This is BS!! I'm 13, 6'1" 140lbs. and they expect me to go buzzin around on a little 50 or 80[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]! I couldn't fit on it!! I alwayz ride my dad's Raptor. I might not be able to handle it yet but I will pretty soon!! My Blaster is just right for me think! There's no way there goin to get me ridin on a little 50 all day tryin to keep up with my dad on his Raptor!

 

Hmmmmm, wonder if they are going to regulate fishing next, those darn hooks can really hurt. The politicians don't care about anyone of us little people. All they see is corporate money that goes in their pocket. First it was smokes, now its guns and atv's. Next they'll want to ban sex. God forbid we get to do something that we enjoy. We need to hurt the companys that are sponoring this crap. Its not the little mom and pop store down the street its the big companys like channel 4 news that did the story, stop watching their news, stop watching that F*%# peter jennings, him and his anti-american views. The politicians should be doing something about the people killing doctors for doing abortions, border jumpers, terrorists, the national debt, the real important things that need to be addressed. But no, they are too busy using their private jets to go to dinner, go on vacations that the tax payers pay for. Its time for America to take out its trash, the little people can be a strong voice if we all stand together and yell loud enough. Join the AMA and lets be heard. While your at it join the NRA too.
AMA
NRA

 

BlueRulz, You are a pretty smart person. Join the Blue Ribbon Coalition. www.sharetrails.org. They fight for us.

 

I watched this news article on TV yesterday with great interest. I live on both sides of this issue as I am a Respiratory therapist with a major hospital in Dallas. I am on a pediatric Transport team that has to go all over TX to pick up these children after they have had the accidents. I could go into all the injuries I have seen, but usse your imagination. I think the bottom line comes down to the fact that parents need to be held accountable. Yeah it may look cool for little Johnny to be riding around the yard w/o a helmet, but sure as sh#t when your back is turned Johnny is going WFO thru the yard. I also agree that every person need to go thru a safety class and that the safety classes need to be redone. In TX we have ATV parks where I have seen 5 year olds riding double on their LT50 w/o a helmet. I feel that instead of making these parents sign a waiver, they need to "all" wear helmets. I am 38 y/o. The technologies that have evolved since I was younger are amazing. We always rode bikes w/o a helmet, but we never tried to do a backflip on one either. Skateboards in my day were also little skinny plastic things that you could push down the sidewalk.
I really feel sorry when I see a parents expression when the Dr. tells them that their child is going to be in a vegetative state for the rest of their life, but things could have been different with a helmet. I once had a father tell me helmets are for *****#s, but he also had a TT ratio of 1:1. (tattoos to teeth) And yes I have tattoos.
My whole thing is I agree that a 12-16 y/o does not need to ride a 90cc, but parents need to be held accountable also. I think that if your child is under 18 and not wearing a helmet you need a ticket and need to appear in court. Do you want your children to grow up healthy and someday your a grandparent or is it cooler to ride w/o a helmet.

I will climb down off my soapbox now, but I hope your not the person I meet when my helicoptor lands in your small town.

 

I e-mailed them and attempted to sound polite, intelligent and all that other civilized stuff. I agree with whoever said we must unite. I'm going to break down and join the ama atv thing or whatever it is. They pick on us because in our respected necks of the woods we are a relatively small group that they believe they could beat. That's why they don't attack motorcyclists as much as they did many years ago there are just to many of them to dream of defeating. I mean come on they attack 2 strokes like if they won that war pollution would be gone. I think I read somewhere that industry and diesel powered engines create a majority of the worlds pollution but again that's a battle that can't be won so they attack 2 strokes because it's a samll group they believe they can defeat. Well enough talk let's all ban together and kick there a$$es.

Hey who knows maybe we could start a coalition to ban something these freakes like and we could skew some statistics about how bad it is. I know we'll come up with numbers for why watching Regis causes brain damage!

 

Catwoman - do you know if the Blue Ribbon Coalition has started to take action against this?

The press is going to give any of the ATV groups about as much time to state what the truth is, as they would the NRA. The only way the truth will be known would be to find the holes in their statements, then the press would be force to print a reprisal.

A lot of you are posting that regulations, licensing, and mandatory rider safety courses would be a good idea. And at first it may sound good. A lot of bad things start out with good intentions. You've got to look at how they take your rights away. It's never all at once, but a little at a time. Once they start regulating something, they gain a foothold of control. They will continue to gain more and more control, until it is over-regulated to the point it's not worth doing, or they ban it all together.

