3 wheeler safety numbers

[plastikosmd]

check my math...and if anyone has better numbers on now many atvs were in use in 1987, that would help.

2 nice reads...

first a law firm...the end is a bit slimy, what do you expect..it is a law site http://www.bennettlawfirm.com/atv4.htm
I am making use of one of their numbers ...1987 2.5 million atv (sold), I would prefer a number as 'in use'

Combine this with CPSC 2006 on ATV numbers site http://www.cpsc.gov/library/atv2006.pdf


From what I can gather...Death rate per 10k 4 wheelers is 1.1 in 1987 and 2005, there were some highs..lows

2.5 million (using some liberty here) ATV's in use in 1987 of which 1.1 million were 4 wheelers, so 1.4 million 3 wheelers ( seems a bit low?) anyway...

Total deaths(est.) in 1987 were
282, 126 for 4 wheelers. lets just assume the rest were 3 wheelers. (maybe less)

Death rate for 10k =1.114

so 1.114 for 3 wheelers, 1.1 for 4 wheelers

If you compare the law site (date of article) with the CPSC site..there are some differences in ATV use...1998 CPSC 3.1 million...next year is 3.6
Law site 3.7 million...so it depends on where the numbers come from.

All told I don’t see a huge difference in rate of death from 3-4 wheelers....without better numbers


rate of injury did have one large peak around 85-86, that did drop..but now has been passed by about 30%. Of course there are more atvs now..summation of years of production etc.. we would have to compare to number of ATV's present to see if there is a difference...Would need to know how many atvs were operated in those years (85-86). my guess..you wont see a big diff. now as compared too 85-86...tho you would in some of the other years...say late 80's

If you can’t trust the government...who can you trust...wink

[Dirtcrasher]

Good info and a great effort :D

They just don't like trikes, plain and simple.......... :(

[cybrman]

Not sure about the numbers, I would think you would need some serious effort and resources to get truly accurate figures.
Interesting read on that law site, what I will never understand is how anyone can blame a machine for injuries or death. Common sense (sorely lacking in today's society) dictates that since the machine can only do what the user controls it to do that it is the liability of the person alone that causes accidents and deaths.
It's amazing that they haven't banned automobiles, just think how many people are injured and die daily on this countries roadways. Those things must be unsafe!

[plastikosmd]

yea good data is hard too find. Makes you wonder how they came up with what they did. Noticing the injury rates were high in 85-86, the same time the machines were hitting their peak in performance.... Wonder if the same could be said for now??? Last few yrs with the popularity of the raptors/ preds. Etc??? Dunno tho the quadzilla was a beast....but probably only a small percent of raptors, etc sold

[Lukeatc185]

its a fact among us 3 wheeler jockeys. have u read the death/injury post with all the different cases of injuries and deaths on 3 wheelers?.. my favorite is (a kid is pulling his 3 wheeler and he runs over an electrical wire and the current goes through the bike and into him.) how the $@%#$^#^ is that even relivent, some tight trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro stuck up people started complaining and signing petitions. so the government kisses trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro without checking facts.. that the vast majority of deaths and injuries on 3 wheelers were drivers error. usualy no helmet. Alcohol going to fast in a bad area etc...

[deathman53]

I never heard that one, but like it. welcome to the return of the slaughter, the only difference is the the vehicle. Did anybody see the cbs news from last week about the utv's?

http://www.cbs.com/cbs_evening_news/video.php?pid=WrbVvZ5P2GjULVh6d_iZ_etcp2VY3Mcy&play=true&offset=0&show=all

to you guys that seen the 60 mintues, dateline and such 3 wheeler stories, does anything here look scary familar?

here is yamaha's page about the story, a completely different picture is painted

http://truthaboutrhino.com/index.php/breaking-news/

[boosted96cobra]

I was just talking about things like this with my friend:

Around midnight last night I just got home from a 3 day trip to St Anthony sand dunes. If anyone hasn't been there, there is no place you can ride that has bigger steeper dunes anywere. Sure there may be one hill here or there but there are hundreds of huge steep dunes here.

Anyways, I had my 84 Tecate and my 85 250r. During the whole trip, riding as fast as I could, climbing and riding the steepest bowl and hills, was I even close to being in trouble or wrecking. Not once. 500 feet up the side of a bowl flying in 5th gear. Climbing 5-700 feet steep hills. But in just my group, my wife rolled her arctic cat 4x4 400, daughters friend rolled a z250 quadsport, somehow on flat ground. I cannot count the number of rhino's I seen roll, or at least on their side. The safest dune SxS I have seen in the polaris RZR, and I watched 2 of them roll.

Now obviously these UTV SxS can be great machines for what they are made for, but sand or all around is not one of them. If a trike is dangerous, then a SxS is death on 4 wheels.

Dirt bikes, if you go ride the duens for a day and don't wreck twice, your not riding. So I would sure like to know how a trike is so unsafe.

[plastikosmd]

a lot of the concern in some of the articles is related to 'kids' getting hurt. the definition of a kid often less than 16, sometimes less than 12. I know when i was a 'kid' we only had trikes...and i rolled a few...never really got hurt..but others did. I wonder how i would have done on a quad...knowing me..probably worse