My family lives next to a golf course. This includes our children, ages 6 and 3. As such, we often see golf carts zipping around town off-course. How this is legal in our community, I’m just not sure. Mostly, it’s parents with kids aboard. The carts fly away and back to their homes at the posted speed limit. Sometimes, there are littles in the rear-facing seats in the very back, legs dangling off the edge. I cringe every time I see it. Here’s why I’ll always avoid a neighbor taking our kids for a ride around the block in a golf cart.

Brain buckets and seat belts required

Growing up, I spent a lot of time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My aunt and uncle were kind enough to drive my siblings and me up north year after year. It took a dozen hours, one way. Typically, we went sometime during the winter months and again in the summertime. They owned several off-road vehicles, like Argo XTVs, and we’d kick around the woods in them.

Thankfully, my aunt was an ER doc. If you can imagine, she’s seen some grim stuff. Despite what she’d witnessed and treated, she still let us have our fun. Under her watch, though, we had a strict helmet rule in any off-road vehicle.

One time, my uncle was at the helm. After a bit of ponderous discussion, he exclaimed, “Don’t tell Mom!” and drove the amphibious vehicle from the grassy bank right into the lake. We stalled before getting to the middle.

My uncle had (smartly) prepared for this. We were wearing lifevests, and he reached for an oar. We paddled the rest of the way across. While our uncle had to figure out how to get the dang machine out of the lake, which took a bunch of extra time, I loved the whole adventurous event.

This is all to say that I’m not entirely risk-averse. We’ve taken the kids back to the north woods, and we buzzed around the trails in a John Deere Gator.

At first glance, it might seem contradictory, then, to avoid the golf carts in our suburb. But hear me out.

Over time, golf carts have gotten larger, heavier, and faster

However, their physics remain the same. Put simply, anytime they’re off a smooth, level driving plane, carts tip easily. Tip them even slightly, and out everyone falls. Obviously, they’re open-air, without a solid body to contain passengers.

If you drive them off-course, carts can tip from curbing or turning too sharply while moving. This is all before you put them anywhere with increased speed limits and actual cars—which, these days, means sharing the road with colossal trucks and SUVs.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, and Technology Associates have all released concerning statistics over the years on the dangers golf carts pose to children. 

The AAP shared that thousands of kids are injured each year in golf cart accidents. What’s more, of the over 6,500 annual injuries to kids (which the AAP found was increasing over time), more than half of the children were under 12 years old.

The most commonly reported injuries are to the head and neck. This occurs because “children riding in golf carts driven by others can be thrown out and injured, or they can be seriously hurt if a golf cart rolls over,” per the AAP study.

One set of CPSC and Technology Associates stats reflects that 40% of reported golf cart accidents involve children under 16, and of those, half involve a fall from a moving cart.

The lack of cart structure, enforced seat belts, and helmet use make off-course trips in a cart highly unappealing to me. Accidents from tipping or falling out can be bad enough; imagine if someone in an SUV isn’t paying attention and collides with the cart.

Uncommon accidents are incredibly difficult to absorb

In 2019, a seven-and-a-half-year-old girl was sitting on the back of a neighbor’s golf cart. They were driving to the park. The girl suddenly fell off. She hit her head on the street and sustained a severe ischemic brain injury. 

I’ve followed her story on Instagram for some time. She’s now 12 years old. Her story and the suffering she and her family have endured are just heartbreaking. What’s also disheartening is the number of commenters on many of the family’s updates who share other golf cart incidents. Sadly, these are preventable injuries.

While most accidents aren’t severe, and kids typically make full recoveries, why even chance any of it? Understand the risks of letting children ride around in a golf cart. Consider whether the trip has an increased risk of accident or injury. Take necessary precautions or just avoid it entirely.