Published: October 04, 2009 12:20 am      

Insurance covers cart collisions

HOOPESTON — The average weight of a motor vehicle is 4,000 pounds, while the normal golf car tips the scales at a measly 800 pounds. If it ever comes down to a collision between the two, they’re on equal ground in the eyes of insurance agents.

As the idea using golf carts for daily travel catches on in areas — including Vermilion County — more and more, so does the concern of what happens when a car or truck collide with one of these transportation fads.

Todd Harris, insurance agent and owner of Harris Agency Inc., said the company has sold its fair share of insurance policies since the communities Rossville and Hoopeston instituted ordinances allowing golf carts on the road earlier this year.

But the golf carts motoring down Main Street aren’t the golf carts you sell buzzing around the links at the local golf course.

“You have to look at them from different standpoint — from an insurance perspective,” he said. “When for road use, they’re really, from an insurance standpoint, like a car or motorcycle.”

The policies are structured the same way as a vehicle, taking into account all the drivers that are going to have access to the golf cart as well as licensing and other factors. The only difference is the premiums, which on a typical golf cart with and average driver can run under $100 per year.

“Whatever the cost of the golf cart, you can open yourself up to a bigger liability concern if something bad happens,” Harris said.

And that potential is rising. According to a study released last year by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, the chance of injury in a golf cart-related accident rose 130 percent between 1990 and 2006. Although the majority of accidents did not occur on the street, those that did often resulted in concussions and were more likely to require hospitalization.

The age of victims of golf cart-related accidents ran the full gamut from as young as 2 years to as old at 96 years.

According to the Hoopeston Police Department, there are as many as 30 golf carts registered in the city.

The same can’t be said in the village of Westville, where the aldermen recently passed an ordinance allowing golf carts to travel the streets.

David Elston, a State Farm insurance agent in Westville, said he hasn’t been approached yet for a policy in the Westville area and doesn’t really expect the golf carts to become a “big deal” in the community.

He said as long as the golf cart isn’t expected to leave the owner’s property, the vehicles most often could be covered like a lawn mower and fall under the home owners insurance.

With an ordinance in place in Hoopeston since June, police Chief Mark Drollinger reported the city has seen no golf cart accidents — involving motor vehicles or otherwise. Only one citation has been issued, the result of a golf cart being driven on the sidewalk with several juveniles hanging on to the back of the golf cart.

The track record has been good enough in the early going that the Rossville and Hoopeston communities reach agreements that golf carts registered in Hoopeston could be used in Rossville during its sesquicentennial. In turn, Rossville carts were allowed in Hoopeston for the annual Sweet Corn Festival.

Drollinger said it’s hard to guess whether the interest in golf carts will continue.

“Common sense says there’s going to be an increase,” he said. “But these carts aren’t cheap. You have to put quite a bit into it when you buy a regulation cart.”

According to the Hoopeston ordinance, carts must to insured before they can be registered with city hall.

Required add-ons, under state law, include headlights, taillights, turn signals and brake lights. A horn and mirror also are called for.

A cart must have all of these in working order before it hits the road.

“Some 10-year-old cart isn’t going to pass inspection,” Drollinger said.