In researching the federal, and state laws governing golf carts I came across, and then skimmed over a study published by the National Highway Transportation Safety Association on golf carts, low speed vehicles and seat belts.  Unfortunatly, I misunderstood it’s conclusions.  Namely that golf carts that typically travel at a speed of 12 miles per hour will be safer with seat belts installed.

MarkB pointed out the error of my previous understanding here with the following:

MarkB writes:

@Ken- I read that NHTSA study you linked to. In its conclusion section, page 6, it says the data support requiring seat belts in low-speed vehicles on public roads. It specifically discounts the probability of rollover because such low speeds don’t contain the energy needed to flip a vehicle. Further, the quote you provided was from the golf-cart industry group, which is against requirements, and not from NHTSA.

As far as I can tell, you’ve provided a seriously misleading argument.

The National Golf Cart Manufactures Association had argued that with out a roll over protection system in place, the seat belt would constitute a threat to the safety of the passenger as it may cause more passengers to be crushed under the weight of the vehicle in the event of a roll over accident.

Clearly getting ejected from a golf cart on to concrete can cause serious head trauma.  In that the NHTSA is more concerned about paved streets and highways than golf courses with off camber slopes and similar hazards they decided that prevention of passenger ejection was more important than prevention of passengers from getting crushed and thrashed about by flipping golf carts.

My own personal concussion is that golf carts operated on the streets should be equipped with with seat belts, and those operated off road, probably should not.

After seeing the news of the San Diego pedicab passenger death, and having the above error pointed out to me,  I have now come to support the requirement of seat belts in pedicabs.

Pedicabs typically have some sort of arm rest to retain the passengers while turning.  While most of these arm rests are taller than a golf cart’s hip restraint, clearly this was not enough to prevent Sharon Miller’s accidental death.  Something more is required, and the most obvious something else is a seat belt.

The take away quote from the report should probably be the following:

The data from the testing supports the
implementation of rules and regulations requiring
seat belts in LSV’s and golf cars which are to be
utilized on roadways by the general public, regardless
of whether or not their top speed is less than 20 mph.
The potential for ejection is significantly higher for
an unbelted occupant during a cornering maneuver as
opposed to a rollover event, even for vehicles with a
maximum speed of only 11 mph. The potential for a
rollover event decreases at the lower speeds, thereby
significantly decreasing the theoretically detrimental
effects that a belted could present over an unbelted
occupant. The theory that an occupant is better off
jumping from a moving cart on a roadway is simply
speculation and fails to consider, among other
factors, the age and health of the occupants.

The full NHTSA report can be found here:

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-01/esv/esv19/05-0431-W.pdf

Page six of the report has the NHTSA’s conclusions.