Interesting Read - Made me angry!

[3is4Fun]

Found this, and it may have been posted before, but essentially after reading this I got the feeling that our trikes were
sacrificed for nothing!! I believe this was put together in 2002.

http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/Final_ATVReportLinks.pdf

[ONEBAD350X]

Good read. Thanks for sharing!

[wonderboy]

My take: don't be angry at the messenger. Be angry at the irresponsible minority of parents and people who throw kids on an ATV with no clue, no helmet, and generally no rules and then run up the accident statistics.

I only had time to read the opening page, but the premise (despite the inflammatory statements) is accurate. There is little to no regulation in most areas, and I would argue there are a lot of kids (adults too) who are on machines way beyond their physical and mental capability to ride safely.

The thing I find sad is that all the circumstances that led to the demise of the 3-wheeler is repeating itself for 4-wheelers. In other words, it isn't the machines themselves, but rather the carelessness and irresponsibility of some riders that are creating all the problems. After re-reading you comments, I think that maybe this is your point, that the 3-wheelers were just a victim to irresponsible riders.

[3is4Fun]

Exactly my Point Wonderboy, at one point in the article it is was stated:

“Although manufacturers have touted the four-wheel
vehicles as being safer than the three-wheel variety, the relative
increase in safety is negligible, especially considering the criteria
that led to the recall of three-wheel ATVs.”

I feel like this article proves that it wasn't the design that was at fault , so where is my 2016 ATC 750x or my 2016 ATC 500SX ;)

[wonderboy]

I just read more of the article, and agree 100% with you. There are several quotes in there regarding the negligible increase in "safety" of a 4-wheeler over a 3-wheeler. It is sad, but also a feeling echoed by most people on this site: the machines aren't the problem.

I also got to their conclusion and recommended actions and don't really agree with them. I'm all in favor of requiring training classes, safety lessons, licensing, whatever. But to outright bad their use by kids under 16 seems silly. Also, it won't have any effect on what people may do on my own private land, where I suspect many accidents take place. I think the answer really is teaching kids the proper techniques for riding and riding responsibly.

The only fortunate thing I see in this whole situation is that it is copyrighted 2002, which means it apparently went no where from a legal perspective.

EDIT: My only other comment is that this report is an excellent example of how to lie (or at a minimum, mislead) with statistics. There are so many graphs in there that misrepresent the truth... I love the graph at the top of page 13 "ATV Injuries by age group". It is in absolute terms, not relative to how many riders TRULY exist in that category. My suspicion is that if the data were available (which it is not by their own admission) you could re-title that graph "ATV Riders by age group" and the graph would be the same. Bottom line, more accidents are experienced by the age groups that use the machines more. The report admits that their stats on how many kids use ATV's is just an estimate provided by the CPSC... and we know that they won't bias their numbers to favor the argument. :)

[oscarmayer]

they have spend countless investigating ATV and ATC accidents. in 99.9 % of all cases it was human error of some sorts. here are the following categories for human error.
safety gear (helmets, boots, gloves, chest plate etc)
safety training (youth more than adults)
alcohol (adults)
responsible decision making (too big a machine for child)(adults)
speed

all cases were as follows:
child had no gear or training and atc rolled over
child had no gear atv rolled over
child had no training atv rolled over
hit a tree, rock, off a drop off dip, etc... going to fast
drunk
drunk no gear
etc, etc, etc

we can keep going but in .01% of the cases the issue was actually the ATv had a malfunction itself, and of those 80% was lack of maintenance related....

so these doctors and so called self proclaimed "experts" are nothing more than Bullshit blowers who really do not know how to properly read reports and use real "logic" to determine the real issue.
blaming the ATV industry for people's stupidness is like blaming the auto industry for every accident ever. is ford responsible for every mustang that plows into a crowd at a meet?

[RIDE-RED 250r]

It reads like an anti-2a article to me, all you have to do is substitute firearms as the subject matter...

Anywho, I admit I didn't read the whole thing word for word.. But as I skimmed it over, it seems that they skate right past the fact that there are just plain more ATV's in circulation now than any time in history. And they act all mortified that accident numbers climb.. Well duh!

And of course "big industry" is to blame for the way they market those evil ATVs... The thing reads like a looney lefty, anti-powersports, hippy tree hugging hit piece. Just look at the names of the organization that put it together... Bluewater Coalition, Natural Trails and Water Coalition... These groups couldn't possibly be involved in off-road powersports in any sort of positive way... They sound like they would get along just dandy with the Sierra Club. They don't like ATVs or any other form of powersport, so they will say and do anything to paint it with a broad brush in a negative way. Just like anti-2a groups.

But yes I agree, irresponsible parents/kids/riders (consumers) sure do their part to make it easier for them. And this is why it is important that folks like us put forth a positive image here on the internet and out there on the trails/dunes/wherever you ride. At minimum, wear a helmet when you ride, don't ride under the influence, STAY ON LEGAL TRAILS/RIDING AREAS, don't make an ass of yourself out there. It only takes one jack-wagon and the haters will latch on and get mileage from it regardless of the fact that for every idiot out there doing the wrong thing, there are hundreds who ride right!

[3is4Fun]

I feel that Motorcycles were lucky to have been invented before everyone got sue happy and large government entities were created to protect us from things that might hurt us.

because they too may have been banned.