The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office issued 13 tickets to golf cart operators and investigated 17 golf cart accidents in The Villages in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Community Development Districts 5, 6 and 8 reviewed the information at their meetings Friday.
“It is quite an eye opener,” said CDD 6 Chair Sally Moss. “Seventeen golf cart accidents in three months. It’s crazy.”
CDD 8 Supervisor Victor Ray said he was grateful to have the information from the sheriff’s office.
“This will help us pinpoint areas of concern,” he said.
The 13 golf cart tickets included seven for careless driving, two for improper operation on certain roadways, two for failure to yield, one for driving in the wrong lane and one for open container.
In addition, the sheriff’s office issued 871 tickets to automobile drivers in the fourth quarter of 2015. Lt. Robert Siemer, district commander for The Villages, said the sheriff’s office wrote an additional 800 warning tickets for automobile drivers during the fourth quarter.
You can scroll through the 800+ tickets HERE
There have already been several accidents involving golf carts this year including one in which a Villager ran into a fence at a tunnel entrance near Freedom Pointe. You can read about that accident HERE
The Project Wide Advisory Committee recently discussed tackling signage and speed bumps in an effort to increase safety on the multi-modal paths. PWAC is seeking input from CDDs 1 through 4, who are not part of PWAC, about whether they would be interested in reconvening the Multi-Modal Path Discussion Group which last year tackled the issue of side striping.
In a Villages-News.com poll put to readers on March 7 after the PWAC meeting, 69 percent of respondents indicated they did not support the resurrection of the Multi-Modal Path Discussion Group.
Although members ultimately rejected side striping, the group managed to reach an agreement to improve markings on the multi-modal paths. The improvements will be made at bull noses, islands, curves and other areas that may be tricky to navigate. Those areas have been identified through a study by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., the District’s longtime engineer. That work will begin in mid-April and should take 75 days to complete.
Linda Bosco and her husband of the Village of the Hadley were in a golf accident March 12 and she said she wholeheartedly supports the resurrection of the Multi-Modal Path Discussion Group. You can read about her accident HERE
“They need to take a look at safety issues. These problems are not going to solve themselves,” Bosco said.
CDD 6 Supervisor Peter Moeller, who chairs PWAC, pointed to efforts by the Villages Homeowners Association to emphasize golf cart safety. The VHA offers a monthly golf cart safety clinic and recently produced a video to spread the word about golf cart safety. Learn more about the VHA HERE
