Georgia Injury Lawyer Blog

Brake system care of golf carts is very important. Golf carts can be just as lethal as automobiles if not operated and maintained properly. When used carelessly, a golf cart can kill or severely injure the driver and passengers, innocent bystanders, or it can cause significant property damage. There are a number of things that can be wrong with golf cart brakes to create these types of situations.

Most all golf carts employ cable activated rear wheel brakes only. In recent years, hydraulic brakes and 4-wheel cable activated brake systems are becoming more common, as golf carts take on more diverse applications off the golf course; however, these systems are less common. Cable activated brake systems must be properly inspected and maintained on golf carts. Negligent maintenance can result in total and unexpected brake failure. Cable activated systems have three primary drawbacks. 1) The multi-stranded cables can start to break and unravel, sometimes inside the housing so that it is hard to see damage in progress; 2) The cables themselves are often located immediately under the battery compartment in electric vehicles, thus they are subject to the problems of improper battery maintenance. Acid-dripping batteries can contaminate and start to corrode the cable strands. Coupled with the natural water spray and corrosive golf course fertilizers, the cables really take a beating and may be subject to sudden and unexpected failure; and 3) The cables hang below the chassis and they are vulnerable to snagging stumps, rocks, and any other protruding obstacles they encounter.

A proper and systematic inspection of a golf cart will reveal most of these problems before there is a catastrophic event. If the cables are rusted, kinked, have broken housings, or just look suspicious in any way, shape or form, they should be replaced immediately. Failure to properly inspect and maintain a golf cart may subject the owner to liability for injuries in the event of a golf cart crash.

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Golf cart accidents are caused by any number of factors, including, the negligent or reckless operation of the cart and negligent failure to inspect and maintain the cart, especially the brake system. The number of reported golf cart accidents is continuing on the rise, which raises the public concern about golf cart safety. With the advent to faster golf carts and the practice of using golf carts in “off course” locations such as in airports, on school campuses or even city streets, more accidents are prone to happen. One of the more common golf cart accidents involves passenger ejection. This usually happens when the driver makes a hard left turn causing the passenger to be ejected from the right hand side of the cart. Golf cart seatbelts are not mandatory and therefor they are rarely present
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Roll-overs are another typical accident associated with golf cart usage. These tend to happen on slick and/or hilly terrain, especially if your cart has a sub-par braking system. For instance, if your cart has only a front or rear wheel braking system and you attempt to slam on your brakes when driving full speed down a steep grade, your brakes may not be able to slow your acceleration, which in turn would cause you to fishtail out of control with the possibility of rolling over if you make any sharp turns. If your cart has only rear-wheel brakes and one of the rear wheels comes off the ground or fails to make good contact with the ground, you have very limited, if any braking ability.

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