Friday, March 9, 2001
Friday, March 9, 2001 |
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Seatbelts not needed for golf carts, chief says
By JOHN
MUNFORD After compiling research on injuries arising from golf cart accidents, Peachtree City Fire Chief Stony Lohr plans to recommend to the City Council that it should not adopt requirements for seatbelts on golf carts. Lohr said that seatbelts can become a hazard like it did for one fatality recorded in Ohio when a 16-year-old drowned in a lake when his golf cart rolled in and he couldn't free himself from the seatbelt. Other experts believe seatbelts in carts can also cause more serious injuries than they prevent, Lohr said. Lohr plans to recommend that the city encourage not require residents to use helmets for youths riding carts. Lohr also wants council to touch up its current golf cart ordinance to address golf carts that are modified to go faster than 15 miles per hour. Carts that travel up to 20 mph are not required to have any safety restraints at all, according to federal government requirements, Lohr said. But carts which can travel between 20 and 25 mph, known as "low-speed vehicles," are required by federal regulations to have some extra safety features. Any cart modified to travel over 25 mph must meet all the restraint requirements for a full-size automobile, Lohr added. It's those faster carts that Lohr wants to make sure the city regulates. Many serious golf cart injuries reported across the nation are due to people being seated incorrectly on carts, such as riding on bumpers or partially hanging off the cart, Lohr said. He discovered one incident in California where six kids crammed onto a two-seater golf cart and after speeding downhill and wrecking, one of the youths was killed. "It's about people doing what they're not supposed to be doing," Lohr said. "They're doing things that put them in jeopardy." The federal government allows states to regulate golf carts, but only 16 states have chosen to do so, Lohr said. None of those states require the use of seatbelts, he added. "The main purpose of seatbelts is to prevent the head impacting the windshield and protecting the occupant in a rollover," the chief said, adding that in rollover situations seatbelts could become harmful when the rider can't quickly jump off to avoid having the cart roll over on top of them. Lohr also wants council to initiate a public education program about golf cart safety.
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