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Boy, 12 Dead After Losing Control of ATV
Sunday February 22, 2009
In National City, California a 12 year old boy died after he lost control of an all terrain vehicle and crashing into a wall. There are not many details that have been released on this accident yet as the boy just passed about 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Julio Lizarraga lived with his mother in the Encanto, California area.
The reason I choose this article is because this really makes me think about the age that children are able to drive motor vehicles like an ATV. Not only is this ATV, but also motorized vehicles like golf carts or four wheelers. I feel that in order for young adults to be able to drive these vehicles they need to have taken some short of safety course or else there needs to be some sort of law that required children to have a license to drive these vehicles. There are way too many accidents that involve young people and most result in deaths or serious injury. Children do not have enough knowledge to drive things like ATV’s or four wheelers.
Some states to have laws that prohibit children from driving ATV’s on roads but there is no nationwide law that restricts children from driving. Each state is different and I found a document from Kentucky and this is what their state laws are.
“Kentucky law is quite specific,” said Kenton County Attorney Garry Edmondson. “If you drive a motor-powered vehicle of any kind on a Kentucky road—including
subdivision roads—you must have a driver’s license.”
This means that anyone under the age of 16 cannot drive a scooter, ATV, moped, go-cart, golf cart, motorcycle, or any other motor-powered vehicle on any road in the state.
This is just one of the states in the US. Each state I am sure has some sort of law regarding this issue but I feel that each state should be the same. Also I feel that each state should be the same when it comes to young individuals getting their drivers license.
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I completely agree with you that kids way too young are driving ATVs and other smaller vehicles like ATVs. I know I started using our ranch ATV when I was really young and my dad had a rule that we were only allowed to go a certain speed. However, I know my neighbors were always on thier's driving really fast and taking them over jumps. I am very surprised none of them got in serious accidents.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is neccessary to be of a certain age or even have a liscence to run one. However, I do think that a safety course would be an excellent idea. That way kids could learn about what it is they are driving and that it is not a toy. ATVs have saved my family a lot of time working with cattle, but I know they can be dangerous and it scares me to see small children driving them.
Huh, for some reason I thought that technically, there was a law about the age or at the very least, some type of permit, to drive these. I just figured it was not enforced. I know there are safety courses offered through dealers, and I guess I always thought those were required too, but maybe I'm mistaken.
ReplyDeleteNot that this accident had anything to do with alcohol, but this just made me think of the bill that was up before the legislature last week about how the legal limit for driving atvs/snowmobiles is higher (more allowed) than for driving on the highway. I think driving is driving and it should be the same for everyone, especially because from my experience, a big part of snowmobiling is the drinking. But maybe I'm wrong about that the same way I was wrong about the license for ATV drivers....
I agree with you that kids should take classes or safety courses to drive ATV’s. They are no different than snowmobiles and jet skis, especially when they aren’t being used on one’s property. I also agree with Erica though, many people use 4-wheelers on farms and it’s hard to enforce these rules. I think that parents should play a bigger role in this too. Many of my friends growing up had 4-wheelers and we couldn’t drive them unless their parents were home. The same goes with Erica’s example with the speed limit. I hope that something happens, it just sucks that this boy had to die in order for it to be an issue.
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