Outdoors
Sponsored by

Reading too many stories of kids dying on ATV's

8,523 Views | 78 Replies | Last: 11 days ago by Jaspers Ghost
Serious Lee
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Quote:

But also look at it this way - all of the "man, growing up I did a lot of dumb things" folks seem to be the same ones that want to [understandably] protect their kids from doing dumb things. But it is those dumb things that made you who you are and taught you valuable lessons. We can't complain about younger generations being soft or lacking real world common sense, etc. if we continually shield them from those lessons either.

i hear you, but theres something to be said about the ubiquity of these high powered toys these days. Back in the day, wasn't too many kids that had em just for hot rodding around suburbia. Just imagine if they all had access to open water and jet skis...
SGrem
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Makes me sad all the miles I put on a Honda 110. Riding and freedom and exploring and learning about fuel screens and finding the little carb screws i dropped in the grass and rusty tanks and pull ropes and airing tires and cracked fenders.... and broken bones. These things are too fast now with not enough build up how to handle it.

I mean look at the full grown dressed up idiots on you tube rolling rental golf carts on themselves. What can we expect from the youth.
Www.gowithgrem.com
GentrysMillTX10
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
https://ktxs.com/news/local/driver-charged-with-intoxication-manslaughter-after-may-crash-that-killed-two

This is an atv story but no kids involved. I believe the two guys on the side by side were hog hunting and were on the highway just to connect to another county road or a field.

I know this road well, traveled it yesterday actually, and I wouldn't be on that road on an atv or side by side in the dark.
ToddyHill
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Quote:

Living in Colorado I see a lot of ATV rollovers (I am part time EMS), but we are seeing a lot more e-bike/e-scooter accidents with kids. Not so much deaths, but I worked a case last month 12 year old girl e-bike straight into the side of a truck. She now is paralyzed neck down.

How awful!

Earlier this summer, I was in San Antonio with my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandkids. As I was driving through their neighborhood, two kids, about 10-12 years old, went flying through an intersection of a couple of e-bikes. I don't think kids realize how dangerous they are.
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Serious Lee said:

Quote:

But also look at it this way - all of the "man, growing up I did a lot of dumb things" folks seem to be the same ones that want to [understandably] protect their kids from doing dumb things. But it is those dumb things that made you who you are and taught you valuable lessons. We can't complain about younger generations being soft or lacking real world common sense, etc. if we continually shield them from those lessons either.

i hear you, but theres something to be said about the ubiquity of these high powered toys these days. Back in the day, wasn't too many kids that had em just for hot rodding around suburbia. Just imagine if they all had access to open water and jet skis...

We had access to those too. Learned how to skip across the water when you got tossed off of one of them going fast. It stung like hell.
schmellba99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
The Ex Officio Director said:

Neighborhood I live in, have one those dad's who buys their kids everything. Not hating on him or anything, just a very bold strategy to allow your kids who are under the age of 13, to tear through the neighborhood on a gas operated golf cart. Kids act like it's GTA, multiple of us in the neighborhood have said something to the dad, his response is typical. Yet, he has raised all kinds of hell on us, in the neighborhood who drive pass 25 mph. Even installed speed bumps, which the county quickly took away and charged him with damage to the road. There are a few of us, who won't be sad if one of those kids end up dying because their father wont take responsibility.

I just pray they are not hit by a car, because the golf cart is not street legal and the kids driving are not legal, yet this dad has the money and means to make peoples life a financial hell.



That's pretty harsh man.
Ogre09
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
GentrysMillTX10 said:

Santa brought me a Honda fourtrax 300 for Christmas in the 3rd grade. Layed it over on its side Christmas morning. Who on earth thought it was a good idea to let an 8 year old ride a 300cc four wheeler?! But I learned to respect it.

By high school I had a Honda 400EX. Did a bunch of stupid stuff but never got hurt or was that crazy. I learned boundaries and kept them. I did have an incident in college with a girl on the back with me. She was too drunk to hold on well and caused me to lose control. I didn't want her falling off. instead of a nasty crash/rollover, I went into a brush thicket and shielded her from it. She was mad her head hit my shoulder. Don't think she saw the 6-8 places I was bleeding. Dumb rich girls. Anyway I decided to keep it slow with inexperienced or drunk people with me after that. I also had Hondas that were light enough to push off of yourself in the event of a rollover.

We went to mud nationals in Jacksonville in college. Lots of big fun but we didn't get wild, we watched the idiots and kept our distance.

I was not the norm though. I lost a high school buddy to a 4wheeler crash. Another high school friend clipped him and he wrapped a telephone pole. Several mutual friends injured, including a brain injury.

