Austin’s Daily Commentary – July 24, 2023

Austin: [00:00:00] Tragedy was narrowly averted Friday in the Riverwood neighborhood near Greenbrier High School, as two 13 year old boys on a golf cart were hit by an adult in an SUV who was apparently attempting to improperly pass that golf cart. The golf cart should not have been on the roadway because the 13 year old boy was driving it. He was cited for driving without a license. The adult driver of the SUV responsible for the accident in totality was also cited for improper passing.

But we've got a real problem, not just in the Riverwood neighborhood, but all over the CSRA, with young people on improper vehicles, on public roadways under the age of 16. If you don't have a driver's license, you're not supposed to be on the roadway, period. I don't care whether you're on a motorcycle, a golf cart, a go cart, whatever. If it's motorized, you're supposed to have a license. If you're on a roadway that has travelers on it over 35 miles an hour, to be sure.

If you have an adult with you, it's okay under certain conditions to be driving a golf cart or a motorcycle again, depending on where you are. But the bottom line is there are too many unsupervised kids on the roadways in these very expensive and dangerous vehicles. Folks, if you get involved in a minor fender bender with two cars, trucks SUVs involved, that's routine standard operating procedure. It happens all the time. If you're in an improper structure, whether it's a motorcycle, a golf cart, a go kart, and you're hit by a much larger vehicle. Well, tragedy is just a moment away from happening.

Those two kids that were hit Friday, it is a miracle from God that neither one of them were were killed or seriously maimed. Very painful injuries for one of the young men. He will recover. Thank goodness gracious. By the way, that young man is a friend of my son's and a classmate and teammate of his his entire life. It broke all of our hearts when we heard about it. It could have been our kid and it could have our son on that golf cart just that easy.

We all need to rethink our priorities here. I know it's kind of being a curmudgeon, a bit of a Scrooge. Everybody loves golf carts, but kids don't need to be driving them on busy roadways. Period. It's a tough lesson to learn. Thank goodness gracious. We're not attending a funeral this week. It could have very easily gone that way. And that's the comment, I'm Austin Rhodes, AM 580/95.1  FM News Talk WGAC. [00:00:00][0.0]