Golf Cart Accident

[reginaastralis]

We were camping in the 700 loop this weekend as well ... and I can attest to the fact that wrong way drivers made just walking our dogs completely dangerous. I've never seen Halloween traffic like it was this year ... what was that about anyway?!

I hope the little girl is fine, and I honestly hope something is done to curb the underage driving and the completely reckless driving that happened this weekend. It was the worst I've ever seen at the Fort.

 

[lauraebeth]

my 2 cents.

I agree. I stop people.

and my roomie does too.

 

[fla4fun]

As far as I can see, there is no enforcement of any of the golf cart safety rules at the Fort. The new rental procedures have become more lax, in my opinion, regarding communicating the rules for carts. On every visit, I see more and more underage drivers, and more and more folks not stopping for buses, and not pulling over to allow motor vehicle traffic to pass. It has gotten very bad.

TCD

I'm curious - if you bring your own cart (the one involved has been reported to be a personal cart) do they have the same rules and regulations as they do for the Disney rentals? For example, do they ban drivers under a specific age if you are in your own cart like they do for the rentals? They also reserve the right to revoke your rental - but they can't revoke a personal cart - so what are the consequences? I've always used my bike at the Fort, so I'm not familiar with all the cart protocol.

If the cart I've seen pictured was the actual cart in the accident, they should have figured something like this would happen sooner or later. You could tell looking at the cart that it would be unstable if it was turning at any speed but a crawl - and you don't want a vehicle that's going to flip if you have to do an evasive maneuver. I feel really bad for the child - what a way to spend your vacation . . . .

 

[LORNADUCK]

When we checked in I was looking for the cart rules, they used to always be in the packet. I couldn't find them, on the new small map they have that folds up and has all the things u can do, it says ask for the cart rules. Now the people that come there a lot know what they are, but what about new people. I could barley read that small print on that thing, so if you didn't know there were rules you wouldn't even ask for them.

 

[stacktester]

I was handed a rules sheet at check in but I also had my cart in the bed of the truck. Some people who have toy haulers might not get one if they can't see it.

I have a lifted cart that I've been thinking of putting back down on stock chassis for other reasons. This incident has me thinking even though I don't make hard turns quickly that it could happen to us as well. 20 MPH is about what a fort cart does and that is plenty fast enough for me around there. Hopefully this doesn't have any impact on personal carts. Disney has let things get lax with carts and this may be the beginning of stricter rules. We shall see.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

I have to admit...and after reading this...I realize that I was blatantly breaking the rules for sheer convenience...but I went the wrong way into our loop just about every single time...Our site was about the fourth from last on the loop, so I just took the left for 4 sites instead of taking the right and circling the entire loop to get to my site.....it didnt seem so bad at the time, but Im now seeing it as breaking the rules "a little" is still breaking the rules. I also remember not stopping for a bus or two before my wife reminded me that I was supposed to stop and wait for them to finish loading.

I may or may not have uttered a few choice words around children, but it wasnt done porposely....those four letter words just fly out of my mouth so often that I rarely ever think to censor myself.

My appologies to those who may have been harmed by my ignorance....it wasnt intentional.

 

[AuburnJen92]

Donnie,

Was the couple fixing to buy you more beer?

They were "fixin' to!"

 

[AuburnJen92]

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2009/11/girl-4-severely-injured-in-crash-at-disneys-ft-wilderness/

I just "love" all the redneck comments about people in the campground. Oh, and the little religious argument in the middle was priceless. Wow.

 

[LONE-STAR]

The information above about the 4yo having her teeth knocked out is correct.

It was a lifted golf cart and it rolled. She was wearing a seatbelt, but those are only good for keeping kids from falling off. If you roll a golf cart, the belt only makes it worse. This is probably a good time to remember carts aren't made to be lifted, so they are very easy to roll. Take it easy on turns if you have one, especially if kids are riding.

I have to dissagree my lifted cart is very stable. The only time I ever came close to rolling it it was stock with no lift. Its a sad thing but some time accedients just happen.

 

[tim5055]

I'm curious - if you bring your own cart (the one involved has been reported to be a personal cart) do they have the same rules and regulations as they do for the Disney rentals? For example, do they ban drivers under a specific age if you are in your own cart like they do for the rentals? They also reserve the right to revoke your rental - but they can't revoke a personal cart - so what are the consequences? I've always used my bike at the Fort, so I'm not familiar with all the cart protocol.

Yes, personal carts are restricted to the same rules, and in a way they can "revoke" a personal cart. They can make you immediately remove it from their property. As others have pointed out, enforcement of the rules is the problem. It's not just carts, it's almost every rule.

 

[starbuc71]

As stated on other post, I hope an accident like this doesn't lead to the end of personal carts. If indeed this was a personal cart involved, I bet disney will start the process eventually of rentals only. Disney needs to enforce policies to make it safe for everyone. Hopefully unlike this situation, we see many children unsupervised driving carts with no lights and driving recklessly. Shame on the parents for allowing this. My kids safety always comes first. I'm with everyone here on disney enforcing safety and policies just don't ban our carts

 

[CampingDad]

Accidents happen let's just hope the girl makes a full recovery. I agree the rules should be enforced a little better. Last time we were there we saw people riding small 4 stroke motorcycles around the fort, and lots of young people driving golf carts around without parents. There is a campground in WI that we go to with our cart and when we get there they do an inspection of the cart for headlights, rear view mirror, windshield and a once over to make sure the cart is safe for there campground. If you pass the inspection you receive a sticker for the weekend. If you are caught doing anything wrong they take the sticker and you have to park it for the rest of your trip. Maybe the Fort should do something like that to make it safer for everyone. I don't think Disney will hire people to patrol the campground golf carts they will probably save the money and not let us bring them anymore. Hopefully those out there that break the rules realize how much of a privilege it is to bring your own cart. There are not a lot of campgrounds that let you bring them. And lets face it half the fun of the Fort is looping around on the golf carts.