Now side by sides are a whole other thing. We've got a can am defender HD 10. It will run 70 mph. It's heavy. It can bounce you out of the seat quicker than you'd think. Its size and stability creates a lot of false security. My kids won't drive anything unsupervised but a golf cart until they're 16. Or a 4wheeler if we get a smaller one.



Sounds like you're lucky to still be here...
GeorgiAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
In high school, I was going through the woods, hit a bump and it steered me to side swipe a tree. Tree caught my leg and ATV kept going. Nothing broke, unbelievably, but that was the last time I rode one. Nastiest bruise I ever had in my life.

... so as a middle age crisis I decided to get a OneWheel skateboard. Loved that thing. Odometer said over 3,000 miles on it. So basically coast to coast. Was great until I hit a pothole and did a Superman impression going 20 mph over pavement. Woke up int the ER. I have hardware on the bottom and outside of my eye socket with partial facial numbness that throbs all day. When I touch the left side of my lip, it feels like someone is touching my nose.
Serious Lee
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Quote:

We had access to those too. Learned how to skip across the water when you got tossed off of one of them going fast. It stung like hell.

some days on some stretches of the san bernard, you'd be treated like a squirrel in the road now
TexasAggie73
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Hoyt Ag said:

Living in Colorado I see a lot of ATV rollovers (I am part time EMS), but we are seeing a lot more e-bike/e-scooter accidents with kids. Not so much deaths, but I worked a case last month 12 year old girl e-bike straight into the side of a truck. She now is paralyzed neck down.


So sad. I see too many small kids in my neighborhood cruising around in those e-bikes or scooters paying no attention to the other traffic. Most don't have helmets on. Hate to think what our ER sees.
maroon barchetta
How long do you want to ignore this user?
GeorgiAg said:

In high school, I was going through the woods, hit a bump and it steered me to side swipe a tree. Tree caught my leg and ATV kept going. Nothing broke, unbelievably, but that was the last time I rode one. Nastiest bruise I ever had in my life.

... so as a middle age crisis I decided to get a OneWheel skateboard. Loved that thing. Odometer said over 3,000 miles on it. So basically coast to coast. Was great until I hit a pothole and did a Superman impression going 20 mph over pavement. Woke up int the ER. I have hardware on the bottom and outside of my eye socket with partial facial numbness that throbs all day. When I touch the left side of my lip, it feels like someone is touching my nose.


No helmet?
BrownDeerAggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I have been a pastor for 41 years with most of that time in rural/small town settings. I have officiated far too many funerals of those killed on those things (young and old enough to know better). While I have used them myself from time to time, I am extremely careful and mindful of those funerals so as not to be a statistic.
Psalm 42:1
Scott Sterlings Face
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Man, I hate having to comment on this thread. We were at my 2nd graders flag football practice yesterday when we saw the VFD and DPS headed east out of Wall. Found out it was a 6th grader in an ATV crash. Not 100% confirmed, but we were told there was another kid that was driving, and Rhyder was the passenger.

https://sanangelolive.com/news/crashes/2026-08-24/wall-middle-school-student-passes-away-after-atv-crash?fbclid=IwY2xjawT5mVVwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5OIll6uPxkbCy8-xyxp2JxoDK1vpceW7Lc9aSb_ajLD5LWI5vu6pMyv0cA_w_aem_KVkCZ61OgrL1GZ8QKW4Lvg#google_vignette
GeorgiAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
maroon barchetta said:

GeorgiAg said:

In high school, I was going through the woods, hit a bump and it steered me to side swipe a tree. Tree caught my leg and ATV kept going. Nothing broke, unbelievably, but that was the last time I rode one. Nastiest bruise I ever had in my life.

... so as a middle age crisis I decided to get a OneWheel skateboard. Loved that thing. Odometer said over 3,000 miles on it. So basically coast to coast. Was great until I hit a pothole and did a Superman impression going 20 mph over pavement. Woke up int the ER. I have hardware on the bottom and outside of my eye socket with partial facial numbness that throbs all day. When I touch the left side of my lip, it feels like someone is touching my nose.


No helmet?


Got overconfident.
Fdsa
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Nm
Fdsa
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Incredibly sad. Know some great people in that community. I think we just need to let the kids drive an old truck around the farm at this point.
Scott Sterlings Face
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Unfortunately that's the one I posted. We found out last night that counselors were going to be in my son's class today because the boy's little sister is in my son's class. The boy was a passenger and an 11 year old was driving. It flipped when they turned and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

We had a very long discussion with both of our kids about no golf cart or UTV/ATV riding without an adult. Our community is grieving but we're also rallying around the family. Neighboring schools are all wearing green today as a show of support. It's absolutely heartbreaking.
ThunderCougarFalconBird
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
This thread confirms that my maximum for powered non-car vehicles is probably one of those motorized coolers.
giddings_ag_06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I'm in this camp. My son has been driving the Ranger with me working the pedals since he turned 4 and he drives the Sportsman with me on his own. The rules are it has to be in low, he can't go over 10, he has to tell me when he's turning and he can't start it until I'm on it with him. He's driven more miles at 4 on it than I have since I bought it I think. It's amazing the carefulness he has knowing I can take it away if he does anything wrong.
TexasAg95
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
the problem is, the kid who goes over to the friend's place with land in small towns rural areas, bunch of kids riding them, no seatbelts, etc. Lots of parents/grandparents who think its all fun and games and let kids drive them.


