is liable for the injuries sustained?
See Also: Golf Cart Insurance Rates (2023)
Dangers associated with a flipped golf cart
Sometimes, we see scenarios where people suffer severe injuries from their golf carts toppling over because they make hard turns without using their brakes.
This may sound like a hard-to-be-in situation, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to be in this life-threatening situation.
- Getting trapped beneath a flipped cart can result in blunt force trauma when a part of the cart falls on a person.
- A rollover accident could be life-threatening and result in lasting injuries to both driver and passenger(s).
- Because golf carts do not usually come with safety belts, a rollover accident can force out passengers, which could cause life-threatening damage like brain injuries.
- Golf carts don’t have fully-secure doors. As a result, any accident that surfaces from careless driving could cause grave injuries to the inhabitants because they are not fully secure inside the cart.
Common causes of a flipped golf cart
We see driver negligence as one of the most common causes of flipped golf carts. Driver negligence means operating a vehicle in any unsafe way.
Generally, golf carts come with safety belts or fitted restraints. As a result, you must not drive them at high speeds that could cause grave damage if an accident occurs.
Like a vehicle in operation, golf carts have their design, maximum speed, and intended usage.
Unfortunately, many people fail to recognize these rules and advisories but treat their golf carts like toys. And when they do this, they could cause injury to their passengers, pedestrians, or even themselves.
Many experts conduct physical inspections of different golf cart models and accident locations. They do this to identify the cause of golf cart rollovers. See them below:
1. Careless Driving
As I mentioned earlier, careless driving/driver negligence is among the most common causes of flipped golf carts. A driver’s negligence could result in a golf cart accident.
If the driver operates the cart carelessly like making dangerous turns, maneuvers, driving while drunk, or speeding, it is called Driver Negligence. Hence, people driving golf carts are advised to adhere to the safety codes and required driving regulations.
2. Defect in the design of the cart
A defective product or design could cause a cart to flip over. The golf cart could have a defect in its design, which could cause the golf cart to topple over without other external factors.
Sometimes, the reason for an issue in a golf cart’s design may be negligence on the part of the manufacturers.
3. Road defects
Road defects pose another issue here. Bad roads can make a driver lose control and swerve the cart dangerously. Cases like this can be riskier, and when the accident happens on a paved surface, it is more damaging than when it is on grass.
Who is Liable?
1. If it’s the case of a defective product, the manufacturer could be held accountable.
2. If it’s a result of the driver’s negligence, the driver would be held accountable for their misfortune.
3. If it’s because of road or environmental defects, the state’s governing body should be liable, but we all know where that ends most of the time. It’s more like beating a dead horse, so ensure you practice safe driving.
Manufacturers and defective product designs are huge determinants of Safe Golf Rides
This would take our attention to the golf cart design failure. A design failure means the prototype used to craft a product’s design is considered defective.
It could be that the golf cart was not designed correctly. Usually, a design failure happens at the time of production.
So when a manufacturer designs a product without proper care or planning, it is called a design defect because the problem arose during design, not assembly.
But the issue with defective products is that the manufacturers know that the product may not function as expected. It is a visible flaw that they knowingly discard.
Hence, it is safe to say that manufacturers are liable if any injuries or losses are recorded from the use of a defective product they have distributed.
This is because a defective product shows a simple misunderstanding of the product’s operational-design that the product engineers have failed to recognize or have consciously overlooked.
Filing a claim for negligence in a golf cart design
When filing a claim for a defective product, a few entities or parties can be held responsible.
Each entity’s liability will depend on whether the affected party was reckless, knew about the defect, or contributed to distributing the product.
If you or more persons get injured from using a golf cart with defects from production, you may be required to introduce other parties so you can enlarge your insurance coverage.
You could end up with multiple lawsuits and forced to fight for your compensation without going for a split settlement that will cover all parties involved.
The Product Liability Laws state that a Manufacturer will be liable for damages incurred from using a defective product. Wholesalers, distributors, resellers, and others in the distribution chain will also be held accountable.
The Takeout
Always consider the safety factor whenever you mount your golf cart for a drive, because sometimes, in the event of an accident, there’d be no one to hold liable but yourself.
