Geesh - push one stinkin button.....

Minnesota released its 2003 ATV accident report recently and it is just simply unbelievable that children under 10 years old represented 43% of the TOTAL (377) reported accidents.

Roll over accidents accounted for 40% and 4% were passengers thrown from the machine.

There were 16 fatalities total for the year - all age groups. This is about the same average as skydiving (# of skydivers vs number of deaths)

Another interesting statistic is that only 35 of the 165 youth accidents had ATV Safety training. Which leans towards - it helps.

247 accidents were on private property(116) or road right-of-way (131) (reflects # of people or machines involved)

 

Keep preaching it brother, Remeber you can lead that horse to the water.

 

If every body lived forever we would be standing b@lls to @ss and would have no room to sit.Everything can be made safer we could make cars that are built like tanks and only went 20 mph so there is no chance of getting inured.Everything we do CAN be made to avoid all injury but that would take all the fun out of everything.

 

that got a s%ck to die from sky diving!

 

Any idea how many kid's have taken the training course all together in minnesota? That may be an interesting number/percentage.

Maybe, just maybe you will get less flack from people on this forum now. Oh who am I kidding. That is ok whodat, you keep it up anyway. The truth is usually not very popular in this country, IMHO.

 

Of all the stats that can be pumped out, I'd like to know:

- How many accidents because the quads are too skinny?
* Even widening a mini 3" makes a world of difference on the sharp corners.
- How many accidents because the young rider wasn't "properly" supervised?
- How many accidents from kids who weren't using wireless communications?
- How many accidents from kids who were driving above their current skill level.
Re: Hasn't driven in 2 months and they immediately go for the suicide part of the trail.
- How many accidents from kids being ran into by others?
* Yes, idoits flying over hills without knowing who's at the bottom. Or those wild riders who fly around corners and rear-end a slower driver.
- How many accidents from kids "showing off" to their buddies.
* When my son's buddies come over, my son my instantly park his mini and its key goes in my pocket. Hence, eliminating the possibility of "showing off" to his buddies.
- How many accidents because of lack of foot brake?
- How many accidents because lack of daytime driving lights?
- How many accidents from the race tracks?
- How many accidents while someone was doing machanical maintenance on the quad. Yes, even a kid who gets their finger caught in a chain or burnt on the muffler (while oiling it after a long run) will appear in the stats as "ATV accident".

Yes, accidents do happen. Even in skydiving. But if you remove the non-driving sub stats, lack of supervision sub stats and "caused due to lack of safer equipment" sub stats, I bet the Global Level numbers will better explain why the numbers appear to be high.

If wondering, I used to do stats at the old job. When sliced and diced in certain ways, one can make them look extremely high or extrement low. For a short time period, my management forced me to create negative stats on a person (my coworker) - so they would eventually be fired. Soon after, I left that company. Twisting numbers to make something or someone look bad isn't my style.

WhoDatInDaMud: The secret in lowing future quad accidents isn't pumping out Global Level stats. To me, knowing the exact reason behind each number, knowing how it could have been prevented, and sharing your "here's what happend to one kid, don't do that in your family!!!" advice would be better. This approach would probably yield less flack in return....


Here's a real "lessons learned" from a different set of stat numbers:

On another forum, I read about a father explaining his 13 year old kid is dead. The son's quad was broken. While the father was in the house, his son jumped on the back of his buddy's quad. They came to their first jump and they wipped out. Both went flying and the quad landed on the 13 year old passenger (yes, the son). This was the first and last time his son double rode. Who's to blame?? The other youth driver, his 13 year old son or the father who didn't fix his son's quad fast enough??? Regardless who's at fault, don't let any kid double ride on another kid's quad. A lesson learned in that family that each of us can learn from....

Hope this helps...

.

 

Here we go again -

Spike makes some very good points if your looking to <U>minimize </U>the fact that CHILDREN are a high percentage of accident victoms on ATV's. What Spike is missing here is that the law makers don't care about the underpinnings of statistics when some child safety group is jumping up an down in thier offices demanding more restrictions. And the anti-ATV groups use these numbers as weapons at every meeting. "Save the Children" is becoming a new battle cry for the whacko's who will use any and every excuse to shut down the public use of land for OHV's.