In our small town we live out on county roads and there is a family who lives close to us, and then the grandparents live about half a mile away. School age kids and we see them all the time zipping down the county road in their mule to go see granny.

The other situation is when multiple families go to grandparents who have land and mules/golf carts. The kids pile on and next thing you know something really bad can happen.
Caliber
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
giddings_ag_06 said:

I'm in this camp. My son has been driving the Ranger with me working the pedals since he turned 4 and he drives the Sportsman with me on his own. The rules are it has to be in low, he can't go over 10, he has to tell me when he's turning and he can't start it until I'm on it with him. He's driven more miles at 4 on it than I have since I bought it I think. It's amazing the carefulness he has knowing I can take it away if he does anything wrong.


Its amazing to see the difference that happens when that same careful boy starts to hit puberty. I've been seeing in over and over in my nephews. They have been great till that 10-12yo age. Then they really start to push those boundaries. They'll know they can lose it but will really see what they can get away with, especially when they think no one is looking or there is someone they want to impress.
MAS444
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Yeah the issue isn't when the young child is riding with parents. It's when the middle school age+ kids are together riding them without any parental supervision. Even the careful kids feel peer pressure.
giddings_ag_06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Maybe, but you never know. When I was growing up safety was drilled into my head and I never put myself in sketchy situations. Will he be the same? Time will tell, but Lord help him if he pushes the boundaries I set up.

I put a lot of stock into training and how everyone is personally. There are adults I won't let drive any of my toys. I won't let my 12 year old nephew drive my four wheeler or even my mower, yet I let my boy drive the zero turn with me on it and he does just fine. Everything depends on the individual.
agcrock2005
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
A fellow Ag grad and I were on a friend's ranch a couple years ago with our boys 6 and 8 at the time, and one of their friends who was 8. We were getting a lot of dust in our eyes so driver decided to do a couple circles, not going fast at all, and in a flash it dumped us. I flew out the front windshield, quickly found my 6-year old and he was just bleeding a little on his leg. Other friend was good. Driver was good and then we were crushed to see his 8-year old was unconscious underneath it. I kind of blacked out after trying to get it off of the kid and being defeated knowing we weren't going to be able to do it, but his dad and I were able finally able to. I told him to jump in and we drove like hell to cell service to call 911. After a few minutes his son woke up, but he was messed up. Probably concussed. Helicopter came and took him to lubbock where he made full recovery. I hope one day I can forget him slapping the **** out of his sons face trying to wake him up while he was cursing himself out loud for killing his kid. Still have nightmares about that. Amazing how quickly you can go from pure joy to complete chaos. Really eye opening.

And I just bought a Ranger last week and am nervous for my 9 and 10 year old boys. I made sure it had doors on it with windows and seat belts, but I'm sure they will be boys which scares the heck out of me. There will be very strict rules!!
Fdsa
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Man, I'm really sorry you had to go through that.
GentrysMillTX10
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
That's a version of trauma I've not considered. Sorry you witnessed that. I mean glad the boy survived but dad gum.
giddings_ag_06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
That's horrible and sucks it happened especially for the kid that was injured and driver, but how in the world do you do "slow circles" and get thrown out the front windshield? We are on a Ranger at least an hour a day 5 days a week unbuckled and can't say I've even been close to that. Also, doing circles because dust is in your face seems a little odd since doing circles means dust will keep blowing in your eyes half the time.

I'm not talking trash, just genuinely curious because we ride a crap ton and unless you are off roading through the roughest pastures ever, flying out a windshield is pretty hard to do at a slow speed.
agcrock2005
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Don't know the physics behind it. Here's the exact spot we flipped. West Texas driving behind two other rangers from the river back to the main house and getting bunch of dust in our face so at the oil well tanks the driver did a fairly slow circle (I call it a circle because it wasn't doing donuts and being dumb) and I guess the sandy dirt that was build up around the well made it easy for us to just dump over. We were going so slow I don't know how it happened, but the more I've talked to people about this the more I've heard about it happening a lot. How I went out the front, I believe I jumped as we were flipping, but I don't remember those details as much as the ones that I don't want to remember.

