Yes, that's where we need to police our own and keep incidents such as that from happening! I'd love to have a "park" around close by that I could go out to and mess around.....kinda like Thunder Park (or whatever the name is) down at Logan/Man....with mud bogs, drag races, hill climbs....that would be awesome!

No flooding to speak of here in Beckley but my aunt and uncle's house out in Rainelle got flooded [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] There was some other flooding down towards Mullens and Bluefield.

 

The problem is the one percent that always ruin it for everyone else by doing stupid things like you mentioned with the bathroom and stuff. Riding areas are all closing which is why HM expanding is a good thing for WV's and the east coast. As for the riding areas, I mean the key is riding where people want you, and as for the local trails in WV, mostly people don't want us there, there is just no way for them to enforce that. But when they find us out there, that's why we are getting screwed because people are doing stupid stuff and also suiing for getting hurt on property they didn't have permission to be on anyway. As for HM I know it started with just a couple counties but they are expanding all the time. Why don't we get them to do it in all the state? That would make like really weasy for KY, MD, WV, TN, OH, PA, Virginia, NC, that covers most of the states on the east cost. I also heard they are considering expanding to Virginia and KY?

As for riding on private property I try not to do it, because if it were mine and I didn't want people on it, I would be super pissed if I found them out there and would do anything to stop them including nails in the tires etc... which we riders see all the time.

 

Your not the bad guy by any means Ron. The problem today is there are to many people who think any regulations takes away from the sport or enjoyment of what they want to do. You have people argue helmet laws even when they are shown the results of an accident where no helmet was used. You have some as I read on another thread who think as long as you think you're in control you should be able to drink and drive your ATV or even cars for that matter. There are also those who will argue no rules on riding ATV's on highways right along with 55 mph traffic. I've been riding street bikes for 30 years and can tell of at least 5 accidents I saw personally where the helmet was all that saved a life of a rider. At least 2 of those would not have happened if they had not been drinking "just a few beers".
I live on RT.9 in the Eastern Panhandle of WV, one of the highest death roads in this part of WV, and yet it ceases to amaze me that there will be a group of teenagers running sometimes 6-8 ATV's and dirtbikes down this road mixed with rush hour traffic of cars and big trucks, doing wheelies weaving all over the road, rushing the bumpers of cars ahead of them on a weekly basis on this road. I give it to someone they have helmets on, but the lack of acting like anything close to intelligent riders makes me wonder who they got thier training from. I would venture to say most of those who write and complain about rules are those who act just like these kids. I'm not for overdoing any rules or regulations, but when there are none this is the type of activity you get and it's only a matter of time when the horn honking and screams out a window will be replaced with silence and shaking heads when one of these kids push the limit and pay the price. Not only does it it take the life of one or two of these kids, but the poor person who is supposed to be on that road and is driving as he should when he hits the brakes and an ATV smashes into the back of his car or worse the ATV is run over from behind because of the lack of lights or the highway tricks the rider felt he needed to do to show off screws up and he blows it. There is a time and place for everything but I just don't understand why some people think they should make that decision for themselves no matter what the cost and to who it affects. I'm in favor of intelligent regulation... just not sure how we get it.

Jim

 

I thought the obvious 'first' place to look, would be your largest national atv organization.......what I found was that they were not only beholden to the same people who have historically refused to strap a set on about the helmet issue.....but that they have little appetite for publicly pointing their fingers at the worst offenders we have in our sport. It's no darn secret where the problems are.....it's just that nobody has the stones to go in there, clean house and start lifting the sport back up to respectability.

The only way you will ever get people like the CPSC and others off your back; is to show them that the people you associate with have a 'zero tolerance policy' with the same people they're after also. Instead, you've got our leaders telling us things like they "don't believe helmet use is an issue" out of one side of their mouth....zipping the other side of it over major riding areas who ignore the issue all together ......and "totally supporting it" if you read their website (translation: they fear losing membership money from idiots; because that money spends just as well as anybody else's).

If it's any simpler than what goes on at the top......somebody please 'enlighten' me.

John