A question everyone needs to asked themselves is if your being part of the problem or part of the solution. Based on the facts that we all tend to agree with regarding accidents coming mostly from children operating over sized quads - IMO Making recommendation to newcomers posting here that fit State and Federal laws and quidelines would be part of the solution. Telling parents to purchase a larger than recommended or legal sized quad is part of the problem. And based on what? Its to hilly where I ride, My kids to fat, Its to muddy where we ride. - B as in B and S as in S. I weigh 200 pounds and I'm 6 feet tall and I rode my kids 90cc sportsman through the worst areas of the rocky mountains where it was too extreme for her to ride and quess what - it was enough. Enough speed, enough power and enough excitement for any kid. The only issue we had was deep water. We've learned to turn it off and tow it threw the really deep stuff. No - what is at stake here is the chest pounding rights of parents to do whatever they want to do - no matter what unneeded risk their child is being placed into.

But Spike is right. He's right about just about every line item in his list. What Spike and others like him fail to grasp is that these accidents happen not because it is normal for parents to provide that list of safety, supervision and training - but because its normal for them NOT to.

Some day - not far away - I beleive every state will adopt a no youth ATV operation without a drivers license. I don't want to see it - but with statistics like these - you know its coming. And thats why I hold them up for everyone to look at. They are the train coming down the tracks. Either do something about it or hang on becuase its coming.

Each of us here seems actively involved in one way or another in youth ATV riding. The only way we are going to made a difference is to not only do things right with our own children - but to reach out to others and lead them to do the right things with recommendations, examples and action that might slow or stop that train from hitting us full steam. Before its to late.

 

Bring that stock sportsman down here and I'll change your mind about that.


Lawmakers may not care about the "underpinning" of statistics but as atv enthusiasts and people who can and do influence others decision making, I think we should care. And I disagree that a minority of children under 10 are supervised. I believe the overwhelming majority are. I can only imagine how many children in the world ride safely everyday. Lot more than your 377.

Not trying to minimize the tragedy. I just don't think we can work to fix a problem unless we know the cause.

 

OK, I am going to deflate this balloon before it gets launched... first of all, I don't think it represents anything out of the ordinary... When you consider the sheer explosion we are experiencing with the sport in general... it doesn't surprise me that we have numbers like this.

One question I'd like to ask is per capita, of owners that is... how do the numbers stack up? Are we doing any better or worse than years past? The numbers point out many issues we have all discussed before, and agreed upon...

1) The sport is growing by leaps and bounds...

2) Even with all the publicity, we still haven't gotten through to the majority of parents regarding rider training. (And make no mistake, you cannot buy one of these things for Christmas, and let them loose in the back yard later that day. They need training, and Parents need it as well.)

3) There just are not enough training classes available to adequately handle the sheer numbers of new riders.

4) Design flaws, such as narrow width etc are more a result of the manufacturers wanting to make sure the quads fit in the back of a pickup truck than anything else. Remember, they wrote the class standards.... and states are following their lead.) This is one area where I feel we could get some improvement that will impact the numbers... Give them a wider stance, and headlights. A couple of inches on each side would work wonders.

I think we have parental involvement. I also think we have dealer buy-in for the most part. But remember, not all manufacturers, and thus, not all dealers adhere to the CPSC guidelines when it comes to sales... (Forgive me 'legs) and with the advent of the ATV sales behind every store front via offshore (does that soften it leg's?) manufacturers, we have many purchases being made with the thought that you put gas in it and start it up and go, and nothing can happen to the kid right? WRONG!!! I think the time has come that they need to be held accountable just like the big guys... and not on a voluntary basis either. We keep getting a black eye from them...

As for skydiving... well that is an interesting statistic, but I don't put riding ATV's right up there with jumping out of an airplane... You guys that do are braver than I am there.. How do the stats hold up against hockey injuries, or skateboards, or bicycles? I suspect their numbers are going to be much higher....

The point I wanted to make is we need to embrace training, and provide the means (funding) to create and support the numbers of instructors required to handle these new riders. I do not think it is a conscious decision on the parent's part to NOT get the kids trained.... if the rest of the country is anything like it is here in Virginia, it can take years to get a training slot... on the contrary I think the lack of competent instruction is the root cause.. not the willingness to comply... And I think all of that is reflected in your stats....

The real secret is in finding a way to get owners to work with us to solve these issues, and not become enemy combatants... we have enough to worry about with the Eco warriors... we don't need bad blood within the rank and file...

 

the problem is parents not the kids. i cant count how many times i have seen 10 year old kids riding 350cc quads with no helmet, no shoes and in short pants. we race, my son races a 90cc eton that has a 108 stroker motor in it. it will beat my 350cc warrior in a 200 foot drag race, he wears over $500 worth of safety gear and NEVER rides without my supervision. he is 11 and has rode since hw was 6 but he is still not allowed ro ride without gear or me there. these parent need to be fined big when their child is caught riding without the proper gear. we love our quads but i love my children more and would never let them ride without the proper gear or supervision.

Mark