ATV/UTV Deaths

476 Views 13 Replies 9 Participants Last post by HomeCreek, 5 d ago

JRHill02

Discussion Starter · 9 d ago

With the nicer weather coming on and people getting out all of a sudden I am seeing a bunch of really serious incidents with recreational/off road machines. Every one I've seen has been with adolescent or young adult.

Tire Vehicle Wheel Automotive tire Motor vehicle

It's really a stretch of trust to put a young person in the driver's seat of one of these units. The engines and power just keep getting more extreme. It's an ongoing thing: is it a play toy or is it a work machine? And when the two are combined with an inexperienced operator - oh my gosh.

It's disconcerting to me. I appreciate high power machines. I use one. I expect there will be some restrictions in times not far off to protect people from themselves and from stupid decisions that ultimately will affect users of equipment who bought them for their work capabilities.

Grrr.

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GREENCOUNTYPETE

· #2 · 9 d ago

they are really no different than cars at this point

we even allow them on all but one road in town they have to stay off main street which is also the state highway except to cross.

this is about the time of year we see many young drivers injured in car accidents also

your just trading licensing agencies

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GTX63

· #3 · 9 d ago

We have some well known trails running into and along side a state park. We can hear the sirens wailing at least 3 or more times a week; sometimes multiple times in a day. ATV accidents, inexperienced horse rides and hikers are the main calls.

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Micheal

· #4 · 9 d ago

Around here you can also add snow-mobiles to the list.....
Seems like it's a weekly event that someone raps one of them around a tree; not many walk away...

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mreynolds

· #5 · 9 d ago

We are taking the RZRs to Utah and other places this weekend. Plus horses and 4x4s. We are going primitive camping though and not to play with.

Well, maybe a little.

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JRHill02

Discussion Starter · #6 · 9 d ago

I said I like powerful machines and that's true. But really what I need is weight, gears and a low center on gravity. I neither need nor want speed. I guess at this point of life I get off on something working full out and fully under control.

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fishhead

· #7 · 8 d ago

It looks like a military campaign around here on the weekends. Trailers with 4 or 6 ATVs headed north to rip up the trails. It's not just kids who are dying.

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barnbilder

· #8 · 8 d ago

Need to go back to three wheelers. That way you wreck often enough not to fall victim to a false sense of security, and if you are dumb, you mess up quicker. The Honda Big Red was actually designed by Charles Darwin.

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GTX63

· #9 · 8 d ago

fishhead said:
It looks like a military campaign around here on the weekends. Trailers with 4 or 6 ATVs headed north to rip up the trails. It's not just kids who are dying.

We had a problem with trash on the trails. Beer cans, soda cans, wrappers. Lots of it. Then we went on youtube to look at videos posted by trailer riders. Lots of them 40-65 years old.
My neighbor and I were driving a trail to an old cemetery last year when we came up on 6 horse riders with a guide. They were from Virginia, Maryland, the east coast. 5 women and one man, all boomers and all drunk to the point of being lost and slurring their speech. And where we ran into them was a slew of empty bud light cans on the ground.
Very surprising behavior from that generation.

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GREENCOUNTYPETE

· #10 · 8 d ago

GTX63 said:
We had a problem with trash on the trails. Beer cans, soda cans, wrappers. Lots of it. Then we went on youtube to look at videos posted by trailer riders. Lots of them 40-65 years old.
My neighbor and I were driving a trail to an old cemetery last year when we came up on 6 horse riders with a guide. They were from Virginia, Maryland, the east coast. 5 women and one man, all boomers and all drunk to the point of being lost and slurring their speech. And where we ran into them was a slew of empty bud light cans on the ground.
Very surprising behavior from that generation.

we have had trash , beer can and bottle issues along the river for 40 years , the only people old enough to have been causing this are 50+ now s not much of a surprise

a large part of what got WI hunters ed started in 73 was the absolute mess in the outdoors , the program in WI was started by a DNR biologist and it spends nearly as much time on ethics in the outdoors as it does on gun safety.
the issue with beer cans and deer hunting has actually gotten better.

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HomeCreek

· #11 · 6 d ago

People are stupid these days. I grew up riding dirt bikes. Began at age 5. But my parents always made sure that whatever I had was age/skill appropriate. My 12 yr old grandson has an atv that we bought him. I kept it governed for a long time. Then I also placed a tracker on it and if I see he is going into an area above his skill level or going faster than he should it is going to be sold. He had one warning. So far 2yrs in and he is doing fine. Although he has friends that fly around through the woods at 50 mph. And he gets made because they give him grief about his limits. So far there have been 3 accidents amongst his friends. Worst was broken leg and head trauma and hospital for 3 weeks. Having a great time and being stupid is not necessarily hand in hand is what we are trying to teach. We have a similar issue here but with personal watercraft. Ive been on the lake and seen a child so small and young on a Seadoo that their feet didnt touch and theyre running 40mph up a busy lake.

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JRHill02

Discussion Starter · #12 · 6 d ago

HomeCreek said:
I grew up riding dirt bikes

Growing up I had a minibike and living in the city that's the closest I could get. My first M/C was a 750 Honda. When I bought it (used, 3 years old with 736 miles) the 900cc Kawasaki's were newly out and I'm glad I didn't have an opportunity for one of those. I had multiple spills and an ambulance trip on the 750 - mostly from an oil slicks on the road. But when I really got hurt was on a BSA 441 Victor which I had for several years. It was off use road only. I won't go into detail of what that thing did to me except to say I was going less than 20mph and the throttle cable stuck in a turn, I shifted and things happened so fast I couldn't kick myself away. The two stroke machines create craziness at high revs, the four strokes (for the most part) down low. Anyway, my most severe stuff has NOT been on a street/road machine**. I could predict the little old lady who can barely see over the dash. But when those darned oak trees and ditches pop up with zero warning.

