Is It Negligence If You Let A Teenager Drive A Golf Cart In South Carolina?
The next time you are stuck in traffic or a rude driver causes you to miss a green light and you feel road rage flooding into your bloodstream, think back to the wonder and exhilaration you felt when you first got behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Your first solo drive after getting a driver’s license is probably not your most cherished memory of an early experience with things that go vroom; by then, you knew too much about traffic laws, and you were nervously trying to follow all of them simultaneously. No, the pure joy of driving happened on a vacation when you were in your early teens, driving a go cart at an amusement park, or even better, a golf cart at a resort. South Carolina law treats golf carts like any other motor vehicle, with rules about the vehicles and their drivers. If a teen crashes a golf cart and injures you, the legal implications are similar to if a teen crashes a car and injures you. If you have suffered serious injuries in an accident involving a golf cart, contact a Columbia personal injury lawyer.
South Carolina Golf Cart Laws
In some respects, South Carolina law recognizes that golf carts and cars are more alike than different. You cannot drive a golf cart unless you have one of the kinds of drivers’ licenses that enable you to drive a car in South Carolina. This means that it is not legal for anyone under 16 to drive a golf cart, no matter how much fun you might have had driving one in middle school. Just as with a car, you must keep the golf cart’s vehicle registration and proof of liability insurance in the golf cart at all times.
The rules about where you can drive golf carts are different from the rules about where you can drive cars. You can drive golf carts on golf courses, whereas cars are not allowed on golf courses. Golf carts are allowed on public roads, but only the ones where the speed limit is 35 miles per hour or less, which means that, in practice, there are few areas outside of residential neighborhoods where you can drive golf carts. This does not mean that you can drive from one end of South Carolina to the other in a golf cart, even if you could figure out an itinerary that was entirely on roads with low speed limits. The golf cart must stay within four miles of the address listed on its registration. The exception is that, on islands that are not accessible by bridges open to vehicular traffic, you can drive the golf cart anywhere on the island, even if it is more than four miles in diameter.
Contact an Attorney for Help
The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you seek damages if you suffered injuries in an accident involving a golf cart. Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.
Source:
scdps.sc.gov/ohsjp/DrivinginSC/golf-cart-law
