Posted on 08/16/2019 7:42:49 AM PDT by csvset
SMITHFIELD, Va. A man was killed in a crash between a golf cart and a compact car early Friday morning.
According to the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department, at 12:48 a.m., crews were dispatched to Fairway Drive and the Route 10 Bypass. When crews arrived, they found an overturned vehicle with heavy damage and a golf cart with very heavy damage.
Officers with the Virginia State Police said Cooling was driving without headlights when he was struck head-on by a vehicle traveling west.
A Nightingale air ambulance was dispatched, but the man driving the golf cart, identified as 45-year-old Ryan Allen Cooling, succumbed to his injuries on-scene before he could be transported.
The driver of the car, identified as 30-year-old Joseph Thomas Connelly, was treated on-scene for minor injuries. He was arrested for driving under the influence.
Route 10 at Fairway Drive remained closed for five hours while law enforcement investigated the crash.
Please drive your golf cart responsibly. I think the green vehicle was the golf cart. /s
If nothing else, this should give owners of such small cause a lesson on how well they might (not) hold up in a crash vs. a ‘real’ vehicle.
*cars... not ‘cause’
One cannot help but wonder A. what a golf cart was doing on a road or B. what a car was doing on the golf course.
at 12:48 a.m. trying to make sure he was late for his tee time.
Never bring a golf cart to a car fight!
As it turned out he is definitely late.
The accident occurred on Fairway Drive. That suggests a planned golf course community, with golf cart trails crossing the street. Yielding to crossing carts would be normal, but the drunk would not have expected golf carts down the road, much less after midnight.
Actually not a very good example. The cruddy rinky dink Jap car still survived and the drunk driver did too. But probably because he was wearing a seatbelt (which Im shocked the safety NAZIs havent dutifully notes here).
Golf cart on highway after midnight. Check.
No headlights. Check.
Wrong lane. Check.
Yep. Clearly a case of poor defensive driving on the other driver’s part.
< /sarcasm>
Personally, I don’t drink at all. But even sober, I am not sure how much better than this driver I would have done if I unexpectedly came upon a golf cart with no lights/lights off in the wrong lane coming towards me while driving home after midnight on a dark highway in rural Virginia.
Occasionally, there have been articles over the years about drivers with suspended licenses trying to circumvent the suspension by driving tractors, riding lawn mowers, golf carts, etc. Sometimes they are driving on the shoulder. The usual reason given in the articles for the suspension is repeated drunk driving violations.
So there may have been two people driving under the influence involved in this accident. I’m sure the investigation and autopsy will sort it out.
That is exactly why I don’t drink and drive. You hit a golf cart with no lights and in the wrong lane at 12:30 AM and somehow you are the bad guy.
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