So tell me WhoDat, is the problem a lack of riding areas or the mini atvs? If it doesn't happen in rural America then keep your dang restrictions to local ordinances. Don't tell me what is best for West Texas. You don't have a clue!

In fact, You came back with exactly what I expected from your narrow minded views.

Some people believe our personal freedoms were worth fighting and dying for (AND THANK GOD FOR THEM!). So forgive me if I get irritated when others are so ready to take them away.

 

BINGO!

I haven't lost a kid I've trained yet. How bout you WhoDat?

 

Which problem are you asking about?

That it is commonly accepted opinion that under 16 year olds generally don't have the cognitive and physical skills to ride unsupervised?
Or that the heavier and faster more powerful machines have been the root factor of the majority of youth serious injury accidents?
Or are we talking about the parents that don't obey the laws and are bad examples?

Rural America - right... we ride our ATV's up here'n yankee country right down town on them there fancy concrete drive-a-ways. Bye gummit Rap - you's a hoot! Did you think Texas has special dirt or something? Your trees are made of rubber and you just bounce off? Theres no gravity in Texas so nobody rolls down a hill? Hey - I've seen thousands and thousands of miles of Texas - it aint that much different than most places.

For the 112th time - the problem is that children are getting hurt and sometimes killed riding min-quads. There are a lot of reasons.

The best question to ask is - should they be? Should little kids be driving motorized vehicles? Maybe miniature airplanes will be next. Think about that! What a price some of these kids are paying and for what? Often its for the parents entertainment.

As of today - I believe the solution is to stop allowing youth on motorized anything until the persons who are suppose to be supervising them are trained and certified to have the required knowledge to do a good job of instructing the youth. ATV violations by adults would jeopardize the certification to supervise youth. Unsupervised use would be considered illegal and the parents or registered owner of the ATV fined as if they were giving a 10 year old the car keys. Thats my personal solution idea.

Tell me - at what point do we just pull the plug on under 12 year olds on motorized quads? Seriously - how bad does it have to get? How many dead or crippled children? Its a valid question.

In regards to federal standardized laws. we've done that. The CPSC assembled federal standards which many states adopted as law. We are a collection of states (remember grade school). As some states have experienced unique needs they have adjusted these original standards to meet the needs of their area. That was the principle foundation of our country - independent states having authority over their own regions.

There I go soap-boxing again. Is that the star spangled banner playing?

 

Yes this was sarcasm. Every parent is a responsible parent until something happens then there looking for someone else to blame because surely they are not at fault.

 

In the month of July there were 23 ATV accidents in Clark County 1 fatal. Major collisions between ATV's were 15 out of 23. 4 were ATV's vs. Tree and 4 were persons falling from their ATV's. Of these 23 accidents all but 2 were under the age of 18 and of all of these NOT one person received any formal training.

So again I encourage you to open your eyes and minds and ride along with me on a weekend this summer. YOU will see things you wouldn't believe

 

My question from other topics like this and it has never been answered yet, because the people who are so willing to take away your way of life do not want this info to get out is this

1. how many of the injury's are due to lack of safety equipment?

2. how many of these injury's are due to kids riding adult size quads? I have not found any info on size to injury. I know for a fact that more of these than not are not the 50 and 90 cc machines we are talking about!

3. How many bycicle injury's are there a year compared to atv's? You don't EVER hear about these people wanting to stop bikes!! I would rather have my kids up against a sagebrush than a 20000# truck!

People want to legislate your way of life away to suit there views and I am sick of it! If you want to make laws make laws to ensure kids wear safety gear, don't sell a bike without selling full gear along with it! Then enforce the LAWS!!! having regulations just so you can justify more regulations is a long used tactic of the liberals who want nothing more than to see all ATV's banned along with guns, watercrafts and any kind of a car that doesn't get 50 mpg!! So you people just keep feeding into there plan of shutting us down !!
Let me and my family be the judge of what my son can and can not do and then if the worst happens hold me accountable not the ATV manufacturer or dealer! We as a nation are way to ready to blame everyone else just so we can FEEL BETTER!!!! I CHOOSE to allow my son to ride a 90cc quad. I also take responsibilty for his actions on it! You cannot expect me to have to take responsibility for someone who lets there child ride a 500 cc macine and then wraps it around a tree!!
Maybe it is time we are allowed to be parents not have someone else tell what is best for our kids! I saw an article about a kid who was killed on a full size quad. Was he wearing gear? NO! Was he old enough to be on a 500cc machine? NO! Were his parents blaming everyone but themselves? HELL YES!! They were crying about how they didn't know how they didn't expect any thing to go wrong and how it was everyone elses responsibilty for what happened! BU!!$HIT!! This was there fault and no one elses! If you are that stupid then maybe you should not have kids at all. Now there is an idea, maybe we should mandate classes for self responsibility! and Parenting!!

