Golf carts 'automobiles': Manitoba judge

[alp227]

Source: CBC News

A Manitoba judge has ruled that electric golf carts are "automobiles," and has ordered Manitoba Public Insurance to pay a Winnipeg man compensation for an injury he sustained on the golf course more than seven years ago.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Brenda Keyser's recent ruling is the latest step in Jeff Hruska's legal battle for compensation after he was hurt while riding a battery-powered golf cart at Bridges Golf Club on April 26, 2003.

He suffered a broken right leg, muscle tearing and permanent scarring in the incident. Hruska filed a lawsuit against Bridges in 2004.

But the case languished in the justice system for years as Bridges denied all responsibility for his injury and claimed that MPI was legally bound to compensate Hruska under Manitoba's public-insurance laws.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2010/08/29/man-golf-carts-automobiles-mpi-lawsuit.html

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Trying to think about a Tiger Woods reference...trying...

So I see that automobile=any wheeled thing that runs on power.

[msongs]

1. auto = goes by itself (without a horse lol) mobile = moves nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. If you can get charged for DUI on a horse drawn buggy...

I see no reason to exempt golf cats from vehicular laws.

[AzNick]

3. Which means you can ride them on the road legally then...

I see some interesting consequences.

Golf-cart lanes?

[Synicus Maximus]

4. Except most golf-carts aren't street legal. They do not have head lights, brake lights

horns etc.

[jmowreader]

7. Move to Kootenai County, Idaho...

There are companies up here who take golf carts, add the various lights needed, and turn them into Neighborhood Vehicles. Then you buy a Limited Use Vehicle plate for them and voila--car you don't need a driver's license for! People use them on the streets all the time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. We use one in our neighborhood for exercising the dog.

And lots of people ride them to the gold course which is about a mile away.
Course, we stay in the neighborhood, not on a "main" road. We have no sidewalks, no center lines,
barely enough room for 2 cars on the street.
I like the Kootenai County idea!

[boppers]

5. Prius.

HOV lane.

:evilgrin:

[Blue Diadem]

6. They're legal in Ohio

for the last few years. I had to look up the change in the law after our small town suddenly went nutso with them. Honestly, sometimes it feels like we live at a campground with all the golf carts.

There are restrictions, one is they can't be on roads that have higher speed limits, although I've seen some on the country roads with 50MPH speed limits.

[happyslug]

8. Please note it is the DEFENDANT who wants the cart to be a Car

The rationale for that is simple, if the Cart is a Car the Defendant golf course is NOT liable for the accident. If the Cart is NOT a car then the Manitoba no fault insurance law does NOT come into play i.e. under the Manitoba No Fault insurance plan, one can NOT sue for any injury caused in an Auto Accident, but CAN sue if the cart is NOT a car (the No Fault rule ONLY applies to injuries in a car NOT otherwise).

The Judge ruled on the plan language of the No Fault Law, it defined a car that includes anything that is not peddle or pushed. Given that broad definition the Judge's ruling is correct. The Provincial legislature (We are talking about Canada hear) must change the law so that the two definitions used in the Law are the same. Right now, what is a car is defined twice AND differently.

[FMBM]

9. Actually, in my town they can be driven on the street...

At least that's what I've been told, although I've never seen one... I have seen plenty of battery powered buggies down by the beach..

[IntravenousDemilo]

11. How about riding mowers?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/