Yikes....My 8 yr old just almost lost her future driving privileges...

[Boyd]

Camelot, I would have probably done it and gotten busted the same way you were. When my oldest boy was 8 I bought him his own 70cc chopper. He could tool around up to 38 miles an hour. Where I live its no big deal. Of course he's been driving motor vehicles since he could reach the pedals and levers.

He can drive any car, truck, semi period, quad, dirtbike, roadbike. Front end loader, backhoe bobcat... For us, and for my oldest son, he was mature enough to do all of that and learned the basics before he even stepped into it.

In michigan, you can get a drivers license at 10 or 12 for farm use if I remember correctly. It's been 20 years or more since I had mine....... and a farm CDL at 16....

Now this is going to upset some, but my baby boy who's 9...... he is the hunter/fisherman of the Craven Clan. He could bullseye a quarter from 20 feet when he was 5 and now has moved up to a .22, 20 gauge and a .270 for practice. Do I let my lil boys outside with bb guns? Yup. Do I watch them even if they think I'm not? Yup......

Have they tested my patience? Sure, but they learned the rules, and they know that dad has mystic powers of observation and the scars to prove he was once young and more stupid than they were.

it all boils down to this. if you know your kids...... truly... not the my kid is my best friend crud thats rolling around... but you respect your kids and they respect you.... you are doing your job as a parent and your kid is learning to be a grown adult.















PS, its my daughters that worry me

 

[Big C]

Ahh. the good ole days...
when you could do this. Teach your kids like you wanted to...
Now everything is against the law in one form, fashion or another
Danm shame that we have let ourselves come to this point.

 

[Camelot Farms]

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If we had gotten a citation, we would not have fought it. The law says that the ATV is not for use on the road and our 'two-tire-track-dirt-lane' is a road by law.

I would have sucked it up and paid the ticket. It doesnt mean that I would have liked it

I very much appreciated that the officer issued a warning, not the multitude of citations that apparently I was looking at.

One thing that did strike me as odd is that the officer stated to the kids that he has seen them do this many times but always had someone else that he was ticketing and couldnt get to them.

Keep in mind where we live, the lane has 3 houses on it and believe me its not rocket science as to which house would have the ATV...lol.

So, if he were reeeeeeally that worries about it being a safety issue, I would think that he would have made a concerted effort to drive up the cowpath and find me.

Im glad that it turned out like it did.

 

[Judy]

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[Judy]

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[kagedgoddess]

i m gonna say your deputy was "one of them" no offense, YES he could have been ligitamitly concerned about safety, but then, why wouldnt he just say so instead of threatening you with multiple tickets? the only reason i can think of is that he saw you trying to hold back the giggles and wanted to make his point clear. My dh is a deputy and we are rural, we see ppl /kids ALL the time on these things, as long as they are NOT ON the Paved Roads, he never says anything. i can ask him later about all those charges, but i *think* some of them may have just been to scare ya. if you own a farm, a *normal* deputy wouldve figured you have farm insurance and those things are usually covered on that. but yes, go ahead and get a farm use tag, they are like $5 at your extension office. ( the po can Still harass you though). and i would ask them about the insurance and licensing requirements, they *probably* know better than the dmv.

i m glad he didnt ticket you, but i am highly curious about his thinking.... maybe he just moved from the city and hasnt adjusted yet? lol.

 

[Camelot Farms]

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He was pretty serious. lol. Most of our deputies are super friendly, joke around, give ya a chance kind of guys. So when I pulled the car up, I had rolled the window down, smiled and said 'am I in trouble?'

Thats when he said if you'll step out of the car, we can talk about it.

I think I was doomed from that moment on...

He was young and so maybe still getting into the flow of the position and the 'people' part of it.

 

[deb1]

Is there anyone higher up then him that you can call and ask what the rules are and if he was in his right to threaten you with citations? I have no idea if he was in the right or not. But I would want to know.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Hey Deb1... I looked in our state DMV codes and he was right.

ATVs cannot be ridden on a public use road (which our little dead-end lane is...lol)
Children under 16 cannot operate an ATV
No passengers on an ATV
Anyone operating must wear a helmet


So I would have been busted. It just seemed silly given all of the circumstances. I could totally see if they had been out cruisin' around or being stupid on it.

But, since its the law, we will follow it....we wont like it of course...lol.