I read all these posts about new laws etc. limiting Atv use in some fashion be it age, noise,endangered species etc. If you really sit down and think about all the riding areas you have been too it shouldn't be too suprising that these laws are being drafted. I have a whole 230 miles on my TRV and every time I have ridden somewhere I have seen at least one of the following:
1. Drinking
2. people driving recklessly and excessive speed, especially YOUNG people
3. riding 2 up on a single person machine
4. no helmet
5. very loud ATVs with aftermarket pipes
6. going off trails or tearing up existing trails, especially when muddy already
7. trespassing
8. riding illegally on a public road

My wife is a Pediatric Nurse (15 years)and has seen many, and I mean many, young people injured, some mortally, due to one of the above. You can ask any Nurse that works in a Children's Hospital about Atvs and most likely they will have a story to tell. Until everyone gets on board(parents and young people alike) with safety and a little common sense this sport WILL be regulated in a negative way to most of us. I honestly feel the last 4 items relating to sheer stupidity are just as damaging to the sport as the first 4 items relating to safety. I get a little ticked when I read this and other boards and read about or see pics of folks doing some of these things above. Speak out against it, and above all, vote! OK, vented, and jumping off the soapbox!

 

I agree

 

So what are you suggesting that people not use the ATV as a babysitter and take an interest in their children?

I know where your coming from even if I may be one those who ride fast but the problem is deeply rooted and is more involved with common sense and being better educated and involved in the sport. I get grief all the time for educating people on why they need to stop riding without a helmet or why junior needs to be better supervised etc, and most times I the replies are not what you would like to hear and thats too bad.

There are thousands of medical people across the country that have seen the results of what happens when someone rides without proper safety gear or training and it gives them a very poor opinion of the sport. I remember speaking with a foot surgeon once that was shocked with the amount of serious lower leg and foot injuries he saw from ATV accidents compared to dirt bikes etc. He did admit that most times there was little if any gear worn and was intelegent enough to realize that was the root of the problem.

Just recently some one I know who rode most times with ZERO gear had a pretty nastly crash, and the only reason he is still with us today is that I had lent him a helmet to use till he got one. Too bad his leg and foot werent as lucky since he saw no need to wear boots but now after having several screws, plates and pins in his leg he will be buying the best boots he can afford.

Honda's ads say it very well STUPID HURTS. Notice no mention of killer atv's but just "STUPID" and to me that says it all.

 

Does anybody have a link to the "stupid hurts" site?

 

i agree, but you talk to any nurse that works in a childrens' hospital and they'll also tell you about bike wrecks, gun injuries, and atshma as well.



also....what do you have against loud pipes? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.
Every action we take on our ATV's has consequences.

I personally HATE loud pipes for anything but competition! Loud pipes lose riding areas for everyone! Why do little diks with LOUD ones have to ruin our traditional, but not legal riding areas? I've got a couple secret spots that i Love to ride, I hate keeping them from my PIPE friends, but there's no other choice if I want to keep riding there! GRRRRRRRRRRR.

LESS SOUND=MORE GROUND
learn it~live it

 

well... the pipe i want is i guess wher eu can contorl the loudness of it ( which i personally like) cuz i can tone it down for riding here or on the trials at the cottage and turn the **** up when im out at my grandpas havin a shiz load of fun... n for racing( friendly of coarse) aint got my rockymountain catalog.. but i know it's in there....

 

you know what they say, their using the sound to make up for the size of their...........[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]................engine

 

This is a good post! I think people need to use common sense, the problem is, theirs alot of people who just don't us it!!! This is why insurance is becoming sooo expensive. In the future, it may not be a matter of whether or not you can afford insurance, but whether you can get it? Its starting to happen right now! More and more insurance companies are dropping atvs and snowmobiles, PERIOD! I found this out last year when I bought a new atv. My present company would not insure me! Although, they still kept my wife on with her atv, they said once she bought anew one, that would be it! My insurance agent, who is also our friend, had to shop for a new insurance company, and although she found one , they dropped the 800cc snowmobiles that same week! Happy trails, for now anyways?

 

I had to change to SAFECO to get mine insured this year.