As a blogger for Insurance School Florida I see Low Speed Vehicles driving around retirement communities in the state . LSVs are made up of golf carts and mini-trucks . In retirement-communities it is sensible to have golf-carts to transport you to the mailbox, the clubhouse, or your neighbor’s place . These vehicles use small amounts of electricity and are environment friendly . However, these vehicles are now permitted outside their communities onto public streets (usually under Thirty-Five MPH streets ). This result is vehicles are now getting into crashes with 2 ton cars .
–This story is brought to you by 220 License and Florida License
A insurance safety group is calling for LSVs to be pulled from public roads. Essentially, these golf carts are ignoring forty years of highway safety legislation that have existed to protect occupants . They do not have airbags, some don’t have turning signals , and those in the cart don’t even have to strap on a helmet like a child on a bike must do .
This doesn’t make any sense . We’ve instituted all these regulations for decades to save lives and protect the public and then they are discarded because it’s convenient . Imagine if Nissan built a car and said that they weren’t going to perform any crash tests , or put in any safety equipment in their vehicles ? We’d crush that idea .
Small impact crashes that would normally have resulted in minor injuries in a regular automobile , become catastrophic injuries for those in an LSV. That means that the costs for a claim would increase dramatically . This could only result in higher premiums for everyone .
The Smart Car is the most lightweight crashworthy vehicle on the roads . Crash-tests between Smart Cars and mini-trucks reveal that there is no comparison. The mini-trucks are not safe in serious accidents .
The trend for LSVs continues to be opening them to more and more streets . I’m not against them in communities, but allowing on roads to grocery stores just isn’t safe or good for insurance rates .