I just want to say a couple weeks back I had a good high school friend who decided to go out riding for the spring thaw,well he never came home to his gf,and later that nite she called my moms best friend or his grandma and she heard ambulances down the road.Well it turns out he was riding on Rt 206 in Nj and he crosses the double yellow and gets front ended by a car,he hit the car head on.He was thrown onto the windshield and hood of the car.The quad was completly destroyed. To make along story short he ended up in the hospital in a coma with 2 brain clots,broken bones,hes woken up now but he doesnt have his short term memory working to good,drs just found thats he internally bleeding somewhere,cause hes losing blood.
It turns out they found out he was drinking by his BAC content in his blood so when he gets better my friend is in trouble,very bad trouble. After I got off the phone w my moms best friend, I nearly lost it crying,not only had I just lost my mom and am fighting mono,but I got the call that it didnt look good for him at 1st.I had gone to school and vo-tech with him and I just want to say if your gonnna do drugs or drink please DO NOT even thinkabout riding your bike or wheeler cause the pain of losing some 1 we love is just unspeakable and no 1 relizes the pain and agony this causes loved 1s.
I'm sorry to go on and on but I just had to get this off my chest,Ty every 1 for listening!

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. But I feel I must say something in defense of the drinking. Sure it may of played a part. But the bottom line is he was riding his quad on the road, which is illegal.

im sorry to here about what happened it is an unfortunate mishap..

yes I do know this is illegal.This is why he is in trouble besides drinking.I was kind of angry once I calmed down because everytime some 1 decides to have captain stupid hit them while riding then they get hurt.It not only makes us all look bad but for the people that look in from the outside in and never have ridden a quad,it makes our sport look bad.I really believe thats part of the reason why suzi and honda stopped making high performance zoot scoots.Cause ya have some idiot riding it 2 up w his gf or riding it with a backwards baseball cap and flip flops,then they'd wreck bad and want to sue honda and its all of a sudden everys 1 fault.When I bought my bike there is a big safety sticker across the tank and rear fender,it simply and explicitly says Do not ride double passengers and other Rules for your own safety.I see so many riders disregard that sticker and its rules.So in my belief when ya do something stupid ya have only yourself to blame and not Honda or any other mfg.

Sugarhead....well said, and that's the point I was trying to make. That it's the person themselves to blame, not the booze, not the lack of a helmet, not the maker of the quad, etc. Hence the reason I spoke up, I didn't want booze taking the bad wrap. And it's unfortunate when things like this happen because as you said, it gives our sport a bad wrap.

hey man, sorry about your buddy. it really could have been worse. he could have been killed or maybe killed someone else. i got drunk one evening and stood my arctic cat up on its nose while crossing a ravine. while i wasn't hurt seriously, it scared me enough that i don't drink while riding an atv or any motor vehicle for that matter.

best wishes to you and your friend.

texascat

Guess you could make the same argument about any drunk driving accident, right, FKNA? Ain't the booze that causes the accidents, it's illegal driving.

"Wasn't the booze that caused the accident. The driver (high blood-alcohol level) was driving illegally--on the shoulder of the road--when he ran into the children and killed them."

Or, "Wasn't the booze that caused the accident. The driver was driving illegally, wrong way on the Gulf Freeway, when he head-oned the mini-van and killed the family."

Or in the case Sugarhead relates, "Wasn't the booze, he was riding his ATV on the street (and on the wrong side of the road at that)."

Recently, a child fatality was reported on the Forum, child had been riding double on a quad driven by a drunken adult. Posters in that instance said (in error, you would say) it wasn't double riding (and riding on the street), but a drunk rider, responsible for killing the child.

We certainly don't want booze to get a bad rap as a causative factor in accidents. Always, it's not the booze, it's illegal driving.

They ought to pass a law: drunk drivers must follow all driving rules and regulations.

Diogenes

Diogenes, my point being that booze is not the root cause. A good analogy would be McDonnalds. Sure it was the hot coffee that burned that persons legs, but that sure the heck wasn't the root cause. It was her decision to put that hot coffee between her legs while driving. And with the society we live in today, she got PAID for burning her own legs. Same holds true with the booze and driving. Ultimately it's not the booze that killed, it was the persons decision to do something totally illegal such as ride an atv on the roadway and/or getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while drinking. So yes, you are right in your assessment. I'm not going to blame booze for those accidents you listed. I'm going to blame the PEOPLE that caused the accidents.

Still confused, FKNA.

This post is titled, "Drinking and Riding don't MIX!!"

Is your point, "Drinking and Riding DO MIX?"

Does drinking impair one's motor skills, reflexes, preception, vision (attributes useful in riding)? Does drinking impair judgment?

Riding while drunk caused the accident sugarhead reports, seems to me. I agree with you, the individual is responsible for the decision to drink and ride.

If your point is alcohol MISUSE contributes to accidents, I agree with you. I think the title of this post addresses the COMBINATION of drinking and riding. I don't think alcohol, contained in a bottle, or consumed under responsible circumstances, is unfairly libeled in the topic.

A friend of mine is a paraplegic now, can only ride an Odyssey (or similar off-road vehicle), because a driver ILLEGALLY jumped the curb in an automobile and ran into my friend, who at the time was a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The driver had a high blood-alcohol level, beyond the limit permissible by law to drive, legally. In your view, was this accident a result of illegal driving only? Did the fact the driver was drunk contribute to the accident? Is a drunk driver more likely to "drive illegally" and have an accident than someone sober?

Does a drunk driver put himself and others at unnecessary risk? If not, then booze indeed gets a bad rap.

Diogenes

Diogenes, let me see if I can clear up the confusion. Alcohol definitely can cause impairment in judgement and can definitely be a contributing factor, but it's NOT the cause. For example, years and years ago when I was young and stupid I got into my car after a night of heavy drinking. I flipped the car doing 120mph. It's very possible that booze was a factor, but it sure the heck wasn't the cause and shouldn't get a bad wrap for that particular accident. It was my own stupidity to get in my car and drive after how way too much to drink. It was further stupidity on my part to try to make that particular curve going that fast. But the bottom line is booze didn't cause the accident, it was my own stupidity. And the cops that arrived on the scene must of agreed because I did not go to jail.

Going by the title of the post alone, then I would have to agree, drinking and driving do not mix. Will I stop my drinking while riding my atv? NEVER. Odds are much greater that I will get injured on my atv while sober, not while drinking. Because when I drink and ride my atv, I do so responsibly. I know my senses are impaired and ride accordingly.

In regards to the accident involving your friend, if you want to get techincal about it then I would say yes, the accident was caused by illegal driving. For it is illegal to drink and drive. The accident still could of occurred even if the guy had not been drinking. On the other hand, if the laws were obeyed he would of never been behind the wheel in the first place, therefore the accident wouldn't of happened.

The only point I have been trying to make is no matter how you look at it, booze did NOT cause the accident. It definitely could of been a contributing factor to the accident. But if you take booze out of the equation, this guy was still going down the roadway on a quad and the accident still could of occurred.

Another point I was trying to make is, let's always make sure to place blame where blame should be placed, and that's upon the individual themselves.

These days, seems more often than not society tends to place blame on objects instead of individuals. i.e. 3 year old shoots and kills himself with a gun. It's the guns fault, let's ban them......NOT, it was the idiot gun owner that left a loaded hand gun sitting on the coffee table. Guy riding an atv flips quad over and gets paralized, sues maker of atv because the atv caused the accident....NOT, it was his stupidity of trying to go up too steep of an incline. You get the picture.

YES, without a doubt alcohol can impair ones judgement. But it doesn't cause the accidents.