Wreck fuels golf cart controversy

Calls for stronger enforcement of laws restricting the use of golf carts and other unauthorized vehicles on roadways are being fueled by word of a weekend tragedy on a local highway.

Authorities say the wreck occurred when a motorist swerved to avoid a golf cart being operated by a South Terrebonne High School honors student who now faces criminal charges.

But sellers of the carts and other proponents of their use warn against a rush to judgment, suggesting the same outcome was possible if the driver swerved to avoid something else.

The automobile driver, 63-year-old Cleveland Towns of Montegut, was clinging to life Monday night at University Hospital in New Orleans, according to neighbors and relatives.

The driver of the golf cart, 17-year-old Katelyn DuPlantis, was arrested by state police and booked for first-degree negligent injuring and driving a vehicle with improper equipment on a public highway. She posted a $25,000 bond and was released.

Sgt. Larry Badeaux of State Police Troop C said Towns was driving his 2003 Oldsmobile north on La. Highway 24 at about 2 a.m. Sunday when he noticed the golf cart traveling on the road.

“He steered to the left to avoid striking the golf cart and his vehicle struck a tree limb, which impacted the windshield and the roof,” Badeaux said. “He had critical life-threatening injuries.”

DuPlantis, Badeaux said, had a blood alcohol count of .095, which is above the legal limit of .02 for people under 21.

The negligent injuring charge includes the alleged alcohol offense as well as the driving of the golf cart on the highway, said Assistant District Attorney Mark Rhodes. The District Attorney’s Office has not yet reviewed the case and likely will not do so until state police have completed their investigation, which will likely include crash reconstruction.

According to State Police, DuPlantis had been operating the golf cart in the front yard of 4241 La. 24, the home of its owner, Michael DeRoche.

“She went down the yard toward the road and she got on the road and turned northbound, to go back to the driveway,” said Trooper Evan Harrell. “She wasn’t on the road very long.”

Golf carts and other off-road vehicles have recently become the target of crackdowns in Houma and other local communities.

Houma Police Chief Todd Duplantis announced last month that officers planned stepped-up enforcement in the Mulberry subdivision.

“It’s been a problem for us,” Duplantis said. Reports of golf carts, go-carts and other unauthorized vehicles have been on the increase, the police chief said, in some cases driven by children.

Rhodes said he would like to see more attention paid to the problem, particularly parents who buy off-road vehicles for children.

“Parents trying to be friends, that’s an issue that needs to be addressed in this community and this is not acceptable,” he said.

Authorities have not yet released whom the golf cart belonged to, or how it is that Katelyn Duplantis ended up driving it.

But Sheriff Jerry Larpenter – who has also instructed his deputies to step up ticketing of vehicles on streets that are not street legal – said owners of carts need to realize that serious liability can be attached if something goes wrong when someone else is driving their vehicle, as well as if they are driving it themselves.

Don Hebert, who has sold golf carts and other off-road vehicles at Peterdon’s Carts and Accessories on La. Highway 24 in Houma, said the vehicles are popular because of high fuel prices, and seen as a green alternative for short trips across lawns in neighborhoods.

He doesn’t want to see a rush to judgment condemning golf carts and other forms of alternative transportation, and is hoping, one day, Louisiana will join other states that allow for registration of the vehicles.

“If I slow down on my sales the parish and the state receive less in taxes,” said Hebert, stating that his business has already been dented because of recent crackdowns.

A decent cart, he said, runs between $4,200 and $4,500. Optional lighting kits, he said, are available.

Hebert said he does not advise purchasers about local or state laws.

“If they are responsible to purchase the cart I assume they are responsible, I cannot police that,” Hebert said. “Most of the carts I sell are coming with taillights and headlights. If someone wants turn signals and blinkers, we can add them on. There is a big conflict about what is street legal.”

Hebert said it was sad to learn about the wreck Sunday morning, but that the alleged involvement of a golf cart should not be the focus of attention.

“It could have been a bicycle or a lawnmower,” he said. “This is just going to feed the fire.”

Hebert said that if laws are changed to allow golf carts greater access to highways, age restrictions should be part of those laws.

Katelyn Duplantis