While developing the idea for a safety-based series, I wondered if anyone would even read our thoughts on the subject. It seems that nowadays not everyone is concerned with safety. I have been riding motorized vehicles for around twenty-five of the thirty-five years I have been on this earth. The types and sizes of toys ranged from 125mph karts to motocross bikes and ATV’s. I can tell you this - I started out thinking I was the toughest guy in the arena and Mother Nature stopped that almost as quickly as the thought had entered my mind.

I raced Karts for a while and I believed that I was losing the ability to “feel” the steering as I cornered the beast at my local track. Then it hit me, quite literally. I decided that I would make my heat laps with no gloves and see what kind of difference that would make. Not only did I get cussed out by the official but before I could get back in the pit area, I took a high speed section for the thrill and a small rock bounced from a kart in front of me. I remember the peanut-sized razor bouncing off my pointer finger and then my thumb before hitting my face shield. This left a small yet extremely painful cut on both that would need eight total stitches to close it up. Lesson learned?  Oh, most definitely. I would never go back out on the track without my gloves again, even if it meant I couldn’t “feel” the steering that good. It was better than having my fingers cut open.

So has anyone had a similar experience with not having the proper gear and suffering for it?

I currently focus most of my riding on the ATV side and man I can tell you, I just don’t know what people are thinking. I can go to my local ORV riding area on any given day and find at least one person who has no regard for his or her own safety, or the safety of other riding with them.  Often, their own children.

For example, I had been invited one day to help photograph a utility quad review in my local riding area. When we arrived I noticed that there were several other vehicles there. Nothing unusual, but what I witnessed next was just plain scary. A few young boys blasted into the parking area in a Yamaha Rhino. None of the boys had helmets – including the two boys in the front and a third passenger clinging to the roll cage for dear life in the cargo box. As the Rhino sped off down the trail, I noticed the two grown men whom had brought the kids out to play, talking to each other about how much fun the boys must be having. Is it me or do people not see the potential danger in this type of carelessness? I could just see all three boys being badly hurt or even killed if that machine rolled over. That is definitely not the way Yamaha had intended its vehicle to be used. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we were almost run down by two other teenage boys with no helmets on and one even wore his favorite flip flops out for a fast day of riding.

Can you see why we wanted to write about this? This isn’t meant to be the big mean parent column where we come down on all who enter, but rather a section devoted to creating awareness so that you know whats available for yourself and your children.  The thought of my child being hurt because I did not take the time to teach him the proper riding or safety skills and give him the protection he needed is a scary one. I can change my child’s life forever by just setting a good example.

We at Off-Road.com felt the need to create awareness with our readers on not only safety gear but also safe riding techniques for our younger riders and any older ones that would listen. Our goal with this section is to take a year and just give our readers options by example and also make the lessons taught here rewarding to those who will participate along with us. There will be quiz questions that will be asked at the end of each article and we will pick several who answer correctly to receive prizes ranging from stickers to hats, key chains etc. and we are also considering giving away a set of gear to one lucky reader.

Please feel free to share your experiences with us and together we can help others realize what kind of protection is needed to keep riding safe and riding areas open.  And come back each month as we roll out some cool prizes, for those of you paying attention!

RS

Quick quiz: Should I wear a helmet when riding my ATV?