Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

1-Old-Man

(2,667 posts)
Sat May 11, 2013, 05:46 PM May 2013

Just my thinking, but I'd like your opininion. ATVs on public roads

I live in the country, about half way between my county's "County Seat" and one of my small state's larger towns. Its a pretty place and while we see little traffic during the week weekends are another matter. We see lots and lots of "4-Wheelers, or All Terrain Vehicles as they are called, and many of them being driven by very young people.

Several years ago two boys from the County Seat town were riding their 4-Wheelers out this way on sunny summer morning. One of them wrecked and was thrown from the vehicle into a barbed wire fence. The wire cut his throat like a chain saw, he got up and blead to death running to neighbor's house (just 100 feet away) for help.

Thursday morning West Virginia University's Ruby Hospital sent out one of their helicopters to pick up a hurt child, Live Lift I believe they call the service. The child is 8 years old and you guessed it, driving - yes, I said driving, not a passanger - her very own ATV on a public road and flipped the damned thing over. I do not know how badly she was hurt, but it was bad enough to require the copter.

There is some website that specializes in providing a place for rural residents to chat. I don't know its name but my wife visits it often and uses it to keep up with (and probably sometimes start) neighborhood gossip. She, my wife, got on it and said something to the effect that any parent who would let an 8-year-old drive one of those things should be tossed into prison. This is a sentiment that I whole heartedly agree with. That was not the reaction of the locals though, they seemed to think that it was perfectly OK for young kids of any age to drive the things. About the youngest that I've seen driving one where I knew how old the kid was for sure was 4-years-old. What do you think?

Oh, either there is no law against people driving these things on our roads or there is no enforcement of any law that exists against it. Some here abouts actually use the things as their only means of transportation, its particularly common among clowns who have lost their licenses to DUIs.

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

femmocrat

(28,394 posts)
2. I am pretty sure that is illegal.
Sat May 11, 2013, 05:55 PM
May 2013

We see them here too, but on the back roads. It scares the crap out of me to see one on the road after dark. Some parents have zero brains allowing kids to ride those death traps on public roads. There are frequent accidents and occasional fatalities.

We live in rural PA and do not have local police. The state police are not nearby to enforce the laws. Is it the same where you live?

 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
3. Sitting in front of the TV playing video games is a risk-free activity.
Sat May 11, 2013, 05:57 PM
May 2013

Personally, I am glad I had the opportunity to grow up in the country, in a sense that it wasn't something I experienced only through my bedroom window.

It is illegal to operate a motor vehicle on public roadways without a license for both the vehicle and the operator. I think teaching kids to ride motorbikes or quads is an appropriate and fun activity, but it should be done in such a way as to mitigate the risk. Handing the 8 year old the keys and pointing her toward the public street doesn't qualify.

tech3149

(4,452 posts)
4. Pretty much in the same situation as you
Sat May 11, 2013, 06:18 PM
May 2013

Living in a small old mining town in W. PA. Most hours of the day and sometimes at night there are local kids, into their 20's riding ATV's or dirt bikes on the road. Same old story, their young, dumb, and indestructible. It's only a matter of time before some inattentive driver nails one of them. I watch in horror and scream "Do you really have to be that stupid?". As a kid in the same neighborhood I did things just as stupid but the best we had were bicycles. We never went as fast as these kids can. Add to that that the driving skills and observation skills of drivers has decreased significantly over the last thirty years. I say that based on my experience being on the road doing field service for my entire working life.
I may be out in the boondocks but we do have major traveled routes they regularly cross. I consider myself a beyond safe driver because of my experience and training so my heart is in my throat every time I hear one of these kids coming past the house.

There are days I'd like to get in their face and try to give them a little life experience to let them know how much of a risk they're taking but I know I at the same age would just say "Go Away Old Man".

MiniMe

(21,676 posts)
5. My opinion is that if you don't have a driver's license, you shouldn't be operating a motor vehicle
Sat May 11, 2013, 06:30 PM
May 2013

of any kind on public roads and highways. I guess I'm a grumpy old fart

pkz

(719 posts)
6. GRRRRRR.....makes me so angry
Sat May 11, 2013, 06:36 PM
May 2013

I live in a small WV rural town too, I also happen to have the "famous" memorial field on my road. Many weekdays and weekends, hundreds of cars park everywhere and folks walk to the field. The field is baseball, softball and football...so pretty much year round. We have four wheelers, dirt bikes, go carts and some dumbazz parents even bring those battery four wheelers for toddlers.

