Comment NumberOL-100646
OrganizationSoloRider Management, LLC
Received05/31/2005 07:21:02 PM
Commenter
First NameLast NameState/Province
MonroeBerkmanFL
AgencyU. S. Department of Justice
Docket IDCRT Docket No. 2004-DRS01
RuleNondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations and in Commercial Facilities
AttachmentsNo Attachments
CommentsAnswers to Specific Questions


6-May 25, 2005 Department of Justice P.O. Box 1032 Merrifield, Va. 22116-1032 From: Monroe E. Berkman 3401 S. Beach Drive Tampa, Fl. 33629 Re: ANPRM, ADA regulations and design standards---Question 6 Gentlemen: My name is Monroe Berkman, age sixty five, and I am currently the controlling owner and Chairman of SoloRider Management which produces the SoloRider single rider golf car. I very much appreciate the opportunity to voice my opinions and tell my story as it relates to the ADA and relevant legislation regarding single rider golf cars. I am a polio survivor. I contracted polio at the age of twelve while at summer camp in Indiana in 1952. I was one of the more fortunate ones who spent only six months in rehabilitation at the Warm Springs Foundation in Warm Springs, Ga…. the Foundation made famous by another polio survivor, Franklin Roosevelt. While at Warm Springs I saw horrific situations, and, to this day, I feel blessed to have survived. The guilt of survival motivated me over the years to speak out and to help where and how I could possibly improve the lifestyle of the disabled. Five years ago while playing golf on a business trip, I fell and broke my one usable leg, and what little balance I had was totally destroyed. That, along with the aging process, caused me to redirect my efforts. I formed a company with another handicapped individual to consult in the construction of new and remodeled buildings, not in place of ADA laws, but to supplement the laws in order to create better accessibility and use while helping to avoid “landmines,” a term which I use to point out anything that has a potential to create accidents and injury not just to the disabled but to the elderly and able-bodied people as well. I have also invested in a single rider golf car company, SoloRider, because for the past four and one half years, the SoloRider has been the only golf car that has allowed me to continue playing the game of golf which I have played for virtually my entire life. Having the use of the SoloRider golf car and the physical, mental and spiritual dimension it gives, has changed my life, and the lives of many people I now come in contact with. (1) There are more than 20 million adults, millions of children and thousands of disabled veterans in the U.S. who are physically challenged. This does not include the 78 million baby boomers who in aging may be denied the opportunity to maintain a reasonably active lifestyle. The reality is that golf is the only major sport doable for aging and handicapped individuals. It provides needed exercise, fresh air and perhaps most important…self- satisfaction and self-worth. But for the SoloRider golf car and it’s seat that stands me up, I would have given up golf almost five years ago. It has been unfortunate that those disabled individuals that must depend on a single rider golf car must be forced to bring a car to a golf course if they want to play golf. First of all the greatest majority of disabled golfers cannot afford to buy a golf car, and if they could, they do not have the physical capability to transport a golf car. The fact that I (I is representative of millions of disabled) cannot go to any resort or any golf course of my choosing that has golf cars available and not be able to play golf unless I bring my own golf car is disgraceful. As advanced as the United States is in consideration of the handicapped compared to other countries, it is light years away from achieving a fairness and common sense approach to unique problems faced by the handicapped. It is crucial to people like me that golf courses and golfing facilities own or lease a few single rider, specialized golf cars, especially since there are no golf cars now being manufactured that are adaptable for handicap accessibility or suitable for driving on greens. It is also imperative that the single rider golf car be usable by the highest percentage of mobility impaired golfers and people. To effectively meet this criteria, I am suggesting that SINGLE RIDER GOLF CARS: Be the SAFEST golf cart a) They must meet and in many areas exceed the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standards as set forth by the Association of Golf Car Manufacturers. b) They must be safer and more stable on sidehills than ANSI standards suggest. Travel at the same speed as a regular two-seat golf car---14 1/2 to 15 mph so that “speed of play” is as fast if not faster than the normal pace. 3. Be operable by either the left hand or the right hand and have all controls within easy reach including the forward and reverse switch, accelerator, hand brake and seat release lever. (2 4. Have a seat belt and chest belt to accommodate most degrees of impairment. 