74-Year-Old Dies After Crash Throws Him From Golf Cart in The Villages

By Orlando Personal Injury Attorney on February 17, 2021

The Villages are known for many things. As a popular retirement community, many of the people who move there do so for the weather, the amenities & the politics. Many also move there for a unique feature pertaining to transportation: golf cart lanes. Because of the elderly population’s propensity for traveling within golf carts, The Villages is home to numerous designated golf cart lanes that run throughout the city, a parallel set of roads that enables people who prefer not to climb behind the wheel of a car – but are comfortable with a golf cart – to remain independently mobile.

Because of this, The Villages is also home to a comparatively high number of accidents relating to golf carts. Just such an incident took place on Monday, February 16^th, as a 74-year-old individual was traveling in their golf cart along Morse Boulevard, close to the intersection between Morse and Carrera Drive. The reports from the Florida Highway Patrol indicated that the person was driving the golf cart sometime close to 4:45 in the afternoon, while the Florida sunshine was still streaming across the beaches and boulevards.

The 74-year-old had traveled along a private roadway for a certain amount of time before reaching the intersection of this private road and Morse Boulevard. It is not clear what sort of device controls the intersection (stoplight or stop sign), but the person in the cart apparently believed they were clear to travel through the matrix of roads and so stepped on their accelerator.

At this same time, a 62-year-old woman, also a local resident, was approaching this same intersection in their car. At the same time that they were traveling through the intersection, the 74-year-old also tried to pass. The perpendicular paths taken by the two vehicles intersected, and the car struck the golf cart with enough force to throw the 74-year-old man from their vehicle. The 62-year-old woman was wearing a seatbelt at the time and remained uninjured and within her vehicle during the duration of the incident.

The injuries sustained by the 74-year-old were severe, and he was transported from the scene to a nearby hospital. A day later, on Tuesday, he was declared dead.

An investigation into the incident remains ongoing. No charges have yet been filed.

Sources:

• Man, 74, dies in golf cart crash in The Villages

James O. Cunningham

Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.