re: Four wheeler safety

My wife always preached helmet use when my daughter started riding. She worked trauma for many years and saw a ton of ATV accidents. Had a friend lose his son many years ago riding behind others too fast in a cloud of dust. Ran off road and cracked his head wide open. Buddy ended up taking his life several years later. Don’t think he ever got over seeing his son like that.

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ust a few stats...

135,000 people are injured every year due to ATV accidents.
Over 700 people are killed in these accidents every year.
Approximately 1/3 of the people killed in ATV accidents each year are under the age of 16.

Stay safe out there.

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People will preach gun safety and then let their kids loose on an ATV.

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kids tootle around driving golf carts

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I got my 4 year old son a china made 40cc atv that's governed down to a minimum speed of 5 mph for christmas and am teaching him the foundational tenets of riding atvs- just like I am using bb guns for firearms, and a dulled down knife for handling sharp objects. all 3 are fun, but all 3 will kill you, is the way I teach him.

I do it because I know of over a handful of kids and young adults who've been killed dead as a hammer from atv/utv accidents. it's a wonder it didn't happen to us as kids, especially since we grew up on 3 wheelers. they hop on the things as teenagers with no prior teachings and get themselves killed, just like curious kids with a gun (I've got a personal horror story about that).

that said, golf carts are, in my opinion, the most dangerous of them all. people think they're innocuous because they're quiet and "slow" by comparison sake. I've seen someone run over by a golf cart with my own eyes and it eventually killed them from complications. they have no doors, poor suspension, are top heavy, and unless the key is off and it's put in neutral with the brake on, they are quite literally a loaded gun ready to go off when children are around them. all it takes is a key to be left on and in gear, and for a child to get in and easily step on the brakes and you've got a thousand pound battering ram on the run. imagine having your chest run over by that.

I've always said for kids, outside of disease or health conditions, there's cars/vehicles/atvs, water, heights, knives and guns: those are the basic tenets a responsible adult should train safety for if they want to raise children who also partake in our lifestyle. every single one, in multiple ways, can kill an adult, let alone a child.

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on one waaayyy too big for them to be on.

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Don't you know, you have to have the largest ATV they sell, jacked up on the largest tires that will fit! Who cares about handling or tipping over. You got to be the baddest baw in the neighborhood when you run around the block.

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Did I do stupid stuff as a kid? Of course. But if my parents had caught me I might have gotten more injuries from them than an accident. This parent was just laughing.

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Darwin's Law was in full effect when I was a kid.

Uncle Tom: "Rub some dirt on it, you wuss".

Grandma: "You better not be complaining unless bones are broken."

Uncle Jim: "Well why the hell did you do it like that? Idiot. Hold my beer and I'll show you the right way."

Uncle Bob: "Oh boy, you need to spend more time in church".

English teacher Mrs. Walker: "Would you jump off a bridge too just because your friends were doing it?"

Me: "Yes, Mrs. Walker, I would jump off a bridge just because my friends were. We did it last weekend."

Grandpa: "Well that was a bonehead stunt. Did you at least land your bike on both wheels?"

Aunt Cindy: "Did you seriously shoot the neighbor's ostrich? When I catch you you won't be able to sit for a week".

Mom: "Just wait until I tell your dad".

Dad: "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you". (Which was complete bullshite).

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It would be less funny if it wasn't all true. Most of us even turned out ok

Sad news

I cringe at the dumb things we used to do on 4wheelers as a kid

Miracle I’m alive