5. Have a seat that easily swivels and can lock in an infinite number of positions. Have a seat that elevates—able to put a person, as needed, in a position which gives a physically challenged golfer the ability to play golf in a near normal standing position whenever and wherever possible. Should be able to go into most sandtraps that have a fairly level point of entry. 8. Should be able to access all tees and putting greens with no noticeable tire marks without creating any damage. Golf courses and golfing facilities should be required to: Have at least a few single rider golf cars. MAINTAIN the single rider car at all times so that they are available and ready for play at any given time and without notice…no different than any golfer desiring to play golf. To keep the single rider golf car visable and not shoved back in the car barn and MAINTAINED and SERVICED like the rest of the fleet of golf cars The only Economic impact that a single rider golf car might have on a golf course is to increase the profit on the bottom line of the P& L statement. 1. The single rider golf car is usable by any golfer, ranger or maintenance person just like any other golf car. 2. A golfer with a mobility impairment is most likely to bring 2 or 3 other players . with them. 3. The single rider car can be used by any player and increases “speed of play” and allows for more rounds of golf to be played each day. 4. The pr factor of servicing the elderly and the handicapped is far reaching. My response to the ANPRM could not be complete without stating that there are several self-serving “special interest and special action groups” which are extremely well funded and seem to want nothing more than to take the heart out of the Department of Justice’s intent to stop discrimination and bigotry against the 20 million plus disabled adult Americans and the millions of children with disabilities by instituting and revising the Americans with Disabilities Act. (3) These organizations, The National Center on Accessibility and the National Alliance for Accessible Golf (NAAG) are funded by such organizations as the National Golf Course Owners Association (NGCOA), the PGA, the PGA Tour, the USGA, the LPGA and the Club Managers Association of America. A third organization is the National Golf Car Manufacturers Association (NGCMA). The National Alliance for Accessible Golf it would appear has done everything possible to create the National Alliance for INACCESSIBLE Golf. That is why mostly all physically challenged golfers who were on NAAG’s board or committees such as “the single rider golf car” committee have quit. Apparently they were disenchanted with NAAG’s single quest of stopping the advent of single rider golf cars with one delay tactic after another. NAAG spends its research dollars on soil impact studies and other useless studies because these studies have been done over and over again. They also have “Project Gain” on which they say they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the five or six years of existence NAAG has had virtually no impact on disabled golf or disabled golfers. How could “Project Gain” function without a single rider golf car? The responses from NAAG to the DOJ’s ANPRM will include virtually no input from a disabled golfer. The responses from these “special interest groups” are simply delay tactics which are meant to stop making golf accessible for the hundreds of thousands of people and the thousands of disabled Veterans who want and need a better way of life. And PLAYING GOLF is a great answer for healing the minor as well as the major wounds that the handicapped deal with every day of their life. The ANPRM response from the National Golf Car Manufacturers Association makes me feel cheated and disgusted. I counted no less than 39 inferences of discrimination against a physically challenged golfer like myself. I also note that NGCMA does not believe that its ANSI standards, when applied to a single rider golf car such as the SoloRider, are rigorous or comprehensive enough. NGCMA is correct and that is why SoloRider wants to be the SAFEST golf car. The SoloRider golf car meets all applicable and surpasses many ANSI standards by a wide margin, especially in both longitudinal and lateral stability. Unlike other golf cars, SoloRider golf cars have NEVER had a reported accident; have NEVER had a tip-over; have NEVER been accused of causing turf damage to greens or tees or any other part of a golf course. There are virtually hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied the possibility of playing golf because there has never been the requirement to make single rider golf cars available.. We, the handicapped, desperately need your help to achieve some of the qualities of life that others enjoy and that our CONSTITUTION guarantees. Respectfully submitted, Monroe E. Berkman (4)
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