I cannot think of a better reason to use this forum than to start a series of posts on recent ATV accidents that resulted in death or injury. They should serve as constant reminders of what can happen while riding an ATV.

I travel quite a bit and read in a Jackson, Mississippi newspaper (Clarion Ledger) about a 16-year-old kid who was killed earlier this week riding near Ocean Springs, Mississippi. According to the article, his ATV flipped over on top of him while he was riding in sandbank along a river.

The article did not state if he was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Ride safe.

 

I'll leave it up to you guys to decide if you want to continue this discussion since this is your forum, but I did want to mention that we have legal assistants and attorneys looking over these forums all the time in search of info relating to accidents. They use this info against ATVers when they go after the manufacturers. Some of them go so far as to email us asking for this info. So please be careful what you say so we don't damage the sport.

 

Have you ever noticed that its alsway people under 21. Cause all the younger people dont care they just want to be cool and im one of them but i no how far i can push a machine

 

I think making people aware of accidents is important, but I think even more importantly is stating why they had the accident and how it could have been prevented.

The truth is that the manufactures do all they can and beyond to enforce saftey as much as possible. In the end, it's up the individual rider. I think it's great though that Polaris is including helmets with their kids quads.

 

If Lawyers and assistants are looking to squeeze some cash from a manufacturer, why not just go to the top and leach from Ford or GM? It is the same principle anyway. Someone buys a product, uses it in a stupid manner, and gets hurt.

 

We should post the accidents.

If one rider whether young or old changes their riding style or is a more careful rider then we are saving potential lives.

 

Good points, ATVBBS, Quad-Man, and others.

Safety remains key.

Too often, however, news reports dwell only on the incendiary aspects of the incidents, "Teen Killed In ATV Accident," with no useful clue regarding cause or prevention.

The "Hurt Report," available on the Web, remains probably the most comprehensive analysis of motorcycle accidents ever made. This specific and scientific investigation deliberately looked at safety aspects with the stated purpose of saving lives. Typical newspaper reporters and editors lack Professor Hurt's expertise and motivation.

Accident reports emphasizing safety issues may have merit, I think; mere "blood and guts" accounts appear less useful, except maybe to predatory liability lawyers, if such creatures exist.

Tree Farmer

 

I agree. Such posts serve as constant reminders as to what can happen when ATV's are operated in an unsafe manner.

However, I can also see the point made by the Webmaster. Not only do unsafe riders contribute towards higher insurance rates, they also create a healthy market for lawsuits which in turn, increase the cost of new ATV's.

 

True about the insurance companies. You know they do all they can to squeeze another dollar out of the consumer.

Lawyers, lawyers, don't get me started. There are to many off them

 

Since lawyers and others are looking in to see where they can make their next multimillion dollar suit, I'd like to provide an argument that they should consider.
1- People in the scientific community feel that the human was generated from microscopic material and for one reason or another it eventually became us. They feel that over thousands of centuries these materials tried different things to see whether it was beneficial or not. As a result of those decisions a certain coarse was taken. Survival by the strongest and/or most intelligent of these left those qualities to be passed on to their offspring. If by some chance one of the weaker, less intelligent ones, sneaks thru the cracks it passes its qualities on to the next generation. In the event these less intelligent ones are very prolific there becomes an abundance of the less intelligent ones and the problem compounds. So for a lawyer to attempt to remove ATV's, guns, cars, alchohol and household chemicals, from the hands of these indiviuals is to stand in the way of billions of years of evolution. To do so would certainly put you in a position of great liability that would of coarse be litigated in full.
Argument 2
God created us all with a brain.
Some people don't use it. So they buy powerful ATV's, guns, cars, alchohol and household chemicals and leave these unsupervised where their inexperienced children can get them. They, in their ignorance, do not insist that care be exercised when using these things. They also don't supervise the use of these products. One of the main reasons for this is that they know there will always be some money hungry lawyer out there to sue someone for their ignorance. Thus compounding the problem and providing an atmosphere for this ignorance to be perpetuated. To do this would put you in a position of great liability that would of coarse be litigated in full.
In conclusion. Atv's don't kill people, people kill themselves with ATV's. As long as there are stupid people, people will do stupid things with catastrophic results.
p.s. i think someone somewhere just got a coffee at the drive thru.