Fortunately we live in a country where we are guaranteed our freedoms. Freedom comes at a cost, it always has, and always will. Unfortunately the cost is usually in human life, and it's even more so when children are involved. I have three young children, and even the thought of losing one of them is unimaginable. But, it is up to me to protect them, not some legislator, and certainly not some crack pot environmentalist group with hidden agendas. People who do stupid acts like putting a 4 year on a raptor with no helmet (or at all for that matter) need to be dealt with on an individual basis. But certainly, and absolutely, do not pass legislation that will deal with the ATV community as a group, just because of the acts of a few. That's basically prejudice. No more than if I get jumped by 3 members of a different ethnic background, and decide everyone of that ethniticity needs to be dealt with in the same manner as the three who jumped me. I mean, if I had been jumped at 2am, does it mean everyone of that ethnic decent should be put on curfew? Or better yet, maybe everyone of my ethnic decent should be forced to wear a football uniform to prevent major injuries in case I get jumped again. It's just plain stupid...

 

They do this because WE ARE A MINORITY. We don't have most of the rich people in the government on our side. Minority's get singled out and get the short end of the stick. Look at slavery for example. The african american people were a minority for a long time untill they became a majority. Strength is in numbers. People look at dirtbikes and sakteboards and other extreme sports and say those guys are crazy. It takes a certain skill to do that. Now when you have manufactures making ATV's that have things like automatic transmitions, single lever braking, cigarette lighters, etc.... people look at it and think gee that's not so hard. Must be easy. So they get careless and ride beyond their abilities and try to blame their fault on someone else.

In today's world you can sue anyone for just about anything and win if you have a good lawyer. It's not right. Where has everyones morals gone? Nobody wants to take responsiblity for their actions. Money is the key motivator in todays world. People crash and thats all there is to it. 20/20 and CNN should air a broadcast of how dangerous cars are. They should show people doing donuts and speeding and crashing their cars into brick walls. They are extremely bias and ill informed. They should show numbers of how many people were sent to the hospital last year from car accidents. They should show how much cars damage property. They should show the affect they have on the economy.

Like I've said earlier the way it looks everyone should just become Amish. Then we could all b!tch about how good it used to be. We'd all be working our butts off just to try and survive and we wouldn't be wasting our time or energy worrying about what the next person is doing. Remember believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see.

 

How long will it take for the D.C. crowd to pass a law. By the time they even get this to a commitee Bush will proly be outta the office. By then I'll be 16 but my sis wont and neither will her riding buddies. Maybe they should take away by bike too. I'll gladly go off of a 15 foot kicker on it. One thing though, the hospital bill will be a heck of a lot higher on my bike than if I were on my quad. I happen to know a lot of kids that often ride w/o any equipment. But these kids are terrible. They used to rob convient stores before they got machines to spend their weekends on. Hmm, I know that there has only been 8 serious injuries and 1 fatality on ATV's in my County in the last 4 years. The fatality was a person who ran into a wire that was strung acrross the trail. They might see those 9 less casualties but the local crime rate will go up as soon as this is passed. By the way, I have friends that ride circles around most experienced adults.

 

I've printed the entire report, and read it carefully. I've looked at each sorce for it's quotes and compaired it's own claims against itself. Any intelligent person that reads this report in full will see right through it's tranparent "spin".

It states that the injuries have "doubled" to 111,700. But later in the report, it states that they have exceded the 100,000 injuries anually from the late 80's. I don't know about their math, but 111,700 does not work out to twice 100,000 were I come from. To me, it's an 11.7% increase, despite the fact that there are far more than 11.7% more ATV's out there than in the 80's.

I found dozens more mistakes and laughable sorces for the info they state, and mentioned several of them in the letter I wrote to them.

I'm sure that under closer examination, everyone [lawmakers included] will see that this "report" is nothing more than a poor attempt at discrediting the industry.

If we keep in mind that our vote is critical, and let the lawmakers know that we do vote, this report will not carry near the weight I thought it might, befor reading it.

 

Yeah Knutz there are a lot of mistakes and rediculous things. I too hope that people see through it and see who sponsored the report also.

The scarry thing is that reputable news people start spouting off things about this report and that alone can make intelligent people beleive it. Also, they use footage that is there for shock value. The news agencies instead of reporting the news and maybe doing some background into this just take the report as fact.

I mean the report came out yesterday, how much time did the reporters have to investigate it. They just come out and say look at this.

AARRGGHHHH!!!!

This is why I hate politicians, except my wife (she has a degree in political science) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img].

Maybe I should get her to start a lobby organization for the off road and outdoor enthusiasts.

I hope everyone votes and makes their opinions known.

Bat