They go really fast amongst all the traffic, do not wear helmets....and this Mawmaw sits on the swing and waits to hear the crash noise.
Calling the law does not help, they may send a car but can be seen on the main road and everyone scatters....and yeah, I pounded on a door one day when I saw a 8 yr. old on a four wheeler nose down in the crick....I checked him out told him I was gonna get his parents and the parents told me to MYOB.

 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
7. Minimum age is 14 for operating an ATV in this state
Sat May 11, 2013, 06:38 PM
May 2013

They are only allowed on public roads if they are being used for farming in immediately adjacent lands.

Honeycombe8

(37,648 posts)
8. ATVs are dangerous. They are known to flip, and people who drive them...
Sat May 11, 2013, 06:44 PM
May 2013

drive them for the thrill of it, so safety isn't their first concern. No way I'd let a kid of mine drive one of those things. I woudl go a step farther. I wouldn't even want a kid of mine to be a passenger in one. I've read too many stories of people paralyzed or seriously injured or killed from those things flipping or whatever.

I also don't like them, generally speaking, because they tear up the land and destroy the natural environment, even when driven how they were intended to be.

My thinking is....if a kid wants to get out and enjoy the environment, the kid should be taken primitive camping, learn to follow animal tracks, learn how to use the bathroom in the wild and get by w/o modern conveniences for several days in a row. Learn to sleep in a tent in the pouring rain. And best of all, learn to drink a cup of coffee on teh bank of a river, with almost no one else around, and watch the sun come up in the distance. I guarantee you that a 10 year old kid will remember that when he's 90. The day he went ATVing? Meh...he'll have forgotten it by the time he's 35.

MADem

(135,425 posts)
9. They don't belong on public roads, and anyone not wearing a helmet is asking for
Sat May 11, 2013, 07:14 PM
May 2013

the Busey-Curb treatment.

Lose that license? Get a bike.

longship

(40,416 posts)
10. And you ought to see the snowmobiles here in winter.
Sat May 11, 2013, 07:30 PM
May 2013

Racing down our unpaved roads to the National Forest (about one mile in any direction here). They run the stop sign regularly on my corner. No, they're not likely going to see much other traffic, but there are working farmers carting loads of hay down my road for livestock even in winter. Tragedy is inevitable, but has fortunately not yet occurred.

And yes, when it's warm, it's the four-wheeled ATVs doing the same.

I don't find it at all peculiar that Friday and Saturday nights -- often past midnight -- is the time when traffic here is the worst.

It's beautiful here, but sometimes beauty comes with people who would love such things to their peril.

TheMightyFavog

(13,770 posts)
11. Happens a lot here in Wisconsin, too.
Sat May 11, 2013, 08:08 PM
May 2013

ATVs are illegal to operate on roads unless the road is marked as an "ATV Route." (Most of these marked roads are either dirt roads or out of the way rural back roads) Parents disregard laws on age restrictions thinking "My daddy taught me to ride a three-wheeler when I was seven! If it was good enough for me, I must be good enough for my kid, a hyuck!"

Ilsa

(61,675 posts)
12. ATVs are not enlarged tricycles. They
Sat May 11, 2013, 08:20 PM
May 2013

are motorized vehicles and children should not be allowed to drive them any more than they should be allowed to drive a motorcycle or car, which has greater safety features.

These parents are too busy trying to be cool and please their children. They need to learn to tell them "No" when it comes to dangerous toys.

Archae

(46,260 posts)
14. My Mom lives in a nothern county of Wisconsin...
Sat May 11, 2013, 09:00 PM
May 2013

And from the end of snow until the next snow, the ATV's come out.

And we've seen little kids driving them. Alone!

And every year in that county 3 groups get killed on them.

Teenagers showing off

Drunks

Little kids.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Just my thinking, but I'd...