I get sick and tired of hearing how dangerous atv's are. You have organizations such as AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and PAPA (Parents Against Production of ATVs) that would love to have all atv's banned. They use CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) to back up their claims that atv's are dangerous. (and they usually use old data and/or only use the data in such a way that it appears to support their claims)

Let's put things in perspective and use their own data against them. The numbers I site come from the CPSC over a ten year study. Over the last ten years or so there have been 3,411 atv related fatalities. Of that #, 1,529 (44.8%) were 3-wheelers (which the sales of 3-wheelers were banned many years ago. 608 fatalities were a result of colliding with other vehicles, such as jeeps, dune buggies, etc. Only 15 of these were a result of colliding with another atv. 387 was a result of colliding with trees, utility poles, fences, etc. 58 was because of some idiot stringing cable, rope, wire, etc across the trail. 467 (13.6%) of all fatalities was a result of falling off the quad and landing on rocks, stumps, etc. (I imagine helmets would of drastically reduced this number) Futhermore, most of the above mentioned fatalities were a direct result of rider error. (riding in terrain that is beyond your skill, excessive speed, etc)

Now let's get into the numbers of where atv's might be considered dangerous. A whopping 5 (.0014%) was a result of mechanically malfunctions.

Next time someone tries to tell you how dangerous riding an atv is, hit them with cold hard data.

 

Any stats on alcohol and drug use? I would imagine this is the main cause of people hitting trees, besides speed.

 

FK

You make some good points. People have a way of incorrectly using statistics to make there point, ie ATV's are dangerous. ATV's are dangerous, as well as cars, cell phones, guns, bikes, boats, beer, wine, etc (you get the point). When used improperly or without proper safety precautions, almost anything can be dangerous. About a week ago, a local woman was killed on an atv and her son was severly injured. The were riding double up a driveway at high speed with no helments on and hit a cable that was across the driveway. I fail to see how the atv in this case caused the accident, but the news headline only mentioned "Woman dies on atv". I guess the improperly designed atv was the cause of the cable being across the driveway. I just wish people would be more responsible for their own actions and realize that life involves certain risk that can only be minimized with proper precautions.

 

Hiofcer.....if memory serves me correctly, alcohol/drugs played a part in about 18-20% of the cases. Which goes towards rider error once again.

Magnum....so very freaking true. And the sad part about it, so many people out there will take it all in as gospel and join the cause without ever getting the real facts.

 

Hiofcer......per the AAP, 20% of all atv fatalities were drug/alcohol related. 25% were riding double and 10% was excessive speed.

 

I wonder how many people gouge their eyes out with spoons. Isn't that why they make rubber spoons? Maybe we could all sit in our living rooms on blow-up ATV's and put in a video of some trails and go "vrooooommmmm, vrooooommmmm". I wonder if that would be safe enough?
Like I said in the other post about closing down riding areas... you've got to regulate the idiots not the sport. No-one would think of demanding that we all eat food out of a tube because some moron can't feed himself or worse yet because some moron can't feed himself without stabbing the guy next to him with the spoon!

 

It's funny cause I've never seen an ATV walk up to an unsuspecting person and beat them to death.

Maybe it's actually the people riding the ATV's that are at fault?

No way. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Good one Pirhana.

Recently, in our community, we have had 3 or 4 very bad ATV related wrecks. The only two I can recall the details of were:

A girl was riding a 3 wheeler in an open pasture, no hills, no bumps, just smooth, solid ground. She was heard screaming, and the parents rushed outside to see the trike laying on top of her. They pulled it off, and she was dead. Broken neck. About a week later, when driving around, I noticed many ATV's with for sale signs on them. I stopped and looked at one that I was interested in, and he said he was getting rid of it because they were too dangerous. The thing people don't get is, THE ATV'S ONLY AS DANGEROUS AS THE RIDER. If you are a skilled rider, and you ride to your ability, you SHOULDN'T get hurt. If you're a retard about it, and go out and start experementing with stuff you don't know about, you will get hurt. The saying "If you don't want to get burned, dont play with matches" comes to mind.

Another more recently: Woman pulls out in front of a Ford Excursion. Ever hear the song "Here's your sign"? Somehow, they turned it around on the ATV.. as usual. Stuck throttle or something, funny thing is it was a brand new Rancher.. and I've never heard any problems of it before.

What people dont get is, riding ATVs is a risk. You ride, you risk. Just like driving. Sure, maybe you're not the bad rider/driver, but, sometimes its the "other" guy you gotta watch out for.

Sorry for the length, just a topic I feel strongly about.

 

where do you get your stats. i have to write a paper for school and i'm gonna write about atv's, and i would like to get some of the stats that you have.

thanks

 

I think its because quads have four wheels instead of two so folks think of them in more car like terms. Question, would you still want to ride quads if they made it much safer, say a full roll cage (not just a hoop) and some type of seat belt/harness and a air bag on the handle bars? I dont think I would like to ride something like that, yes sometimes I do dangerous things and I enjoy it. Remember that the great things that man has done haven't been done by people who wanted to be "safe"