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Old 11-25-2020, 10:10 AM   #11
cheenu
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

thanks a lot
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Old 11-25-2020, 09:54 PM   #12
golf cart man
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATrain View Post
You are perfectly welcome to keep yours on, but I want to be clear for others who are considering disconnecting the backup horn, this is generally NOT required in most states and is perfectly legal to do.

Backup beepers are usually an OSHA requirement for vehicles with an obstructed rear view or for vehicles of a certain class/size, but primarily obstructed view.

Furthermore, they are often considered noise pollution and there are organized groups that work to ban them.

So I think it's a personal preference. It almost certainly would not impact your insurance rates or your liability in an accident. Unless your state has some bizarre golf-cart backup beeper requirement, which it may very well have. I don't know the laws in every state around golf carts.
Trying to remember what state it was but for some reason NC is coming to mind. I remember about 10 years ago a woman was awarded $500K after a cart driver got in and hit the gas not knowing it was in reverse because buzzer was disconnected. Don't remember all the circumstances but I know the suit was brought due to the buzzer being disconnected. I agree personal preference just thought I would throw it out there to be careful that's all.
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Old 11-26-2020, 10:59 PM   #13
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

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Originally Posted by golf cart man View Post
Trying to remember what state it was but for some reason NC is coming to mind. I remember about 10 years ago a woman was awarded $500K after a cart driver got in and hit the gas not knowing it was in reverse because buzzer was disconnected. Don't remember all the circumstances but I know the suit was brought due to the buzzer being disconnected. I agree personal preference just thought I would throw it out there to be careful that's all.
This is the case you're talking about and while the "backup buzzer" makes headlines, it's actually inconsequential.

There are two key points here that don't generally apply on this forum:
  • This was a suit against a commercial/business operation where the golf cart was part of a rental package
  • They were arguing premises liability, which basically means a reasonable effort wasn't made to make things safe. There were no laws broken. This is just a regular old personal-injury suit against an insurance company...think whiplash and a neck brace.

This specific suit was more of an ambulance chaser type thing where a woman had severe brain damage, and insurance was going to have to pay bigtime regardless.

The focus on the golf cart backup buzzer is the lawyers signaling to the insurance company they're going to play hardball and were willing to take it to a trial by jury and at a jury trial, they would hammer that into the jurors head that somebody "disconnected the buzzer". That can be compelling to your average Joe, but again, that's on insurance and would still make no impact to you as an owner other than potentially your insurance rates going up a little if you managed to cause severe brain damage. Insurance companies hate jury trials for various reasons...one being people hate insurance companies and if there is ever anything simple like "disconnected buzzer", they know they'll have an uphill fight.

They also had doctors claiming it would be over $1 million for long-term care, so insurance settled at $500k. It's just typical personal injury attorneys going after insurance for payouts...doesn't really matter to any of us since we just pay for insurance.

That said...you should always have auto insurance if you're on public roads or homeowners/renters if you are on private property with it.

Also, important to note is lawyers will only go after something like this if there is insurance and a business usually has much higher insurance limits than an individual, so if they are covered for $1m the lawyers know they can get $500k easily where if your personal cart is covered for $300k, they know it would be difficult to get all $300k.
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Old 11-26-2020, 11:55 PM   #14
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

I agree ... an absurdly loud backup alarm is not desirable on a cart.

But a functional back up alarm is a good safety feature ... it gets the dogs or cats sleeping under the cart moving ... it alerts others to your movement ... and it confirms when you are in forward or reverse.

Instead of disconnecting it, either muffle it to reduce the sound or pick out one that is not so annoying !

Here is some information on the intermittent back up alarm that I installed on my cart: https://buggiesgonewild.com/showpost...30&postcount=1
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Old 11-27-2020, 12:16 AM   #15
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATrain View Post
You are perfectly welcome to keep yours on, but I want to be clear for others who are considering disconnecting the backup horn, this is generally NOT required in most states and is perfectly legal to do.

