ATV Deaths Injuries in Washington
(Moses Lake Sand Dunes)
ATV deaths injuries in Washington put you at financial risk if you are not insured. Riding an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) is fun and exciting. It is an activity participated in throughout the good weather months in eastern Washington. In late May of this year, near Soap Lake, Washington, another young person lost his life. He was simply a passenger on a Polaris Ranger being driven by a friend. He was by all accounts a young man with a bright future, having graduated from WSU or Washington State University with a business degree. Last year, our law firm represented a lovely client injured out at the dunes in Grant County in another case of ATV deaths injuries in Washington. By all appearances this accident in what appeared to be a well-organized ATV race.
See what the General Accounting Office reported to Congress:
http://www.gao.gov/assets/310/302955.html
Also see the staff report of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission:
The safety of ATVs has improved greatly, helping to avoid ATV deaths injuries in Washington. However, ATV deaths injuries in Washington caused by the operators and owners has not seen the same improvement in safety. The training in the safe operation of ATVs is either poor or nonexistent. The use of headgear or helmets is also almost nonexistent.
ATV deaths injuries in Washington continue to bring to our office head injuries that probably would have never reached our doorstep but for the simple failure to wear an appropriate helmet. Just imagine that you’re going to get onto or into a vehicle that has essentially no exterior protection, it is going to be driven up a steep hillside or sand dune, and it will probably reach a speed greater enough to make the vehicle and you airborne, if you then strike something, anything with your head there will be another case of ATV deaths injuries in Washington. Please wear a helmet.
Yes, you have the orange or red flag on the vehicle, and the driver has been operating the ATV for years, so you must be protected from ATV deaths injuries in Washington. No, consider why riding ATVs are fun. Isn’t part of the excitement a real danger that the ATV can land unsafely, be spilled or turned over as it crests the top of the hill at a high rate of speed? What about the other vehicles in the area, does the little red or orange flag on the ATV assure you that other vehicles coming in the opposite direction will see you soon enough to avoid you? No.
ATV deaths injuries in Washington often come about due to one ATV flying into another ATV. Then there is loss of control over the ATV by even experienced drivers, another case of ATV deaths injuries in Washington. Ask yourself the next time you’re invited for a ride in or on an ATV, do I trust this person to avoid any accidents that could cause serious bodily injury, including brain damage and death, and why do I trust the person? What training has the person had in operating an ATV? Did the person offer a helmet so that I might avoid serious head injury? What control is there over other vehicles in the area to make sure that there is not a collision between your vehicles?
Have you, and most certainly, the operator of the ATV even read the owner’s manual? In one ATV deaths injuries in Washington case in our office, the ATV operators manual clearly stated the passenger should not ride behind the operator under the circumstances that existed at the time. Neither the operator nor the rider had never read the owner’s manual that said do not ride on this ATV as a passenger with the rear tank mounted for farm operations, another ATV deaths injuries in Washington case involving a serious head injury.
We wish you safe riding, and avoidance of ATV deaths injuries in Washington. We hope that this blog gives you and your family pause when you are about to allow yourself or a family member go for a ride in or on an ATV. ATVs can be operated safely. Typical pictures seen in the brochures or on TV show the family riding down the trail at a safe quiet speed on a nice sunny day, and it can be safe, but be a knowledgeable rider or operator, protect yourself. Lastly, make sure the ATV is insured with a good liability policy.