Posted On: June 26, 2005, 9:49 am CDT

Posted By: Natalie

I would like to respond to this subject from a professional standpoint. I have been in the motorcycle industry for over 20 years and the cold hard fact is the parents are NOT in control of their children. They purchase these vehicles for babysitting in some cases and other actually buy the whole family atv's so they can spend more quality time together as a family unit(something that is unheard of in the US) so to point the finger at all atv riders is wrong. The fact that there is not enough places to ride which hampers the sport and the fact insurance for such places is outragous only leads me to believe that our country just isn't interested in the "family" unit as a whole. I have a son and 3 nieces and a nephew who have rode atv's since they were 2 years old. None of which have been seriously injured (my nephew broke his jaw on a tricycle)on an atv. It boils down to the fact the parents need to instruct the kids in the appropriate and safe way to ride. Pay attention to your kids and they will pay attention to you. As far as more injuries, yes there are but the number of atv's have doubled too just stands to reason there would be more injuries. You can get hurt walking across the yard much less riding across it. I have several elderly farmers who could not check on their cattle and crops without the atv's so I think there is a need for them. I agree parents put their children on machines that are too big for them but I will not sell them an atv if I think this is the case.