An interesting encounter with a golf cart

[twacowfca]

I live in a new town where 40% of the households own a golf cart which they drive on 100 miles of recreation paths to shopping centers, schools and for fun between the villages and the parks and lakesides.  Kids are allowed to drive them before they are old enough to drive a car.  That's good training because if a kid is going to do something stupid it's better to make a mistake at 15 to 20 mph than at 60 to 80 mph.

 

  When teenagers start to drive real cars, their accident rate is very low compared to most teenagers who haven't had that low speed training experience.  However, the recreational paths are also popular for runners, walkers and bicyclists (c'est moi).

 

Today, I biked through a tunnel on a path that opens up to a three way intersection where I sensed through the trees and bushes that two golf carts were approaching the 120 degree turns. I got over to the right side of the path because that intersection can be dangerous. 

 

A 17 year old kid approaching the intersection from my right wanted to beat the other golf cart to the turn, so he floored his accelerator and wheeled around the turn without seeing me as he whipped his cart to the extreme wrong side of the path where I was approaching on my racing bike. In a split second I hit the windshield of the golf cart and the cart won.

 

The kid was in tears over what he had done, but, by the grace of God I walked away in one piece with no broken bones, praise God! 

 

Another day of adventure in our fun town.  :)

[giofranchi]

Wow! As the saying goes, all’s well that ends well! ;)

 

twacowfca,

enjoy your new town, I am sure it is a real pleasure to live in! But… also be careful!! Your amazing financial prowess won’t make a racing bike win against a golf cart anytime soon!! ;D ;D ;D

 

Best regards,

 

giofranchi

 

[SwedishValue]

I'm glad to hear that you are well, for my own very selfish reasons - I really enjoy your posts. I was hit by a car in a similar fashion a little more than two weeks ago when driving my race bike. I am very happy to generally be in one piece (my shoulder popped and is still far from well) and I am especially happy that I was wearing a helmet, without which I would have had more severe injuries.

[twacowfca]

I'm glad to hear that you are well, for my own very selfish reasons - I really enjoy your posts. I was hit by a car in a similar fashion a little more than two weeks ago when driving my race bike. I am very happy to generally be in one piece (my shoulder popped and is still far from well) and I am especially happy that I was wearing a helmet, without which I would have had more severe injuries.

 

 

I'm very glad to hear that you are on the mend.  :)

 

 

[rkbabang]

Glad to hear that you are OK.  I had a similar accident when I was a teenager in the 80's.  I was on a moped in a school parking lot and I had it going as fast as it could go (maybe 30mph) and I went around the corner of the building head on into a Mazda RX7 that was being driven by a guy in his 20's also faster than he should have been going around the corner.  I flew over the car, bounced once on his roof (my body made a dent in it) and landed on the pavement behind the car getting some minor road rash on my arms and legs.  The moped was completely totaled and the front end of his new RX-7 was a mess.  It's a scary feeling in that fraction of a second when you first realize the collision is going to happen.