Guys and gals, be careful out there...

[waterinthefuel]

Yesterday my sister and her family went to her husbands Christmas celebration a couple of hours away. Two boys were riding on a Mule type vehicle and they flipped it, both occupants, my sisters husbands nephews, were injured. One got his front teeth knocked out and the other broke his foot bad.

We also heard that someone in the Atchafalaya basin was killed on a 4 wheeler. We just learned that turned out to be one of my fathers coworker's sons! All in one day 3 people we knew were either injured or killed on ATV's.

Lets be safe out there, guys.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Good advice there. And tomorrow night, beware the once-a-year drunks. After my kids started driving, I told them that after midnight, assume that every car you see is either a cop or a drunk. With that in mind I hoped they would be more mindful of the law and drive defensively.

Can you say Atchafalaya three times real fast?

 

[wildmaninal]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Tell me about it WITF.....Besides my cousin (who's in his early 20's) wrecking my 4 wheeler a little while back......... before my cousin had the accident on my machine my youngest niece (age 10) was visiting a friend's house with my brother and SNL and my niece was riding a 4 wheeler with her friend driving......well come to find out the brakes failed on the machine as they were coming back down a hill and they ran into a newly purchased car.......which once this happened the girls were thrown from the 4 wheeler onto the car and my niece got her jaw fractured and both girls got bruised up pretty bad. The new car now damaged.

Then before all that, my youngest niece's "boyfriend" was injured in a 4 wheeler accident and had to have surgery on his brain.......he ended up in the hospital for a while. I haven't been in a 4 wheeler accident in years. I was riding our 3 wheeler and was coming down a dirt road and went to apply the front and rear brakes to slow down when the front brakes locked up and threw me off of the machine, the machine ended up flipping and landed on my leg, I was very lucky, I don't even recall getting a scratch from that accident. It all happened so fast I couldn't tell you every detail. My aunt had to come out and lift the 3 wheeler (which was laying on it's side)off of my leg. Then one time I was riding through a trail when all of a sudden I hit something and it made me bounce into a tree. So here I basically side swiped the tree and my leg got caught up between the 3 wheeler and the tree in all of this. I managed to get freed up and I inspected the damage done to my leg, once again nothing broke just a few gashes in my leg which I didn't even half to have stitches for. I left the 3 wheeler sitting there at the seen of the accident (if I remember right) and walked home.

 

[mudmagnet63]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Less money than a comparable 4 wheeler and a lot safer. Any one you know with kids concidering a 4 wheeler should check these out.

Allnewsports.com
Gocarts

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Mules are not ATV's, they're UTV's and they're not toys. I would have expected similar results if they had let them play with their tractors. Good thing the husbands family doesn't drive trucks over the road, who knows what they could have done playing with a semi...

Don't take offense, WITF, but I fault the parents and not the equipment. Tools are not toys, folks...and sometimes you do have to think...

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Well the kids that were hurt were ages 20 and 17, hardly children.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

yeap, 6 foot tall and bullet proof, nothing can happen to me.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Well the kids that were hurt were ages 20 and 17, hardly children.

Yeah, you're right. My previous analysis doesn't really apply. I thought they were young kids...But I guess they got a pretty good lesson about equipment, huh? I hope they're OK and moreover that they learned something. Sorry about getting a little loose in the last post, I'm a safety nut and irresponsibility around equipment (esp. parental (even perceived)) really sets me off...

But you're right, people need to be safe. Equipment is dangerous, and if you don't understand how to use it, you better learn or stay away from it...

 

[Windykid]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Most of the mules and other 4 wheel types are having a lot of rollover problems. Most companys are issueing a half door to prevent legs from flying out during rollover. They also are instaling grab bars on the inside, as to prevent the roll cage from crushing the hands and fingers when they roll.
My son who is 18 broke his ankle during a rollover last month thats when I found out about the safety upgrades. If you own one then you should check into it for safety.

 

[PW2]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Anything involving power equipment, whether it is labelled a tool or a toy, can be inherently dangerous.

When we lived in a small town in Northern Ontario, it used to be a big bragging point to be the first to cross the nearby river in the winter on a snowmobile. Generally funerals were held for those that almost made it.

I don't know though. This is not a new phenomena. I just got back from Whidbey Island where we had a big family reunion to celebrate a brother's 65th birthday. There were three older brothers among the group, of which I was the youngest, and we spent several hours recalling harrowing tales involving little common sense and even less planning, all with the happy outcome that in spite of everything, we somehow miraculously survived.

Most of the stories were basically true, and I'd murder any of my kids on the spot if they'd try any of the foolish stunts we did!

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

On Xmas eve there were two young men killed in a snowmobile accident. They got cought in an avalanche. So please use common sense.

 

[waterinthefuel]

Re: Guys and gals, be careful out there...

Just to update you guys, the guy my dad works with, Cliff, he's not doing well. This was there first day back at work and Cliff didn't even show. He simply called one guy and then everybody started crying. He lived with his son and they did everything together, they were hunting and thats when his son was killed on his 4 wheeler, riding back to the camp.

It's not often I request prayers, but this is hitting the guys at work super hard. I can only imagine losing your son in such a way.