Golf Carts and Low-Speed Vehicles: Injury Claims in Ohio

Published July 10, 2018 · Injury Law Basics

Summer in the Miami Valley means golf carts everywhere: on the course, in campgrounds, at the county fairgrounds, and more and more on the residential streets of retirement and lake communities. Most of the time they are harmless fun. But a golf cart has no doors, no airbags and usually no seat belts, and when one rolls on a hill, is clipped by a car, or is driven by a 12-year-old, the injuries can be every bit as serious as in a car crash.

People often assume that because "it was just a golf cart," there is no real claim and no insurance. Both assumptions are frequently wrong.

How Ohio law classifies golf carts

Ohio's motor-vehicle definitions in R.C. 4501.01 treat a golf cart as an "under-speed vehicle": a three- or four-wheeled vehicle, expressly including one "commonly known as a golf cart," that cannot go faster than 20 miles per hour on a paved level surface and weighs under 3,000 pounds. A "low-speed vehicle" is the slightly faster cousin, with a top speed between 20 and 25 miles per hour; these are the street-legal electric carts sold with headlights, mirrors and seat belts.

The distinction matters for where these vehicles may legally be driven:

• Low-speed vehicles may not be operated on any street or highway with a speed limit above 35 miles per hour (R.C. 4511.214).
• Under-speed vehicles, including ordinary golf carts, may be driven on public streets only where the speed limit is 35 or less and the city, village or township has passed an ordinance or resolution allowing it (R.C. 4511.214 and 4511.215). A cart used on those streets must pass a local law-enforcement inspection and be titled and registered.
• Both kinds of vehicle may cross an intersection with a faster road.

So a golf cart puttering down a neighborhood street in a community that has not authorized them, or driving along a 45-mph road, is being operated in violation of a safety statute. Those violations can be powerful evidence of negligence when someone gets hurt.

The ways people get hurt

The golf-cart injury claims we see tend to fall into a handful of patterns:

Rollovers and ejections. Carts have a high center of gravity and a narrow wheelbase. Sharp turns, slopes, wet grass and speed combine to tip them, and passengers with nothing to hold them in are thrown out. Head injuries, broken hips and shoulders, and crush injuries are common.

Collisions with cars. When a cart shares a street or crosses a road, a car or truck that hits it can cause devastating injuries to people sitting in what is essentially an open bench.

Young or impaired drivers. Parents and grandparents often let children drive carts at campgrounds and private communities. Adults sometimes drive them after a few drinks at the clubhouse. Both create liability for the driver and, often, for the adult who handed over the keys.

Course and property defects. Poorly marked drop-offs, bridges without rails, broken cart paths, and carts with failing brakes or steering can make a golf course, club, campground or rental company responsible.

Pedestrians. People walking on paths, parking lots and fairgrounds are struck by carts driven too fast or without attention.

Who can be responsible

A golf-cart injury can involve more potential defendants than people expect:

• The driver, under ordinary negligence principles, including any violation of the operation rules above.
• The cart's owner, if the owner let an inexperienced, underage or impaired person drive. That is a negligent-entrustment theory.
• The golf course, club, campground or community association, if it maintained dangerous paths or terrain, rented out a poorly maintained cart, or failed to enforce its own rules. These are premises-liability claims, and the property owner's duty to its invited guests is a serious one.
• A rental company or dealer, if brakes, steering or other components were defective or poorly maintained.
• A car or truck driver who struck the cart on a public road.

Finding the insurance

This is where golf-cart cases are won or lost. The right policy is often not the obvious one.

Homeowner's insurance. Many homeowner's policies provide liability coverage for golf carts owned by the insured, sometimes only while the cart is on a golf course or the insured's own property, and sometimes with exceptions for carts used on public roads. The exact policy language decides it.

Auto insurance. Many auto policies exclude vehicles designed mainly for use off public roads, but a cart that is titled and registered for street use may be treated differently, and the at-fault car driver's auto liability coverage applies when a car hits a cart. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage may also come into play when a car driver with little or no insurance causes the crash.

Commercial policies. Golf courses, country clubs, campgrounds, homeowners' associations and rental businesses carry commercial general liability insurance, usually with much higher limits than a personal policy.

Umbrella policies and household policies. An umbrella policy can sit on top of the homeowner's or auto coverage. And if the driver or the injured person lives with relatives, a household member's policy may extend to them. I have written before about finding every available policy and about resident-relative coverage; both issues come up constantly in cart cases.

The lesson is that a golf-cart claim needs every policy in the picture identified early, before anyone assumes there is "no coverage." The same is true of the boating and ATV injuries that pick up every summer.

Defenses you should expect

Insurers defending cart cases tend to argue that the passenger chose to ride, that the injured person was partly at fault for standing or leaning out, or that a waiver signed at the rental counter or clubhouse bars the claim. Ohio's comparative-fault statute, R.C. 2315.33, means a partly-at-fault passenger can still recover, reduced by his or her share, so long as that share is not greater than the combined fault of everyone else involved. Waivers are read narrowly and do not excuse every kind of misconduct. Neither argument should stop you from getting advice.

When the injured person is a child, special rules apply to deadlines and to court approval of any settlement. Our post on children's injury claims explains how that works.

What to do after a golf-cart injury

• Get medical care and follow through. Head injuries in particular can look mild at first.
• Photograph the cart, the path or street, any slope or drop-off, and the cart's identification number.
• Get the names of the driver, the cart's owner, and anyone who saw it happen.
• If a course, club, campground or rental company was involved, ask that an incident report be made, and ask for a copy.
• Do not give a recorded statement to any insurer before you understand whose policy applies.

What this means for you

Golf carts look like toys, but Ohio treats them as vehicles with rules about where and how they may be driven, and the people and businesses responsible for them usually carry insurance. A serious injury in a cart crash is a real injury claim, often with more than one source of recovery.