Three Villagers died in 2022 as the result of accidents involving their golf carts. It was the No. 1 story of the year.
Barbara Joan Lawless, 70, died after a crash which occurred on Morse Boulevard.
She was alone in the red 2017 Yamaha golf cart at 3:45 p.m. June 30 and was traveling southbound approaching Juanita Avenue when she made a “sudden left turn” from the golf cart lane into the path of a white 2006 Ford E150 van driven by a 58-year-old man from Naples, according to an accident report from the Florida Highway Patrol. The front end of the van struck the left side of the golf cart. The trooper noted in the report that she made an “improper turn” and was “inattentive.” She was ejected from the golf cart and transported by ambulance to Ocala Regional Medical Center, where she later died.
Lawless and her husband Gary moved to The Villages from Missouri. She was an avid pickleball player.
Villager dies after fall from golf cart
A Villager died after suffering an apparent head injury after a golf cart mishap near his home.
Daniel Hengerer, 70, of the Village of Duval died at Ocala Regional Medical Center.
He was driving a 2021 Yamaha golf cart shortly after 7 p.m. Nov. 14 westbound on Odell Circle approaching the intersection with Raintree Drive when he made a left turn and his right-side tires hit the raised concrete curb. He was ejected from the golf cart and fell onto the asphalt roadway, according to a preliminary accident report from the Florida Highway Patrol. The golf cart rolled another 50 feet before it came to a rest in the northbound lane of Raintree Drive.
Villager dies after crashing into sign at recreation center
A Villager driving a golf cart died after crashing into a sign at a recreation center.
The 78-year-old Villager had been traveling south at 8:51 a.m. March 18 on the multi-modal path which runs parallel to Buena Vista Boulevard in front of the SeaBreeze Recreation Center. He “failed to negotiate a slight right curve and traveled onto the east shoulder of the path, crossed over the entrance drive for the SeaBreeze Recreation Center,” the report said. He continued on the east shoulder of the path “before colliding with a ground light fixture” and the recreation center sign. He was transported to a local hospital where he later died from injuries suffered in the crash. The report indicated that the golf cart did not have seat belts.
