Speed vs Safety

[scottyb]

Give a man a golf cart and he will make it go faster.
Everyday we see members posting higher and higher top speeds.
The golf carts are designed for safe operation at low speeds in a controlled environment far away from public roads. Anything can happen on a public street.
Their narrow and short wheelbase makes them naturally unstable at high speed. Add a lift kit and the balance point goes further up off the ground, multiplying the problem.
I'm not going to lecture on how fast is too fast.
I am going to give you some food for thought with the crash test video below. These tests were performed at 31mph. Today we see even higher speeds.

You Tube

You Tube

[Nsane]

Scary stuff! That is why I'm installing disc brakes but then again, with speeds going up the danger goes up too!

[theboss20]

One thing that I noticed was the dummy was wearing a seat belt...a large majority of the carts either do not have seat belts or the driver's choose not to wear them....you can imagine what the results would be without them by watching this video.😳

[scottyb]

Originally Posted by theboss20

One thing that I noticed was the dummy was wearing a seat belt...a large majority of the carts either do not have seat belts or the driver's choose not to wear them....you can imagine what the results would be without them by watching this video.��

The crash test description said they chose to use a lap belt to avoid the appearance of test result bias even though 99% of the cart drivers do not use safety belts. This crash is what would happen if a car backed or pulled out in front your cart at 31 mph. Even with the belt on, some serious facial & neck remodeling was happening.

[2016CTD]

Ouch!

[greg-g]

Motorcycles can go a whole lot faster

[jacobsond]

You know when I'm on my cart the last thing I think of is speed. I'm just driving around with no place to go and all day to get there. Why do I need to go fast.

[2016CTD]

Originally Posted by greg-g

Motorcycles can go a whole lot faster

True but I am a lot more careful on my motorcycle than with my cart. I think that is because I'm not on the public roads with the golf cart.

[Mooncarter]

Yep. about 13 is enough for me. At least for the type of riding we do.

[Seaquell]

The old marathon is hitting just over 20 mph now which is great but its not like you can just crank the steering wheel over like in a stock golf cart at full speed.

I couldn't wait to get my golf cart to go faster than the 12 or 13mph stock speed so I put a bunch of time and money to go 20+. Now when I drive around the house i usually go around 12mph and in a rv park I cant even go that fast most of the time

On the plus side it is a huge improvement in torque and it can hold speed going up a hill now!