A Bradenton golf cart accident lawyer represents people hurt in golf cart and low-speed vehicle crashes on neighborhood streets, island roads, golf courses, and resort properties in Manatee County. Golf carts have no doors, seat belts, or crash protection, and Florida does not require golf cart insurance, so finding every responsible party and policy matters. Have our 30 years of experience in personal injury go to work for you. No fees or costs unless we get results.
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Heintz Law represents injured drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and families after golf cart crashes in Bradenton, Palmetto, Anna Maria Island, Holmes Beach, Bradenton Beach, Longboat Key, Lakewood Ranch, and across the Suncoast. Founding Partner Steven E. Heintz and our Bradenton golf cart accident attorneys handle these claims as part of the firm's car accident lawyer practice, within our broader personal injury lawyer practice.
After a golf cart accident, get medical care, call 911 if the crash happened on a road or involved a car, and report it to the golf course, resort, rental company, or community management if it happened on private property. Photograph the cart, the path or road, and your injuries, and collect witness names.
Liability for a golf cart accident may fall on the cart's driver, the cart's owner, a car driver who hit the cart, a rental company, a golf course or resort that maintained unsafe paths, a homeowners association, or a manufacturer whose defective brakes, steering, or design caused the crash. Parents may also be responsible when they let an underage child drive.
In Florida, golf carts are limited to speeds under 20 miles per hour and may be driven on public roads only where a city or county has designated the road for golf cart use, generally with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or less. Golf carts do not have to be titled, registered, or insured.
Florida's main golf cart rules include:
Rules vary from one community to the next, including on Anna Maria Island and in many Manatee County neighborhoods. Local ordinances, community rules, and posted signs often decide where a cart could legally be driven at the time of the crash.
Since October 1, 2023, a person under 18 must have a valid learner's license or driver's license to drive a golf cart on public roads in Florida, and a person 18 or older must carry government-issued photo identification. Before that change, Florida allowed 14-year-olds to drive golf carts on designated roads without a license.
These age rules apply to public roads and streets. Private property, such as a golf course or gated community, may set its own rules. An underage driver on a public road can be strong evidence in a claim, both against the driver and against the adult who allowed it.
Our article on how old you have to be to drive a golf cart in a neighborhood covers this question in more detail.
A low-speed vehicle is a four-wheeled vehicle with a top speed greater than 20 but no more than 25 miles per hour. Unlike golf carts, low-speed vehicles must be registered and insured, the driver must have a driver's license, and they may be driven on roads with posted speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less.
Many vehicles that look like golf carts on Suncoast streets are actually low-speed vehicles. The difference matters after a crash, because a low-speed vehicle must carry personal injury protection and property damage liability coverage, while a golf cart does not have to carry any insurance.
Carts that have been modified to go faster than 20 miles per hour without being properly converted and registered raise additional questions about the owner's and seller's responsibility.
Coverage depends on the vehicle, the location, and the policies involved. Florida does not require golf cart insurance, but the owner may carry a golf cart policy or a homeowner's or umbrella policy that applies. Low-speed vehicles must carry personal injury protection. When a car hits a golf cart, the car driver's insurance and your own uninsured motorist coverage may apply.
Possible sources of recovery include:
Many homeowner's policies limit coverage for golf carts driven away from the home or on public roads, so the specific policy language often decides the question. Reviewing every policy early matters.
Common causes of golf cart accidents include rollovers on sharp turns and slopes, passengers falling out, collisions with cars at crossings and on shared roads, underage and inexperienced drivers, impaired driving, overloaded carts, poorly maintained brakes and steering, and unsafe paths with drop-offs or no barriers.
Operating a golf cart while impaired can lead to DUI charges, just like driving a car. Our drunk driving accidents page explains claims against impaired drivers.
Golf cart accidents often cause head injuries and traumatic brain injuries from ejections, fractures of the arms, legs, ribs, and pelvis, spinal injuries, crush injuries from rollovers, internal injuries, and soft tissue injuries. Children and older adults are especially vulnerable because carts offer almost no protection.
Children are frequently hurt in golf cart crashes, often when they fall or are thrown from the cart during a turn or when an underage friend is driving. A child's claim works much like an adult's, but settlements for minors often require court approval, and damages must account for growth, schooling, and future care.
Claims may involve the driver, the cart owner, the adult who allowed a child to drive, a community with unsafe paths, or a manufacturer whose design made ejections more likely. Our children's injuries page explains how claims for injured children are handled.
Yes. A passenger hurt in a golf cart accident may have a claim against the cart's driver, the owner, a car driver who caused the crash, or another responsible party. A passenger is not charged with the driver's fault, and passengers often have the clearest claims.
Passengers hurt by a family member or friend driving the cart are often worried about suing someone they know. These claims are usually paid by insurance, not the driver personally, which is why identifying the applicable policy early matters.
An injured person may seek economic damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and property damage, along with non-economic damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, scarring, and loss of enjoyment of life. A spouse may have a separate claim, and punitive damages may be available in limited cases.
When a golf cart crash is fatal, our wrongful death page explains how families pursue a claim.
Golf cart accidents on golf courses, at resorts, in gated communities, and at events are often premises liability claims. The property owner may be responsible for dangerous paths, poor lighting, missing barriers, inadequate warnings, or poorly maintained carts. Florida's public road rules may not apply, but the owner's duty of care does.
Evidence in these cases often includes the property's cart path design, maintenance records, prior incident reports, cart fleet service logs, and the rules the property gave to guests. Our premises liability page covers property owner responsibility in more detail.
Florida uses modified comparative fault. An injured person who is 50 percent or less at fault can recover damages reduced by their share of fault. An injured person found more than 50 percent at fault recovers nothing. Insurers often argue that golf cart drivers or passengers contributed to their own injuries.
Common arguments include driving on a road not designated for carts, riding at night without lights, carrying too many passengers, or sitting in an unsafe position. Evidence about local rules, signage, lighting, the cart's condition, and how the crash happened helps answer those claims.
For most negligence claims arising from crashes on or after March 24, 2023, Florida's statute of limitations is two years from the date of the crash. Claims against government agencies require written notice first, and wrongful death claims generally must be filed within two years of the death.
Rental and fleet carts are often repaired or returned to service quickly, and course or resort video may be recorded over. Preservation letters should go out early.
Our Bradenton golf cart accident attorneys handle each case in stages, from first contact through investigation, pre-suit negotiation, discovery, mediation, trial, and appeal. Every file is prepared from the start as if a jury will hear it, because that preparation shapes how insurance carriers value the claim.
Steven E. Heintz is the Founding Partner of Heintz Law, a Bradenton firm that represents only injured people and their families. His approach is careful preparation, aggressive advocacy where the facts call for it, and trial readiness from the first conference. Settlement on the right number is welcome. Settlement that shortchanges a client is not.
Golf cart accident cases are handled on a contingency fee, so there is no fee unless there is a recovery. Riders hurt on electric scooters can find more on our electric scooter accident lawyer page.
If you or a family member was hurt in a golf cart or low-speed vehicle crash in Bradenton, on Anna Maria Island, or anywhere in Manatee County or the surrounding counties, Heintz Law can review what happened, identify every responsible party and policy, and explain your options under Florida law.
Have our 30 years of experience in personal injury go to work for you. No fees or costs unless we get results.
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