The guy I bought my ranger from last week texted me last night "Be careful with the kids driving it will have a lot of body roll which makes it flip easier if turned fast" so maybe my buddy just turned the wheel too fast and it dumped us. Don't know. Just know it sucked and I don't want to do it again.
S.A. Aggie
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Unfortunately another one…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/165515330950598/posts/2313833909452052/?hpir=1

Prayers for the families and for recovery of the additional two who were hospitalized.
maroon barchetta
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Go-kart isn't really an ATV, but this is awful.

https://www.kbtx.com/2026/09/04/pregnant-woman-24-dies-after-getting-her-hair-caught-go-kart-sprocket-family-says/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=organicclicks&tbref=hp
evestor1
How long do you want to ignore this user?
this type of thread almost needs a sticky to the top of the forum as a constant reminder of how dangerous ATVs ... even jet ski are.



I have an incredibly careful two boys and two girls with no safety concerns. I am constantly forgetting everyone's limits when we go out.
SmallieBigs
How long do you want to ignore this user?
My reward for being a dumba**
maroon barchetta
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Jaspers Ghost
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
schmellba99 said:

Guess I'm the outlier here.

Didn't have anything like that growing up, limited experience on them via friends that did have them. I have a Mule PRO and it is what my girls learned how to drive on in our neighborhood. Between the two of them they probably put 3,000 miles on that thing starting when my oldest was around age 12 or maybe 13 when I first let her cruise around solo.

Oldest had a near seamless transition into driving, youngest is doing her driver's ed stuff now and the actual driving part is almost second nature to her. Hell, I've had the only accident in that thing when I hit a tree stump out at the swamp lease that was hidden by grass and goat weed.

I get the concerns of folks though, having kids is scary as it is. But also look at it this way - all of the "man, growing up I did a lot of dumb things" folks seem to be the same ones that want to [understandably] protect their kids from doing dumb things. But it is those dumb things that made you who you are and taught you valuable lessons. We can't complain about younger generations being soft or lacking real world common sense, etc. if we continually shield them from those lessons either.

That being said, I was an absolute hardass on my girls about driving around the neighborhood in the Mule. We know folks all over the neighborhood and my buggy is pretty unique, or was then. We knew if stupid stuff was done. I did have to ground my oldest once because my youngest ratted her out about messing with her phone and running off the road into the ditch. I was not a happy camper about that and she knew it.



Dude. Let your kids drive that thing whenever they want on your own land. People who are letting their kids "learn to drive" in a Mule and cruise around solo at 13 on public streets is a crappy thing to do to everyone else around you.

I've come extremly close before to t-boning some 13 year old looking kid and his three friends on their mule becuase he blew through a stop sign from a side street. Never saw him until he was in front of my truck. Does he always blow through stop signs, probably not. Maybe this was the one and only time hes ever got distracted and had an oh **** moment. But that's why kids shouldn't be driving their parents golf carts and side by sides anyways, becuase they're kids.

I dont want to have to live with the guilt of killing three kids becuase they had irresponsible parents and made a stupid kid mistake.


Greeze06
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
It's all scary stuff and a good reminder that life is precious and nothing is given.

My son grew up on these, just like I did. I thought him early and rode with him for years behind him to guide him and teach him. Lots of lessons on terrain, stopping, velocity, etc.

4 years ago when he was 12 he had his birthday party at our house and he asked if he could take some for a ride that have never been on one (we live in the country). I told him walking out the door, remember the rules......everyone wear seat belts, no one in the bed, and only YOU drive. Silly me.

Kids being kids, he let one of the other ones drive when they got down the street. For the life of me not sure how he did it but managed to flip it on the concrete. Never forget that feeling when one came on a four wheeler and said they got in a wreck and my son was hurt bad. Horrible drive to them, to walk up and see his injuries, to second guess my parenting while trying to keep him calm. Even longer ride over an hour in ambulance heading for downtown Houston while he is in the back screaming.

He basically lost his elbow and for a 12 year old athlete it was devastating for him. After a week in it hits them (and you) that life will never be the same. But....life also goes on and you adapt. Perspective was a big lesson during 17 surgeries over 3 years. Yes its not ideal, but there were kids down the hallway that wish they had his injuries.

I still question myself and he learned a tough life lesson on when to not be a passenger......which I think has saved him in his teenage years. Id give anything to make him whole, but he's doing great and still rides the same side by side.

Im a firm believer that you can't go through life so cautious that you dont live and sometimes that has harsh consequences because our bodies aren't invincible.

Whatever decisions you make for your kids you just need to understand the risks and be at peace with it. At any rate, kids MUST have respect for the machines, for life, and be responsible and even with that its sometimes not enough.
Page 2 of 3
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.