This not an issue of differing views but of others making it impossible for us to enjoy our chosen forms of recreation!

Chris

 

Here is another idea, maybe we should MANDATE all atv's to under 100cc's then not nearly as many crashes would happen!! Maybe we should make it so they all only went 10 MPH??

Chris

 

OK, LETS COOL OFF FOR A MOMENT PLEASE....I took the weekend off and come back to find mud slinging...so let's step back and try to make something positive out of this. Given there are differing opinions on the issues, but let's not take anything personal.... remember, one of the premises of this thread was to listen to everyone's opinion without criticising them...

OK, Some comments.

First of all, I have read the stats.. as I have gotten in to this subject deeper and deeper, a couple things really jump out at me... First, having a program, and not providing funding for enforecment and education, and eliminating confusion on how to intepret them is irresponsible. The safety courses today are in part sponsored by the manufacturers. How many of us can say that they walked into a dealers showroom, and was directed to something that let us know about the guidelines, and the dangers of ATVs, especially when youths will be involved? In most cases, the only danger signal will be the sticker on the fenders...

Statistically, in the majority of injuries, the number one thread that ties everything together is LACK OF FORMAL EDUCATION. And by that I do not mean sitting in some Gym reading a few booklets, taking a test and walking out with a certificate that is worth about as much as the ink on the paper. Clearly, education is the key to bringing the injuriy and death stats DOWN! AND, states can and SHOULD BE providing more resources to accomplish this goal! More instructors are needed, more instructional areas are needed, a comprehensive training program needs to be developed... in short eliminate the confusion.

I also believe presales education is needed as well.. so that parents HAVE the information needed to make a good decision... I am sure that in the short term, that may result in a drop in sales. but if the parent can be assured that the child can get the required training.. then I don' t see this affecting the sales figures all that much.

It is a new paradigm I know.. but I think it can really have a major impact on the safety numbers....

As for complaints about speeds of the 50's class machines.. again, the top speeds are limited by regulation... which is what we are trying to modify.

I also advocate lights for mini's, but surprisingly, I find that the class guidelines forbid that for the small machines because they do not want a child to be riding after dark... (What were they thinking?)

So in closing, PLEASE lets stay on topic and end the mudslinging... (It is always the same people too, and you all know who you are)

 

Rap - As I've posted numerious times but seems to also elude you is that I declined to sign the one boys safety certificate - instead - his father did. His father is a lot like you Rap - He doesn't take any of these things very seriously (your words not mine) and he also was only concerned about HIS family being able to go riding together.

Its his kids

Its his quads

He was the parent and made his own choices.

His kid is dead.

So..... I quess I'm still batting 1000.

Rather poor form on your part to bring that into play. You will excuse me if I no longer respond to any of your posts.

Heres your sign.

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: WhoDatInDaMud

You've obviously never been here because 90% of my area is flat and the only trees we have outside of town look more like bushes due to the lack of rainfall. And if you want to narrow it down to where I ride, It is all sand. And yeah there are hills and nope, there is no "special dirt" out there. BUT that sand does a pretty good job of absorbing impacts. BTW, the only trees out there are a type of oak that grows to a whole whopping 6 inches tall. I've have many impacts with those. Can you believe I haven't been hurt yet? AMAZING!

So once again, your one size fits all approach is flawed and you don't have a clue what your talking about. You might want to hold on to that sign.

Maybe my remark was uncalled for. But as I've tried to point out before, your methods don't work! I know a good portion of the people on this board have trained their kids to ride and even to race. The key is education and supervision. Not new legislation that takes people's rights away. And I am getting so tired of this airplane comparison. I was kinda under the impression that planes flew over populated areas and traveled much faster than a mini atv. Guess I was mistaken. DUH! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]