A man was seriously injured Friday morning after losing control of a golf cart on a path beside El Camino Real in Sumter County, striking a tree before the cart flipped and landed on top of him. He was airlifted from the scene with serious injuries, and the Florida Highway Patrol is still trying to determine what happened.
The crash happened around 11:15 a.m. along a designated cart path running parallel to El Camino Real, near the Cazares Avenue intersection, according to tampafp.com. The driver of the Yamaha golf cart had been traveling eastbound when he lost control, drove off the cart path and struck a tree, per villages-news.com. As reported by WKMG ClickOrlando, the man was traveling east on the path beside El Camino Real near Cazares Avenue when the crash occurred.
Driver Ejected as Cart Flipped on Top of Him
The impact threw the driver from the golf cart, which then overturned onto him, the same villages-news.com account states. He suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to an area hospital, the report notes. His name, current condition and the hospital that treated him have not been made public.
The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash, and the agency had not released what caused the driver to veer off the path at the time of reporting. Troopers have not yet publicly released the driver's name, his current condition, or what caused him to veer off the path, according to the same tampafp.com account.
Part of a Rough Stretch for Golf Carts Across the Region
The Sumter County crash comes during a difficult stretch for golf cart safety across the broader Tampa Bay area. Over the past week, there have been three separate golf cart crashes that left nine teenagers injured, according to wfla.com. That outlet also reported a separate golf cart crash in St. Petersburg on Thursday that injured two adults.
fox13news.com reported that nine teenagers were hospitalized after three separate golf cart crashes across the Bay Area over Columbus Day weekend. In one of those incidents, a 13-year-old driving a golf cart lost control and flipped the vehicle near 86th Avenue and 53rd Way in Pinellas Park, sending six youths to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital in stable condition. In another, a crash near Wesley Chapel threw all four teens from the golf cart, leaving two girls with serious injuries and two boys with minor injuries, per the same Fox 13 report.
What Florida Law Requires Before Carts Can Share the Road
Golf cart paths like the one along El Camino Real don't exist by accident. Under Florida law, a local government must first determine that golf carts can safely travel on or cross a given road, taking into account the speed, volume and character of motor-vehicle traffic, according to the Florida Senate's 2025 statutes. Only after making that determination is the entity required to post signs indicating that golf-cart operation is permitted.
No citations or charges connected to Friday's Sumter County crash have been announced, and the exact cause remains under investigation. The Florida Highway Patrol has not provided additional information beyond confirming the crash and the driver's airlift to a hospital.