 

[Gatordad]

I just "love" all the redneck comments about people in the campground. Oh, and the little religious argument in the middle was priceless. Wow.

can we get an omazing grace for this poor arguement?

 

[Sid Phillips]

I have to dissagree my lifted cart is very stable. The only time I ever came close to rolling it it was stock with no lift. Its a sad thing but some time accedients just happen.

My cart has a 7" lift, so I'm definitely not judging anyone for lifting a cart. And accidents do happen. This just hits close to home for me because my kids are around this age and we ride our cart all the time. I just said be careful because lifting a cart definitely raises the center of gravity and the bigger tires increase the speed. This makes them easier to roll. Not sure that's disputable. Maybe it had no effect on this accident, though.

 

[Disney John]

As stated on other post, I hope an accident like this doesn't lead to the end of personal carts. If indeed this was a personal cart involved, I bet disney will start the process eventually of rentals only. Disney needs to enforce policies to make it safe for everyone. Hopefully unlike this situation, we see many children unsupervised driving carts with no lights and driving recklessly. Shame on the parents for allowing this. My kids safety always comes first. I'm with everyone here on disney enforcing safety and policies just don't ban our carts

I agree, This accident will not be the reason why personal carts will eventually be banned (and they will). The lack of respect for the rules will be the cause. Over the last year I have seen a huge increase in little kids and pre-teens driving carts, personal carts driving at ludicrous speeds (insert all of the "Spaceballs" references here)passing busses etc.... Remember, it is still private property and they can (and will) refuse to allow private carts because of these abuses, especially if they can make money by doing so.

 

[mdinme]

(and it's stupidly tricked out) and worth more than my mini-van... You might be a redneck.

 

[LONE-STAR]

talked to the guy at the front desk about 30 min. ago he said he did not have all the details but he heard that the girl is better and that she fell out of the cart . But then he said they aren't telling him anything.(posting off a phone sucks)

 

[LONE-STAR]

My cart has a 7" lift, so I'm definitely not judging anyone for lifting a cart. And accidents do happen. This just hits close to home for me because my kids are around this age and we ride our cart all the time. I just said be careful because lifting a cart definitely raises the center of gravity and the bigger tires increase the speed. This makes them easier to roll. Not sure that's disputable. Maybe it had no effect on this accident, though.

I also run a 7" lift and have a 2 month old daughter and we drive our cart all the time. I understand where your coming from I just get tired of people blaming the lift and the big tires. Every truck I have ever owned has been a lifted 4x4 so naturally my cart is lifted to. My point is this type of accident was caused due to bad circumstances not a lift kit but I know the lift will be blamed because it always is. I do agree people need to be careful with there lifted carts but since I have almost been hit more then once by the rented carts that are stock they need to be careful as well.

 

[KimIce]

I also run a 7" lift and have a 2 month old daughter and we drive our cart all the time. I understand where your coming from I just get tired of people blaming the lift and the big tires. Every truck I have ever owned has been a lifted 4x4 so naturally my cart is lifted to. My point is this type of accident was caused due to bad circumstances not a lift kit but I know the lift will be blamed because it always is. I do agree people need to be careful with there lifted carts but since I have almost been hit more then once by the rented carts that are stock they need to be careful as well.

I agree you can not blame people with lifted carts. It is the way people drive the carts (lifted and rental ones) that cause the accident. Some people just think they are above and beyond the rules and have no consideration for other people. Disney has gotten very relaxed on enforcing the rules in the past several years, and it keeps getting worse. The last time we were there 2 carts ran into each other right on the main road in front of the entrance to the 700 loop and exit of the 600 loop about 11:00 at night and they were both being driven by teenagers. The one cart flipped over and the seats and everything went flying out of it. Disney just needs to crack down, and get it under control like they use to do. They always had security in a golf cart riding around and stopping people who were under age or checking to make sure they were of age.

In response to the person question about having lights on bikes, etc. It is Florida Law that Bikes, etc. have lights on them at night, and if you are caught without them you will be stopped and given a ticket. I would think that Disney would have to also abide by that law and enforce it.

 

[photo_chick]

I'm new to the whole Fort thing, and the golf cart at a camp ground concept... I'm used to hiking where I want to go.

Anyway... I'm trying to understand the logic that breaking the rules and dangerous driving has anything to do with whether or not the cart is rented or belongs to the person. It would seem to me that a driver would be more careful with a golf cart that they not only owned but had a sizable chunk of money invested in custom mods than they would some rental. Seriously... people are more likely to be reckless with a rental, aren't they?

We golf and I know how crazy some people are with the carts there. I can't tell you how many I've seen stuck in water hazards over the years and how often the "stay on the cart path" rule at some courses is overlooked... so crazy cart drivers are not just confined to the Fort.