Op Ed - Cart Crazy

Let us take the absolute worst-case scenario here for a moment

You are returning home to your cottage after a golf game at dusk, with a passenger or two, or three, which is usually the case, in your unregistered golf cart, with no headlights, taillights, signal lights, or even seat belts. A deer runs out unexpectedly in front of you; you swerve to avoid it, into the path of an oncoming vehicle. 

There is a collision; everyone on board the golf cart is either badly injured or killed, and the other vehicle sustains considerable damage. So one might ask, what happens now?

The reality is grim

You were driving an unregistered vehicle on a public road; you are uninsured, and SGI is not going to give you a penny. While you are, hopefully, recuperating from your injuries, the driver of the registered vehicle, having no recourse, is going to sue you personally for the damage sustained to their vehicle.

You, and maybe even some of your passengers, cannot work for years, if ever, as a result of your injuries. Well, somebody has to pay for your prolonged convalescence; you are going to sue whoever was frankly stupid enough to allow this bylaw fruition!

Just for fun, let’s throw in an underage driver of the golf cart to ensure litigation well into the next millennium!

(Editor's note: prepare for a tangent)

Now OPEC created an energy crisis back in the 70s because of Western support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War and North Americans abandoned gas-guzzling cars for smaller, more fuel-efficient European and Japanese models; many bought motorcycles to beat the high cost of fuel.

Sport bikes, able to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.5 seconds and with little training or experience riding motorcycles, did the predictable thing and splattered themselves all over Saskatchewan highways, and sent my insurance rates into the stratosphere! SGI found itself on the hook for millions in personal injury claims and was forced into establishing rigorous new training regimes and licensing fees to cover their costs. 

It used to be that you were able to transfer your snowmobile plate over to your motorcycle for the summer; those days were over. My plate insurance now costs me over $100 per month!

So back to golf carts for a moment

Does this all sound familiar? With the proliferation of people driving carts on the roads and streets, I am frankly amazed that the prediction I made above has not already happened; it will, I assure you, just a matter of when. SGI will be forced to intervene in the interests of people's personal salvation!

It is the curse of age I suppose ,you can honestly say,  been there, done that, seen all this before!

-Pete Foster, Craven

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