Girl, 16, recovering after driving golf cart into oncoming vehicle at crossing

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A 16-year-old Peachtree City girl is recovering after her golf cart was struck on Sept. 8 by a vehicle as she attempted to cross Northlake Drive. Police said it appeared that the girl did not check for oncoming traffic before trying to cross the street.

Peachtree City Police Department spokesman Chris Hyatt said the 16-year-old Peachtree City girl was attempting to cross Northlake Drive where the cart path extends behind the Aberdeen Shopping Center.

It appears that she did not look before crossing the street and was struck by an oncoming vehicle that was travelling at an average speed, Hyatt said.

The girl was transported to Grady Hospital where she was treated for superficial abrasions, a laceration to the head and a concussion, said Hyatt, adding that the girl at this time is doing fine.

9 COMMENTS

  1. I think they should have to take an educational course before the golf cart places can rent golf carts to non citizens especially but to anyone renting a golf cart. I’ve seen so many on Hwy 74 because they didn’t know, I’ve even seen them where they attempted to cross the hwy 54/74 intersection, in rush hour traffic and were stuck in the median trying to find an opening to finish crossing, and so many using the sidewalk running down hwy 74 south, that’s clearly a sidewalk only, has signs posted “NO GOLF CARTS ALLOWED” yet they still find their way on to it somehow. 9 out of 10 times it’s clearly a rental cart with non citizens. I personally don’t care for the rentals, as it turns our city and paths into an amusement park for people that don’t know the rules and definitely aren’t respecting the rules and some of these rental carts have been “turned up” and are extremely fast, well above 15 mph. The rentals put so many more carts on the paths and they don’t pay attention at all while driving them. I think an educational class before being able to take possession of a rental should be mandatory!
    Our rules are pretty good, as they are, they’re just not being followed by a few and it makes it bad for the many.

  2. It seems like a valid driver’s license should be a requirement to drive a golf cart. Hard to believe PTC has not done that. It is a shame the PTC Council seems way more interested in building apartments and such. A valid driver’s license certainly would not solve all the problems out there regarding golf carts, but it would be a tangible start.

    • Proposing new laws in response to bad news, especially when based on incomplete information, is simply not a good practice. For all we know, the girl of 16 might already have a driver’s license, and the accident may have occurred through something else (e.g. distraction from cell phone).

      We really ought to resist adopting more laws unless they are truly necessary.

    • I don’t think it necessary to require a State drivers’ license to operate a golf cart on mostly our paths. For 15 year olds, operating a golf cart helps teach driving responsibilities, hand sight coordination, and general responsibilities of being free in a public environment. I like the rules and many of the laws the way they are at this time.

  3. This stuff is happening more and more. I saw two golfcarts trying to cross crosstown by the old pizza hut yesterday during lunch rush traffic. I can’t explain to you how busy it is around that time in trying to go across in a car, let alone a golfcart. One guy had a child under the age of 3 riding passenger as he attempted to cross. Then about 5 minutes later a limo golfcart with a woman and a young girl were escorted across by an SUV police officer who had to stop traffic to let her pass. We really need a golfcart education course if we’re going to continue to let people come here and drive these things because it’s only going to get worse if it remains unregulated. God forbid an unsuspecting motorist kills someone for the golfcart’s negligence