ATV accidents

[badgirl]

For some reason lately I have taken care of or heard about several ATV accidents. Last winter my son was riding his and when he went around a curve (KY mountains) a big coal truck came around and he jerked the wheel and ran over a 20 foot embankment he hit first and the 4-wheeler brushed the side of his head, almost landing on him. :shake:

Have you guys heard a LOT about this in your area?

[rockymtnchief]

I haven't heard about many accidents YET. But around here more people are riding them to work and around town because they get better MPG than their everyday vehicles.

[badgirl]

I haven't heard about many accidents YET. But around here more people are riding them to work and around town because they get better MPG than their everyday vehicles.

Around here they use them to get to their pot patches when they are in season:D

But its the young crowd mostly like 15-20 year olds.

[notorious]

A sophmore in highschool died here a month ago from a four wheeler accident. There tends to be at least one serious wreck down by Beaver, OK every year, too.

[badgirl]

A sophmore in highschool died here a month ago from a four wheeler accident. There tends to be at least one serious wreck down by Beaver, OK every year, too.

I hear about them or see the result from them a couple time a month.

[Bwana]

I think it has a lot to do with the start of hunting season in most states. A lot of guys only hide ATV's during hunting season and get into a jam because they have no idea how to read trails, or don't know when to say when on a side hill and roll it.

I have been riding ATV's for 20+ years and have taken them into places that would make a billy goat cringe. I had an "incident" last year that made me slow down a bit as well.

I was out riding with a buddy up in the beartooth mountains on some very challenge trails. My buddy followed me up a very steep incline and at the top, the trail took a hard left. My buddy for some reason, hit the breaks at the top of the hill, rather than hitting the gas. (Wrong answer) Back down the incline he goes. I watched in horror as his ATV hit about 15 MPH before he panicked and turned the machine. He flew off and the ATV started doing flips. As I was looking on, the ATV went about 8 feet in the air and flew right over the top of him, missing his head by about a foot and kept rolling until it hit the bottom of the mountain ridge. He got a little bit banged up, but it could have been much worse. Other than dents and missing plastic, the machine still ran, but he was shacking so bad, I knew he wasn't going to be able to ride it up that incline. I jumped on and did it for him.

Fast forward the clock about an hour and I was flying down a hill. Once again a very steep incline. I round a corner and there is a huge tree across the entire trail. I gave it the hairy eyeball and determined that if I laided back flat on my seat, I would be able to pass under it. Great plan, except in the heat of the moment, I forgot the fact that I had installed a box on the back of the machine the week before. I went to lay back and my head hit the back of the box. I smacked the tree, which in turn, laid my Polaris 800 X2, 1000 pound machine on it's side paralleling the tree, continuing down the hill. I was pinned in between the machine and the tree. The tree acted like a giant piece of sand paper, removing hide from my neck and chest.

When I came to a rest, I was still pinned in between the ATV and the tree with the machine still running. I knew my buddy, already dazed, stunned, bruised and abused, was at least a mile back. I could see gas leaking out of the machine and figured it would catch on fire if I didn't so something. I took one hand and put it on the ATV and placed the other hand on the tree. I pushed and kicked my legs out and was free of the tree. I had to have had a ton of adrenaline going, because that 1000 pound machine was leaning into me and the tree and it felt like it only weighed about 20 pounds. Other than a few left over scars, I came out of that little ordeal just fine and was damn lucky. If there would have been a branch stub along that tree when I was playing "sand man," I would have been toast.

I still go up into places that most people would shy away from, but I do it a little slower these days.

[badgirl]

That is a scary story. :( Glad your ok.

[munkey]

because that 1000 pound machine was leaning into me and the tree and it felt like it only weighed about 20 pounds

If you had been on my outlander 400...you could have just stopped and lifted it over the tree ;-)

jk

I do love my atv though :-)

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I love chasing jack rabbits and shooting them with a shotgun. Them suckers can run about 50 miles an hour and turn on a dime. I really am lucky to be alive. Who says guns and alcohol and 4 wheelers don't mix!