Now all these years later I still appreciate power. But I sure use it differently. Having even a medium powered machine with traction and gears is like jumping on a cheater extension of a tool. It's pretty amazing what you can get done. Sometimes I break something, like with the cheater, but rarely hurt myself. Why? I kind'of learned some limits. You don't go too fast on a non hard surface. You don't go too fast ON a hard surface. You don't go up or down something you can't walk without slipping and falling - if you have to work the next day.

But these days are all about extremes on videos. CAN YOU BEAT THIS? HOW MANY VIEWERS DO YOU GET?

** A few days ago something got my attention: What is the difference between a Road and a Street? An Avenue and a Boulevard? I looked it up. It's a 'city' designation and the science of labelling roads. . . I had to chuckle applying it to our location. Ours could be a street for a bit, then a road, an avenue and in a few places a boulevard. And unfortunately in a few places an Interstate.

We have a solution: Deep cut outs for water to drain across the 'road.' that is justified. Applying that it once again becomes a logging trail. So sorry for your plastic vehicle with no clearance. Not.

This went from machines to trails/roads...; Just some random thoughts.

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RoBlaine

· #13 · 6 d ago

barnbilder said:
Need to go back to three wheelers. That way you wreck often enough not to fall victim to a false sense of security, and if you are dumb, you mess up quicker. The Honda Big Red was actually designed by Charles Darwin.

Three friends and I each had one back in the 70s. We were on our way home from making hay at a nearby farm and tooling along about 20 mph, enjoying a nice cooling breeze after sweating our butts off all afternoon. Mine had the straight across knobbies tread, spaced about 1" apart. I picked up a stick which came up behind the forks and it was instant grits over tin cups. The three wheeler flipped and landed upside down and flat on my back and I was belly-down on the dirt. Only slid about 8' but that was enough to tear the crap out of my tee shirt and roadrash my chest and belly. Two were in front and missed the show. The one behind me was laughing so hard he nearly ran over me and my ride-er. That was enough to bend one side of the rear axle ... All three were howling all the way home watching me hobble-hop that thing home. Of course they had to ride and watch - and laugh, from behind me.

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HomeCreek

· #14 · 5 d ago

JRHill02 said:
Growing up I had a minibike and living in the city that's the closest I could get. My first M/C was a 750 Honda. When I bought it (used, 3 years old with 736 miles) the 900cc Kawasaki's were newly out and I'm glad I didn't have an opportunity for one of those. I had multiple spills and an ambulance trip on the 750 - mostly from an oil slicks on the road. But when I really got hurt was on a BSA 441 Victor which I had for several years. It was off use road only. I won't go into detail of what that thing did to me except to say I was going less than 20mph and the throttle cable stuck in a turn, I shifted and things happened so fast I couldn't kick myself away. The two stroke machines create craziness at high revs, the four strokes (for the most part) down low. Anyway, my most severe stuff has NOT been on a street/road machine**. I could predict the little old lady who can barely see over the dash. But when those darned oak trees and ditches pop up with zero warning.

Now all these years later I still appreciate power. But I sure use it differently. Having even a medium powered machine with traction and gears is like jumping on a cheater extension of a tool. It's pretty amazing what you can get done. Sometimes I break something, like with the cheater, but rarely hurt myself. Why? I kind'of learned some limits. You don't go too fast on a non hard surface. You don't go too fast ON a hard surface. You don't go up or down something you can't walk without slipping and falling - if you have to work the next day.

But these days are all about extremes on videos. CAN YOU BEAT THIS? HOW MANY VIEWERS DO YOU GET?

** A few days ago something got my attention: What is the difference between a Road and a Street? An Avenue and a Boulevard? I looked it up. It's a 'city' designation and the science of labelling roads. . . I had to chuckle applying it to our location. Ours could be a street for a bit, then a road, an avenue and in a few places a boulevard. And unfortunately in a few places an Interstate.

We have a solution: Deep cut outs for water to drain across the 'road.' that is justified. Applying that it once again becomes a logging trail. So sorry for your plastic vehicle with no clearance. Not.

This went from machines to trails/roads...; Just some random thoughts.

The "death wobble" was real in those Kawasaki 900s. My dad had the Z1 and the KZ and they were speed demons of the era but man you had better have some skill because tank slapping at speed is not fun. I rode a 79 XS Eleven Special special edition to high school in 81 82 83. Top of the line and fastest for its day. Big 4 cylinder wide enough to hide your shins and feet behind. Had mag wheels dual front disc brakes disc on back and of all things shaft drive. Under heavy acceleration shaft jack was extreme. We put a 4 into 1 RC header on it and rebuilt it with a big bore kit. Those 4 carbs would nearly suck that big tank dry in not a whole lot of riding lol When the other brands(honda V65s Honda CBX etc) came out with "fastest production bike in the world" claims even stock that old tear drop tank pull back handlebar in stock form was just as fast or faster. Those "fastest in the world" meant current production year. Not of all time. Not until the GPZ came out were there real contenders. I bought a gpz 1000 and then a GPZ 750Turbo. Then went to FJ Yamahas 1100 then a 1300 then a Vmax. All beasts. But the Yamaha R1 my son owns now makes all of those seem like bicycles. Much more HP and about 2/3 the weight etc. Oh and I had a Honda Hurricane.....3 weeks until I totaled it in a curve with just over 380 miles on it. Now Im old and beat up and hurt all over so I have a new Kawasaki KLR650S that Ive tricked out with all the stuff to do long range adventure trips like the coast to coast Trans America Trail the Alpine Loop in Colorado etc. It has less than 50hp and...its plenty.

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