No one expected that a simple trip across the road would end with flashing blue lights on Tuesday evening.  An elderly man who lived in the subdivision, wanted to buy a few items before heading home. He took his black electric golf cart for a quick trip to a nearby store, but the quiet night turned into a nightmare when a two-thousand-eight Buick CXL traveling west in the inside lane of the busy highway smashed into him at the corner of U.S. Highway 92, and Schalamar Creek Drive. Sadly, the man lost his life.

The heavy sedan smashed into the passenger side of the small neighborhood shuttle with great force and pushed the little electric buggy about fifty feet down the road. The force of the hit threw the driver out of his seat onto the road. Emergency workers reported that the man died shortly after they arrived at the scene.

Deputies noticed that the victim was not wearing a seatbelt during his short trip to the store and the small cart did not have any airbags to save him from the heavy impact.

The white Buick finally stopped on the north shoulder of the wide Florida highway. Police said the airbags did not pop out because the cart lacked enough heavy mass, and both people inside the car were wearing their seatbelts during the collision. The passenger suffered minor injuries and went to a local hospital for some quick medical help.

Officers from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrived to check the driver of the Buick, but they found no evidence that the person behind the wheel was speeding or acting impaired. However, the detectives found something very interesting inside the ruined golf cart. They found several alcoholic beverage containers inside the wreckage of the black electric golf cart later.

Deputies immediately shut down the westbound lanes of the highway to study the scene. Tampa Free Press reported that traffic was diverted from Palmer Road to Schalamar Creek Drive for several hours and finally reopened to the public at nine-thirty in the evening after the cleanup finished.

Authorities have not released the name of the victim because they have not found his family yet. The investigation to identify and notify the next of kin is still active.

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Broken bones and big lawsuits… why these small buggies are not playthings

This tragedy marks just one chapter in a much larger safety crisis today. One shocking case involves the son of a big hedge fund boss. Garrett Huff allegedly drove a large cart recklessly after playing basement drinking games. Two guests suffered terrible injuries when the heavy vehicle flipped over during a stunt.

John Mascali woke up with broken vertebrae, while his friend Heather Dailey needed staples in her bleeding head after the electric ride lifted away.  Mascali and Dailey sued Garrett Huff and his parents for damages. The family reportedly got rid of the buggy right after the crash to hide the evidence of recklessness and has not yet commented on this lawsuit in New York. Notably, these mishaps happen all over the world, from luxury resorts to tours.

Two Irish tourists fell twenty-three feet over a cliff at a Marbella club. One man jumped to safety, but the other suffered major injuries during the fall. Even professional stars like the legendary Cristie Kerr have faced the dark side. She dislocated her ribs three times after a head-on crash in a link-side buggy.

A high-profile death occurred when the close friend of NFL legend John Elway, Jeff Sperbeck, suffered a fatal brain injury after falling from the moving electric ride. This accident happened inside a gated community where everyone thought they were perfectly safe. In another case, a Florida woman died after falling from a buggy recently. Her husband now faces charges because he was allegedly driving while being intoxicated that night.

These incidents strip away the plaything’s image and reveal the true hidden danger of golf carts in recent years.