Thursday @ 6:30 PM my wife hit a single unmarked strand of barbed wire strung across the trail and was clotheslined off her Polaris Hawkeye at approximately 20-25 MPH. I was following her at the time.

She will recover. She went by ambulance to the Trauma Center, spent 1 night in ICU and 1 night in the recovery ward. She has:
- 9 stitches in her left bicep
- a large area of abrasion on the right side of her neck.
- a 'hairline' fracture of the sternum (breastbone)
- misc minor scrapes and bruises

I KNOW how much worse it could have been. Others have been decapitated or permanently disabled.

We have a Police report and I am considering civil legal action, therefore I do not wish to be more specific about details.



My wife is a farm-and-country girl. She has raised and shown horses, and in her life she's been bucked and kicked and stepped on and scraped off. She's not the fearful type. Nevertheless I have told her clearly that if she chooses to never ride an ATV again I would respect that. Furthermore if she asked ME to stop riding forever I would comply. She didn't give any answer.

If she were to ask this of me I would miss the sport, but never speak a word. I will not intentionally cause her to have the kind of fear I felt that night.


Gentlemen, friends, brothers-in-sport ... be careful ... and please impress upon your loved ones how important it is to be aware of fence POSTS. The wire may be invisible, but you can usually see the post.

Even if they've heard it all before - say it again.

 

wish you and the wife the best of luck

 

I too ran into a barbed wire fence on my 400EX in fourth gear doing about 50mph. I slammed in to a small tree and then landed on a barbed fence. I don't know how, but I came out unharmed.

But just a few months ago I wrecked my F150 and my arm was slung out the window and a tree tore half of it off. The bone was popped out but I still managed to dry my self home and then to the hospital. I went through two surgeries, one putting the bone back in place, and then one where the doctors took skin from my leg and put it over my arm.

I know what you are going through, it will get better.

 

good luck and god grant a speedy recovery.

 

Your wife, you and the family are in
our prayers! And thanks for caring
to share your personal family story
so we MAY all learn from this and
REMEMBER our saftey as number
one IMPORTANCE!

Thanks again and wish your
wife the fastest and painless
recovery!

R'

 

"single unmarked strand of barbed wire strung across the trail"

Is this simply fenced off to keep livestock or? OR????[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

wishing your wife a speedy recovery.........now you said your wife has been thrown from horses, seems like she's a tough lady.i just hope that she treats this like any other horse.give her time friend,i'm sure she'll climb back on this horse.

 

Best wishes to you, an in-law of mine was killed by a INTENTIONALLY strung cable across a trail. Its part of the reason i always go on point. Your in my prayers tonight.

 

I'm glad that she is going to be ok. She is very fortunate to still be here with us. Things like this happen for those of us who travel paths that others don't. Be careful, keep safe, and be there for your wife. 1*

 

Looking for fence posts alone isn't enough. Around here lots of barbed wire fences are strung by notching trees and just running the wire through the notch. There is NOTHING but the barbed wire itself.

This particular kind of accident is one of my worst nightmares. So far we've always ridden slowly through areas at first, then we go back and speed around if we want to. Riding with my son, whose machine is limited to ~13 MPH, keeps us going slowly too. But I wouldn't want to get involved with barbed wire at ANY speed.

Keep your eyes open for anything and everything. Stuff happens fast when you're moving several feet every second.