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Golf cart crashes involving children can result in
serious injuries, a new study confirms.
Researchers found that children as young as
nine years old were driving golf carts, often not
wearing seat belts, and faced the risk of the cart
overturning.
Non-automobile vehicles - like ATVs, go-karts, golf
carts and others - “are often viewed as harmless
or safe by parents and communities,” study coau-
thor Joseph Starnes told Reuters Health by email.
“This is especially true for golf carts, which tend
to be slower.”
Yet of nearly 150,000 golf cart injuries in the U.S.
between 1990 and 2006, about a third involved
children under age 16, according to a 2008 study
in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
For the new study, Starnes and colleagues at
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee an-
alyzed golf cart-related injuries in patients under
age 18 at their pediatric trauma center between
2008 and 2016.
During that period, they treated 40 children with
golf-cart related injuries, 85 percent of whom
were between ages 5 and 14.
About half the injuries were severe or moderate.
Injuries were worse in older children and were
most likely to occur in the head and neck. About
a quarter of the children spent time in the inten-
sive care unit. For half the cases, hospital charges
came to more than $20,500.
The most common cause of injury was being
thrown off the cart. For older children, it was also
common to overturn the cart.
Only one injured child in the study was wearing a
seat belt.
“Improved education about golf cart safety may
reduce the frequency and severity of golf cart-re-
lated injuries,” Starnes said.
A similar pattern was seen in a 2011 study at the
Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia,
also home to the Master’s Tournament and two
global golf cart manufacturers.
Dr. Brandon Miller of Harbin Clinic in Rome, Geor-
gia, a coauthor on the 2011 study, told Reuters
Health, “People know ATVs can be dangerous, but
what’s unique about golf carts is that they usually
involve people from affluent neighborhoods and
well-intentioned parents who have no idea how
dangerous they can be.”
“This study gives more credence to the idea that
this is happening in yet another location, not just
the golf capitals of the United States,” Miller told
Reuters Health by phone.
“Outreach to parents, golf courses and local com-
munities could promote safe riding and driving
practices,” said Dr. Jason Fraser of Children’s
Mercy Kansas City in Missouri, who published re-
search last year about pediatric injuries on ATVs,
dirt bikes, golf carts, go-karts and dune buggies.
In his study of more than 500 such injuries, 78
percent of children went to the hospital, and
nearly a quarter had injuries related to the brain,
neck and spine.
“Children who are injured in golf cart accidents
have a significant risk of neurological injury,”
Fraser told Reuters Health by email. “This again
speaks to the need for prevention: Head injuries
are serious and most times can be prevented.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2HRLncC American Journal
of Emergency Medicine, online March 2, 2018.
www.businessinsider.com Mar 20, 2018
APRIL 2018
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