Another ATV accident

[hopper68]

Here in southwestern Indiana we seem to be averaging 1-2 atv accidents every week for the last month with 2 children loosing their lives. Right now Indians CO Dist 7 is heading to another accident. The local COs have started going to schools to talk with students about atv safety.

Please remind your friends and families to ride safely and watch out for those who aren't.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

It's getting to be that time of the year, isn't it? I've got a couple of the DNR regions on my FB feed and you're right. It seems like they report a ATV accident every weekend.

 

[Leadeye]

They are great tools and I really like mine, but it's like any other piece of equipment you have know it's limits.

 

[mom45]

I follow the DNR pages on FB, and it seems there have been ATV accidents throughout the state and in greater numbers than they usually see.

I hate when I see kids zooming down the road on them with no helmets or safety gear.

 

[bwframe]

I have spoke with DNR folks who say, "I have teenagers, therefore I DO NOT have an ATV."

 

[churchmouse]

Are these kids trying the stupid stunts they see on U-tube.
We were insane on our bikes and had no where near the losses.

 

[mom45]

Are these kids trying the stupid stunts they see on U-tube.
We were insane on our bikes and had no where near the losses.

Bikes or ATV's? My son wanted a four wheeler so badly cause all his friends had them. We got him a small motorcycle instead and told him he needed to learn to ride that and focus on keeping it on two wheels. Our thoughts were that most accidents on ATV's seem to happen because kids somehow think they are safer because they don't have to focus on keeping it upright and develop a false sense of security. They also aren't designed to ride on pavement so the kids here flip them or run into trees because the tires grip the pavement unevenly and it throws them to one side. We had a serious crash near our house a couple of years ago that resulted from kids racing down the county road and one of them crashing into a tree. He was airlifted with a brain injury.

 

[Principal Skinr]

I had a pretty bad accident on an ATV years ago. I then took a safety course, and never had another. The safety course taught me many things and humbled me a bit. Since then, though, I traded my Polaris 800 for a Rzr 570 side by side. My kids were starting to ask about riding the 800, and there is no way I'd ever let them do it. Too much power. (82mph top end!) The 570 has a roll cage, netting, and seat belts. It's still powerful, and will do 55mph in high range, but it is a lot safer, IMO.

 

[churchmouse]

Bikes or ATV's? My son wanted a four wheeler so badly cause all his friends had them. We got him a small motorcycle instead and told him he needed to learn to ride that and focus on keeping it on two wheels. Our thoughts were that most accidents on ATV's seem to happen because kids somehow think they are safer because they don't have to focus on keeping it upright and develop a false sense of security. They also aren't designed to ride on pavement so the kids here flip them or run into trees because the tires grip the pavement unevenly and it throws them to one side. We had a serious crash near our house a couple of years ago that resulted from kids racing down the county road and one of them crashing into a tree. He was airlifted with a brain injury.

Dirt bikes. Stupid fast ones. Started on insanely fast mini-bikes. They were to painful.
ATV's came later in life for me. My kids had them. They ran them hard and ended up on their heads a few times but what I see happening here is just nuts. We built ramps, rode the creeks
Some of these things are insanely fast and do not belong in the hands of inexperienced kids.

 

[eldirector]

What happened to the bill in the house/senate about requiring helmets on kids on ATVs?

 

[hopper68]

Sad to say but the 7 year old girl that died from a crash a few weeks back was sitting between her mother and an adult friend. Kids are not the only ones riding recklessly.

 

[Leadeye]

Are these kids trying the stupid stunts they see on U-tube.
We were insane on our bikes and had no where near the losses.

Good point. I have to wonder if part of it comes from the difference between the bikes and ATV's shape. A lot of these accidents are roll overs on a slope, when a bike goes down on it's side it's probably going to stay that way, on your leg. ATVs will roll and keep rolling.

 

[Gaffer]

Sad to say but the 7 year old girl that died from a crash a few weeks back was sitting between her mother and an adult friend. Kids are not the only ones riding recklessly.

Yes, and some of the adult crashes I have read about appear to be involved with, "Hold my beer and watch this!"

Ron

 

[avboiler11]

I've been riding since I was about 9, almost 25 years now...and I've had one ATV roll on me. Of course I was trail-riding, slowly, and expected it might happen because of the terrain. I bailed and landed without a scratch, the bike went to 90 degrees, I pushed it back over and continued the ride.

Respect for the machine and the terrain, with a big dose of humility, is important to self-preservation.

I know have a Ranger 570 that my 6/3 year olds ride in, and their first off-roader will likely be a 110-150cc offroad gokart. I like seats, rollbars and four-points...