[badgirl]

I love chasing jack rabbits and shooting them with a shotgun. Them suckers can run about 50 miles an hour and turn on a dime. I really am lucky to be alive. Who says guns and alcohol and 4 wheelers don't mix!

I guess they are fun, but I think they should require a helmet just as a motorcycle. They don't require them here.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I guess they are fun, but I think they should require a helmet just as a motorcycle. They don't require them here.


Hell, Driving a car should require a helment. Just think how many lives would be saved!

[badgirl]

Hell, Driving a car should require a helment. Just think how many lives would be saved!

Well they have seatbelts.

[ferrarispider95]

I had a yamaha blaster for a couple years that had quite a few mods, it was very snappy, not a ton of top end, but it would get you there quick. I also occasionally ride a friend's banshee, but nothing too serious except for getting launched off a couple times.

[Valiant]

For some reason lately I have taken care of or heard about several ATV accidents. Last winter my son was riding his and when he went around a curve (KY mountains) a big coal truck came around and he jerked the wheel and ran over a 20 foot embankment he hit first and the 4-wheeler brushed the side of his head, almost landing on him. :shake:

Have you guys heard a LOT about this in your area?

That is why we wear safety equipment.. I spun on on top of a creek bed a few winters ago.. Banshee flipped and sent me thru the ice with the Banshee on top of me.. My clothes were frozen solid by the time I made it back home.. Cracked some plastic and bent a wheel on the Banshee also..

[Bwana]

If you had been on my outlander 400...you could have just stopped and lifted it over the tree ;-)

jk

I do love my atv though :-)

monkey, I had so much "oh shit oh dear" rolling through my blood that I likely could have lifted half a truck at that point. I thought I was going to be Greg the human fireball.

[rtmike]

Next Turkey Day it will be 5 years that I've been in this chair from crashing my Banshee. It wasn't the ATV's fault, it never is. It's the folks who are riding them. The ATV's don't have a mind of their own.

I had every stitch of safety gear on, didn't matter.

[Bwana]

Next Turkey Day it will be 5 years that I've been in this chair from crashing my Banshee. It wasn't the ATV's fault, it never is. It's the folks who are riding them. The ATV's don't have a mind of their own.

I had every stitch of safety gear on, didn't matter.

Sorry to hear that Mike.

You are 100% correct about and ATV not having a mind of it's own. That day last year, I was damn "lucky" I didn't wipe myself off the map. I'll tell you this, it got me to slow the hell down.

[Radar Chief]

I had a yamaha blaster for a couple years that had quite a few mods, it was very snappy, not a ton of top end, but it would get you there quick. I also occasionally ride a friend's banshee, but nothing too serious except for getting launched off a couple times.

I have a friend that used to have a Banshee with an intercooled turbo and extended swing arm. It made 120 or so horses at the rear wheels and he used to take it to Waynoka, OK to the sand drags. Wanna talk about something that’d jump out of it’s own tires. Look at the throttle cross-eyed and it’d throw you off.

[Radar Chief]

Next Turkey Day it will be 5 years that I've been in this chair from crashing my Banshee. It wasn't the ATV's fault, it never is. It's the folks who are riding them. The ATV's don't have a mind of their own.

I had every stitch of safety gear on, didn't matter.

Truly sorry to read that Mike.

[munkey]

monkey, I had so much "oh shit oh dear" rolling through my blood that I likely could have lifted half a truck at that point. I thought I was going to be Greg the human fireball.

Well like you I've witnessed accidents that were caused by others i.e. stopping on an extreme incline and your buddy was fortunate to walk away without something broken. Each one I've seen has resulted in a broken foot, hand and collar bone.

[badgirl]

Truly sorry to read that Mike.

Me to. :(

[38yrsfan]

A couple of deaths already this year and every year in this part of the country, especially when its tourist time. I drive backcountry almost daily and am often forced to brake drastically to avoid getting a new ATV hood ornament from somebody driving like they are in a soft and safe commercial - idiots. Some use them responsibly but to many they are just another toy to tear up the roads and trails. Forest road speed limits (and yes they do exist) are usually 25mph but remember that the next time you round a blind curve - 25 is awful damn fast on a dirt gravel road with drop on one side and no where to go on the other with a larger peice of machinery coming at you and hopefully only doing 25 (good luck with that happening).

