McGraw uninjured in ATV wreck (from the Charleston Gazette www.wvgazette.com)

By Phil Kabler
STAFF WRITER

A state Supreme Court justice said Tuesday he was fortunate that he was not seriously injured in an all-terrain-vehicle accident Monday evening in Raleigh County.

“I thought my end had come, first when I found myself airborne to parts unknown, and second, when I saw the four-wheeler come flying toward me,” Justice Warren McGraw said of the accident.

McGraw, who was back at work at the Capitol on Tuesday, said he was lucky to come through the incident with only minor cuts and bruises.

“I’m sore and scratched and beat up a little bit,” he said.

McGraw summarized the mishap: “I guess I was going too fast down a hill that was too bumpy, too far out in the woods.”

McGraw said he was out riding with his son, Randolph, on the son’s farm near Beckley when the accident occurred. He said he was trying to slow the ATV going downhill when it hit a bump and sent him flying over the handlebars.

“It sent me sprawling about 25 to 30 feet,” he said. “Luckily, I landed in a briar patch, which softened the impact.”

McGraw said his daughter, Rebecca, and her husband, both doctors, checked him out, and concluded he had no broken bones or injuries severe enough to require medical treatment.

McGraw said he was not wearing a helmet at the time of the wreck, nor does he own a helmet.

“Some people do accuse me of being hard-headed,” he noted.

McGraw, an experienced rider, said the ATV in question was brand-new, an anniversary gift from his wife.

“I hadn’t even used a gallon of gas in it. I doubt if I’d used a pint of gas,” he said.

“I was out, just enjoying the evening and running the ridges, looking at the landscape and countryside,” he said of the incident.

McGraw, 64, said that if he learned a lesson from the episode, it’s to always pay clear attention to the safety demands of riding ATVs.

To contact staff writer Phil Kabler, use e-mail or call 348-1220.

 

Doesn't sound like "natural selection" worked in this case! If you are stupid enough to ride without safety gear, then you deserve your injuries.

 

I think it is a shining example of why I have received so much grief when attempting to get certain atv groups to simply tell us what they believe in.

This guy didn't say a word about helmet use because the culture in which he lives does not accept it and perceives the mere 'mention' of the subject as some kind of governmental intrusion. (which isn't saying that this man and his neighbors are any differrent than anywhere else in this country where common sense has taken a vacation).

And that's a fact! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

I have to say that here in So. Calif., there is more of a "culture" of wearing safety equipment than I have seen in other parts of the country. We do have a helmet law, kids have to have a safety course, ATV's have to run a saftey flag (compliance with this isn't as good as it should be!), no riding double, and a lot of riders wear chest protectors and boots. Personally, I and my family wear every piece of safety gear that we can pile on!!

 

I realize that the word 'culture' encompasses a lot of ideals and here in Michigan it probably has more to do with "penalties" than anything else.

The bottom line, as I have been trying to say for years, is the exact opposite of what an atv club (who didn't like me very much) had as its official "slogan":

"You cannot legislate responsibility!"

Unfortunately, there are people in that club's area and certainly up here in Michigan who respect one thing and one thing only:

The constant and iminent threat of a significant monetary loss or physical impoundment as a direct result of modeling behavior for our children......... that they should never witness or ever be a party to.

Now THAT's legislating some responsibility!

There are a lot of people who think the world should just "leave them alone" and allow these ignorant values, which have been perpetuated since the dawn of motorized recreation, to be continually passed down to their children.

I have no problem with leaving them alone...........as long as it hurts them bad (financially) each time you write them a ticket and (hopefully) law enforcement gets to the point of impounding their rig. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]