Backup beepers are usually an OSHA requirement for vehicles with an obstructed rear view or for vehicles of a certain class/size, but primarily obstructed view.

Furthermore, they are often considered noise pollution and there are organized groups that work to ban them.

So I think it's a personal preference. It almost certainly would not impact your insurance rates or your liability in an accident. Unless your state has some bizarre golf-cart backup beeper requirement, which it may very well have. I don't know the laws in every state around golf carts.
There are organized groups to ban backup buzzers on golf carts? Are you a member of that group?
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Old 11-27-2020, 12:50 AM   #16
ATrain
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

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Originally Posted by Mooncarter View Post
There are organized groups to ban backup buzzers on golf carts? Are you a member of that group?
Haha I just unplug mine, but I totally understand the sentiment. At first I thought it was a little absurd until I heard some stories.

My friend lives in a downtown metro area, and every morning at 6am a truck backs up to unload things and it wakes him up. It's obnoxious. It's the truck's routine, so it's consistent too. So pretty much if you're near a location where trucks need to backup frequently, it's CRAZY annoying.

Some fun reading:

https://noisefree.org/sources-of-noise/back-up-beepers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-up_beeper

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...oval-1.5027996
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Old 11-28-2020, 11:45 PM   #17
golf cart man
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATrain View Post
This is the case you're talking about and while the "backup buzzer" makes headlines, it's actually inconsequential.

There are two key points here that don't generally apply on this forum:
  • This was a suit against a commercial/business operation where the golf cart was part of a rental package
  • They were arguing premises liability, which basically means a reasonable effort wasn't made to make things safe. There were no laws broken. This is just a regular old personal-injury suit against an insurance company...think whiplash and a neck brace.

This specific suit was more of an ambulance chaser type thing where a woman had severe brain damage, and insurance was going to have to pay bigtime regardless.

The focus on the golf cart backup buzzer is the lawyers signaling to the insurance company they're going to play hardball and were willing to take it to a trial by jury and at a jury trial, they would hammer that into the jurors head that somebody "disconnected the buzzer". That can be compelling to your average Joe, but again, that's on insurance and would still make no impact to you as an owner other than potentially your insurance rates going up a little if you managed to cause severe brain damage. Insurance companies hate jury trials for various reasons...one being people hate insurance companies and if there is ever anything simple like "disconnected buzzer", they know they'll have an uphill fight.

They also had doctors claiming it would be over $1 million for long-term care, so insurance settled at $500k. It's just typical personal injury attorneys going after insurance for payouts...doesn't really matter to any of us since we just pay for insurance.

That said...you should always have auto insurance if you're on public roads or homeowners/renters if you are on private property with it.

Also, important to note is lawyers will only go after something like this if there is insurance and a business usually has much higher insurance limits than an individual, so if they are covered for $1m the lawyers know they can get $500k easily where if your personal cart is covered for $300k, they know it would be difficult to get all $300k.
Thanks for finding the case I could not remember the details it has been several years since I read it.
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Old 11-29-2020, 02:15 PM   #18
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

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Originally Posted by golf cart man View Post
Thanks for finding the case I could not remember the details it has been several years since I read it.
No problem, and I didn't mean to be argumentative or get too in the legal weeds or anything. I just wanted anyone who stumbled across this thread to know it's almost guaranteed to be legal to disconnect if they choose to do so, and provide supporting information for them in making that decision.
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Old 12-01-2020, 08:42 PM   #19
golf cart man
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Default Re: Icon Backup Absurdly Loud Alarm

Quote:
Originally Posted by ATrain View Post
No problem, and I didn't mean to be argumentative or get too in the legal weeds or anything. I just wanted anyone who stumbled across this thread to know it's almost guaranteed to be legal to disconnect if they choose to do so, and provide supporting information for them in making that decision.
No not combative at all. I just always like to err on the side of caution. Interesting to read the case again though. Good luck to all.
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