Louisiana Golf Cart Accident Lawyer

Louisiana State Legislature revised statute 32:299.4 describes golf cart safety equipment requirements, exemptions, and registration. 

• A. “Golf cart” means an electric four-wheeled vehicle originally intended for use off-road on golf courses and other green spaces whose maximum speed is twenty-five miles per hour.
• B. The operation of a golf cart upon the public roads or streets of this state is prohibited, except as otherwise provided in this Subsection:
  • (1) A golf cart may be operated only upon a parish road that has been designated by a parish or a municipal street that has been designated by a municipality for use by a golf cart. Upon a designation that a golf cart may be operated on a designated road or street, the responsible governmental entity shall post appropriate signage indicating that such operation is authorized.
  • (2) A golf cart may be used to cross a part of a state highway where a golf course is constructed on both sides of the state highway if the Department of Transportation and Development has issued a permit for the crossing.
• C. A golf cart operated on a parish road or municipal street shall be equipped with efficient brakes, a reliable steering apparatus, safe tires, a rearview mirror, and red reflectorized warning devices in both the front and rear of the vehicle. Such golf cart shall also be equipped with headlamps, front and rear turn signal lamps, tail lamps, and brake lamps.
• D. Any golf cart operated upon a parish road or municipal street shall be registered with the state of Louisiana through the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, office of motor vehicles, as an off-road vehicle and shall display a decal issued by the office of motor vehicles.
• E. No person shall operate a golf cart upon a parish road or municipal street without a valid driver’s license.
• F. Any golf cart operated upon a parish road or municipal street shall have liability insurance with the same minimum limits as required by the provisions of R.S. 32:900(B).
• G.
  • (1) A parish or municipal government may enact an ordinance relating to golf cart operation and require equipment which is more extensive than those enumerated in this Section. Upon enactment of such ordinance, the parish or municipal government shall post appropriate signage or otherwise inform residents that such an ordinance exists and that it will be enforced within the parish or municipal government’s jurisdictional territory.
  • (2) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any parish or municipal ordinance that was in effect prior to January 1, 2015, shall be exempt from the requirements of this Section.
  • (3) Nothing contained in this Section shall be construed to prohibit parish or municipal governments from prohibiting the operation of any golf cart on any parish road or municipal street under its jurisdiction if such parish or municipal government determines that such prohibition is necessary for the safety of the motoring public.
• H. The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, public safety services, shall promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, subject to oversight by the House and Senate committees on transportation, highways and public works, as necessary to implement the provisions of this Section. Such rules and regulations shall become effective no later than January 15, 2016.

Contact an Experienced Louisiana Golf Cart Injury Accident Attorney Near You

If you were injured in a Louisiana golf cart accident, contact the New Orleans golf car accident attorneys at Lavis Law Firm for a Free Consultation at (504) 834-4000.

Does Louisiana’s “No Pay, No Play” Law Apply to Golf Cart Accidents?

It can be relevant — but whether it limits a particular claim depends on who was injured, what vehicle they owned or operated, and whether that vehicle was required to carry liability insurance. A golf cart operated on a designated parish road or municipal street must carry liability insurance. La. R.S. 32:299.4(F). Louisiana’s no-pay-no-play provision, La. R.S. 32:866(A), limits recovery by an uninsured owner or operator of a motor vehicle involved in a motor vehicle accident — currently the first $100,000 of bodily injury and the first $100,000 of property damage, thresholds raised by a 2025 amendment effective August 1, 2025. It does not impose that limit on a passenger merely because the vehicle was uninsured, unless the passenger also owns it. For that reason, it would be wrong to assume as a blanket rule that no pay, no play never applies to a golf cart accident. The more useful distinction is that a cart used only off-road or on private property may present a different insurance-requirement question than one operated on a public street. La. R.S. 32:861(A); La. R.S. 32:299.4(B), (F). The statute’s other exceptions can matter as well. The limit does not apply where the other driver fled the scene, was convicted of or pleaded no contest to a DWI arising from the crash, intentionally caused the crash, or was committing a felony at the time, or where the other vehicle was not being operated at the time of the accident and was not itself in violation of Chapter 1 of Title 32 — a legally parked car, for example. La. R.S. 32:866(A)(3)(b). Whether the rule affects your claim turns on the accident date, the location, and whether the injured person was the cart’s owner, driver, or passenger. Call Lavis Law Firm at 504-834-4000 for a free review.

How fault is divided after an injury

Louisiana applies a modified comparative fault rule to accidents on or after 1 January 2026. An injured person whose own share of fault is fifty-one percent or more recovers nothing, and below that threshold recovery is reduced by the share assigned. La. Civ. Code art. 2323(A)(2), added by Act 15 of 2025. Accidents before that date remain under the former pure comparative fault rule, under which a person’s own fault reduced recovery but never barred it, so the accident date decides which rule governs.

This matters in golf cart cases because fault is often shared. A cart carrying more riders than it was built for, a passenger standing or hanging off the side, a driver who had been drinking, and a cart taken onto a road where carts are not permitted are all facts an insurer will use to push the injured person’s share of fault upward. For an accident on or after 1 January 2026 that argument can defeat the claim outright rather than merely reduce it.