 

[ghitch75]

the grandson at 8 started out with a small atv.....had to have helmet on or he couldn't even sit on it.......now he 13 and has a Kodiak 400 4x4......same still goes no helmet no sit....

he got flopped off the small one a couple times so he gives the 400 plenty of respect.....

i race MX back in the late 70's early 80's till a bad crash broken my right ankle in 2(still have the screws and plates in there) when i was 18 just out of high school.....so after that i never races again but still trail road.......

making money was more important than racing......


parents need to teach them how to ride and to never get on one with out a helmet....

 

[mom45]

Helmet laws are good if they are followed. In our area, half of the parents don't even seem to know where their kids are much less what they are doing.

 

[Mgderf]

I'm just waiting on the day I need to report a fatal ATV accident in front of my house.
I live at the intersection of a T-road. My driveway almost perfectly lines up with the road T-ing into mine.

Moved in more than 10 years ago. Moved in in June so weather was good.
I immediately started seeing ATV's zooming up and down the street. Sometimes it carried an adult. Other times there was a child of no more than 8 operating the ATV.

Two weeks after moving in, my brother stopped by.
He had stopped his truck in the road in front of my house.

Some idiot in a car didn't want to wait for my brother to move.
This idiot didn't stop for the stop sign. He simply blew through it and went around us, but he drove right through my yard!

I was so surprised I couldn't react for a few seconds.
Days later, I posted VERY large rocks at the road-side in front of my yard. I'm talking 2-300lb rocks.

I was sitting in my living room watching t.v. when I heard the crash.
I jumped out of my chair and looked out the front door in time to see a guy of about 35 or so pick himself up out of my yard and crawl to his ATV, which was now perched on top of one of the larger rocks.
He had hit that rock hard enough to slide it across the dirt a minimum of 2 feet!

He looked back to see me watching him dragging his ATV out of my yard and starting it up again.
He never apologized, or even cursed me out for the rocks. He looked like he could have been hurt.

Almost 10 years has passed. The rocks are still there, and the ATV rides continue, with younger and younger single riders. No helmets, no seat-belts, no roll-cages, no governors, and obviously no common-sense.
I've pretty much resolved myself to the idea that I will, eventually, be reporting a fatality at some point.

 

[mom45]

I'm just waiting on the day I need to report a fatal ATV accident in front of my house.
I live at the intersection of a T-road. My driveway almost perfectly lines up with the road T-ing into mine.

Moved in more than 10 years ago. Moved in in June so weather was good.
I immediately started seeing ATV's zooming up and down the street. Sometimes it carried an adult. Other times there was a child of no more than 8 operating the ATV.

Two weeks after moving in, my brother stopped by.
He had stopped his truck in the road in front of my house.

Some idiot in a car didn't want to wait for my brother to move.
This idiot didn't stop for the stop sign. He simply blew through it and went around us, but he drove right through my yard!

I was so surprised I couldn't react for a few seconds.
Days later, I posted VERY large rocks at the road-side in front of my yard. I'm talking 2-300lb rocks.

I was sitting in my living room watching t.v. when I heard the crash.
I jumped out of my chair and looked out the front door in time to see a guy of about 35 or so pick himself up out of my yard and crawl to his ATV, which was now perched on top of one of the larger rocks.
He had hit that rock hard enough to slide it across the dirt a minimum of 2 feet!

He looked back to see me watching him dragging his ATV out of my yard and starting it up again.
He never apologized, or even cursed me out for the rocks. He looked like he could have been hurt.

Almost 10 years has passed. The rocks are still there, and the ATV rides continue, with younger and younger single riders. No helmets, no seat-belts, no roll-cages, no governors, and obviously no common-sense.
I've pretty much resolved myself to the idea that I will, eventually, be reporting a fatality at some point.

Common sense is dead.

 

[churchmouse]

Common sense is dead.

If sense were common everyone would have it.
Parenting is becoming a lost art. Lazy self centered people that should not be reproducing.

 

[CindyE]

We live in town and see this all the time. I don't care if adults are stupid and reckless, as long as they are only putting themselves in danger, but I will call it in if there are kids involved. Not to mention it pisses me off when they fly down the alley near my garden and our garage, and dust everything, including me. My daughter's boyfriend's 19 yr old sister was seriously injured on one just last week. She seems to be a pretty cautious girl, doubt she was being reckless or drinking, like my stupid 19 year old fearless self probably would have been. Last I heard, nobody knows what happened to cause her to cross the road and hit a fence. She's going to be ok, spent a few days in the hospital and i imagine will have some scars to talk about.