Another local ATV 4-wheeler death...

[BrattishTaz]

Quote:
You are showing your age, Chickened.

Kids do stupid things, even smart kids. Everyone was always so impressed at how well behaved I was. I made sure no one was around when I tied skateboards to the back of my go-cart and charged the neighborhood kids a quarter to ride it.

Spook's daughter is only 11 years old, for all we know she was on Mars 20 years ago.

 

[chickened]

It seems Spook should get 2 ATV's and ride and learn together. I always rode with my boys and taught them safe operating skills. The biggest problem with new riders is they have no responsible adult teaching/supervising them. The online test in Oregon is a joke and you just give the state 10 bucks for a piece of paper and no assurance that you actually did the test yourself.

 

[KenK]

I can't think of a single good reason to buy an 11 year old a four wheeler. She wants one and her friends have them are not good reasons, imo.

 

[Dunkopf]

Say no and hope she grows out of wanting one. Tell her she can' ride her friends either. The sorrow of watching her cry because she can't have one is a lot less sorrow than you would feel if she crashed and was in the hospital or worse. It's hard to say no sometimes. I don't say it as often as I should. Gotta do it though. Kids get in enough trouble and accidents without giving themselves something to do it with. A lot of people seem to think if you teach a kid to use a dangerous tool properly they will never use it improperly. They don't seem to realize that a teenager or younger doesn't have a fully developed brain. Unless you can be with the child the entire time they are using that tool they will use it improperly at some point.

You can't protect her from everything but you can prevent injuries sometimes.

 

[QH Girl]

ATV accidents are pretty regular here, and I see alot of ATVs driven on the roads. Someone on an ATV was passing a car not too long ago and hit a motorcyclist head on

. The other day I noticed an ATV on my tail on a back road, I was going 55. I slowed way down, just imagining that ATV slamming into me.

I agree that all sorts of things are dangerous - I've fallen off a horse a time or too and broke my neck in a car accident years ago. It doesn't keep me from cringing when i see teens hauling down the road on ATVs.

 

[chics in the sun]

Quote:
Well said, Dunkopf. There is a reason parents are in charge - kids brains aren't fully developed - nor are their reflexes or their muscle strength. We have accidents around here both on ATV's and on jet skies. Last summer an 11 year old died after crashing into a dock on one. Kids just aren't as aware of their surroundings like we are, and they are so impulsive. I plan on letting my child take some risks as he grows older, but that doesn't mean he gets to decide which ones. To me, ATV's are for adults, or for kids who have an adult with them. The possibile outcome of an accident on one is just far to great for me to be comfortable with letting a child ride one around on their own.

One of the members of Dave Mathews Band just died a few years ago on one - and he was a big guy!

 

[uncle rico]

Quote:
Well said, Dunkopf. There is a reason parents are in charge - kids brains aren't fully developed - nor are their reflexes or their muscle strength. We have accidents around here both on ATV's and on jet skies. Last summer an 11 year old died after crashing into a dock on one. Kids just aren't as aware of their surroundings like we are, and they are so impulsive. I plan on letting my child take some risks as he grows older, but that doesn't mean he gets to decide which ones. To me, ATV's are for adults, or for kids who have an adult with them. The possibile outcome of an accident on one is just far to great for me to be comfortable with letting a child ride one around on their own.

One of the members of Dave Mathews Band just died a few years ago on one - and he was a big guy!

Well said. ATV accidents can happen to anyone, not just irresponsible kids. I don't think an 11 yr old with her friends and ATVs is a very safe combination. Peer pressure causes people (kids especially) to be less aware of their surroundings and more inclined to take risks. Some of the ATVs they make today (Polaris 800 cc & Arctic Cat 1000 CCs) are basically mini-rocket ships that should ONLY be driven by trained, experience adults. Even the smaller 300 & 400 varieties take experience to handle.

What about UTVs? They're atvs with a wider stance, bench seats, (usually) seatbelts and a rollcage. We have had 4-wheelers in the past but now we own a UTV (a Kubota RTV900). We didn't allow our younger kids to drive the 4-wheelers when we had them. They're fast & unpredicable, two traits that make them highly unsuitable for younger kids. Even I had a few close calls on the 4-wheeler driving around the property. Our UTV that we have now is MUCH safer than a 4-wheeler, its slow (top speed 15 mph), safer to drive (has power steering), has seatbelts & a rollcage. Of course they cost quite a bit more than a 4-wheeler and are built for a different purpose but I am of the opinion that they are a much safer and better alternative.

 

[Dunkopf]

I know a guy that hurt on an ATV just from inexperience. He was up in the mountains following a very experienced rider who is a jerk. The experienced guy was doing the follow the leader routine at a much higher rate of speed than this guy that was following him was capable of handling. This guy was a first timer and drove off the side of a mountain on an outside turn. It was only about 50' down and was a fairly minor slope compared to many. Still rolled though and Ken went to the hospital. Barbie was very upset.

 

[MaggieRae]

9 year old girl died at the beginning of summer here. We've had more drownings lately than ATV accidents.

I'd rather ride a horse any day. My friend has some 2000 head of cattle, and decided to use an ATV once instead of a horse on a cattle drive. At some point, a bull charged him and flipped the ATV right over top him. If he had a horse, the horse would have jumped the bush and gotten away.

I guess it depends on what you use them for. Lucky bugger was just fine, but thankfully, doesn't use the ATVs anymore if there's going to be a bull in the pasture.

 

[Souperchicken]

Maybe I'm a stick in the mud, but our children won't be riding an ATV/UTV without a driver's license(16 years old). The law here is a driver's license or driving permit on public land. We have a UTV with a sticker that says no one under 16 years old operating it. I'm pretty sure it said the same on our ATV's if I remember correctly.
I have an 11 year old daughter who continues to ask me if she can drive the UTV and there is no way at her age I would let her. She is too young and immature. I just show her the sticker and tell her we will be following it.(She frequently asks for her own cell phone, Ipad, her own computer, and a new pony LOL!)

We had a girl in our town pull out in front of a car and get thrown from her ATV, she was 8 and the driver was 10. She was lucky she didn't die.
We also had a family vacationing near us last summer and their kids became friends with mine. They had mini ATV's and were driving them up and down the road. I refused to let my children ride with them. At the time the friends were 7 years old!! One day my son came running in white as a ghost crying saying one of the girls was trying to chase him down and "kill" him. I went out to find out they WERE chasing my kids with the ATV's and jokingly saying they were going to kill them. They had no clue that they could hurt my kids!