Retiring to Florida is so last century. With its restaurants overrun with blue-haired old ladies during the early bird dinner hour, it is the senior equivalent of going to the same college where most of your high school classmates attend. If you really want to play golf in peace, you should retire to New Mexico, where the weather is surprisingly mild in certain parts of the state and where the scenery is not just an endless parade of strip malls and parking lots. Few activities are more pleasurable than riding around a New Mexico golf course and its immediate environs on a golf cart. Seniors are not the only people who appreciate that New Mexico’s beauty is even more beautiful when you see it from inside a golf cart. New Mexico’s laws regarding golf cart safety are stricter than the analogous laws of many other states. Despite this, it is still possible to suffer injuries that require costly treatment as a result of a golf cart accident. If you got injured while riding a golf cart, contact a Santa Fe motor vehicle accident lawyer.
Golf Carts Can Be Dangerous Even When They Do Not Drive Near Cars
The good news is that New Mexico’s laws keep golf carts away from cars and out of the hands of unlicensed drivers. You must have a driver’s license to drive a golf cart in New Mexico; the same rules about restricted driver’s licenses, also known as learner’s permits, apply to golf carts as to other motor vehicles. Golf carts can only drive on golf courses in New Mexico, not on public roads, so the risk of tragic scenarios like the South Carolina accident where a drunk driver struck a golf cart that was carrying four members of a wedding party after a wedding reception is almost zero in New Mexico. Golf carts must have a special type of tires, and you can only drive them during daylight hours. If you see something that looks like a golf cart on a public road, it is actually a low-speed vehicle (LSV), which has car-like safety features and a DMV vehicle registration.
The bad news is that there are many ways that golf cart-related mishaps can cause injury, even if they do not come into contact with faster motor vehicles. Injuries can occur when people fall out of stationary or moving golf carts or if they do not keep their arms and legs inside the golf cart when it is moving. Pedestrians can get injured if a golf cart strikes them, and golf carts can overturn if they collide with a stationary object. If you get injured in a golf cart accident, you have the right to seek compensation from the responsible party by filing an insurance claim or personal injury lawsuit.
Contact Slate Stern About Car Accident Lawsuits
Slate Stern is a personal injury lawyer who represents plaintiffs injured in golf cart accidents. Contact Slate Stern in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or call (505)814-1517 to discuss your case.