[Johnny Vegas]

I think it has a lot to do with the start of hunting season in most states. A lot of guys only hide ATV's during hunting season and get into a jam because they have no idea how to read trails, or don't know when to say when on a side hill and roll it.

I have been riding ATV's for 20+ years and have taken them into places that would make a billy goat cringe. I had an "incident" last year that made me slow down a bit as well.

I was out riding with a buddy up in the beartooth mountains on some very challenge trails. My buddy followed me up a very steep incline and at the top, the trail took a hard left. My buddy for some reason, hit the breaks at the top of the hill, rather than hitting the gas. (Wrong answer) Back down the incline he goes. I watched in horror as his ATV hit about 15 MPH before he panicked and turned the machine. He flew off and the ATV started doing flips. As I was looking on, the ATV went about 8 feet in the air and flew right over the top of him, missing his head by about a foot and kept rolling until it hit the bottom of the mountain ridge. He got a little bit banged up, but it could have been much worse. Other than dents and missing plastic, the machine still ran, but he was shacking so bad, I knew he wasn't going to be able to ride it up that incline. I jumped on and did it for him.

Fast forward the clock about an hour and I was flying down a hill. Once again a very steep incline. I round a corner and there is a huge tree across the entire trail. I gave it the hairy eyeball and determined that if I laided back flat on my seat, I would be able to pass under it. Great plan, except in the heat of the moment, I forgot the fact that I had installed a box on the back of the machine the week before. I went to lay back and my head hit the back of the box. I smacked the tree, which in turn, laid my Polaris 800 X2, 1000 pound machine on it's side paralleling the tree, continuing down the hill. I was pinned in between the machine and the tree. The tree acted like a giant piece of sand paper, removing hide from my neck and chest.

When I came to a rest, I was still pinned in between the ATV and the tree with the machine still running. I knew my buddy, already dazed, stunned, bruised and abused, was at least a mile back. I could see gas leaking out of the machine and figured it would catch on fire if I didn't so something. I took one hand and put it on the ATV and placed the other hand on the tree. I pushed and kicked my legs out and was free of the tree. I had to have had a ton of adrenaline going, because that 1000 pound machine was leaning into me and the tree and it felt like it only weighed about 20 pounds. Other than a few left over scars, I came out of that little ordeal just fine and was damn lucky. If there would have been a branch stub along that tree when I was playing "sand man," I would have been toast.

I still go up into places that most people would shy away from, but I do it a little slower these days.

wow! glad you're okay. Its crazy up there, but beautiful at the same time. My parents own the Soda Butte Lodge in Cooke City, Montana so I go up there quite a bit during the summer's. The Beartooth Mountains are crazy scary to do anything of the sort. You have some nerves of steel. Snowmobile season is almost here!

[Bwana]

wow! glad you're okay. Its crazy up there, but beautiful at the same time. My parents own the Soda Butte Lodge in Cooke City, Montana so I go up there quite a bit during the summer's. The Beartooth Mountains are crazy scary to do anything of the sort. You have some nerves of steel. Snowmobile season is almost here!

No kidding? I worked at the Soda Butte as a bartender one summer when I was going to college. Pat and Darell Crab owned it at that time. I make it up there several times a year every summer. You should know the trail I was talking about "Millers." It is one nasty son of a bitch, hell even Goose is getting rank just before you drop into the lake.

[Bwana]

This August up by Cooke

[Johnny Vegas]

No kidding? I worked at the Soda Butte as a bartender one summer when I was going to college. Pat and Darell Crab owned it at that time. I make it up there several times a year every summer. You should know the trail I was talking about "Millers." It is one nasty son of a bitch, hell even Goose is getting rank just before you drop into the lake.

LOL! yeah Pat and Darell destroyed that hotel when they sold it to my parents back in '96. No paper trail of anything for employees bills. We're in the middle of construction at the Lodge. Just installed new windows, deck, siding, and the roof. Now we're working of every single room. You can kind of see the what we did on the outside if you go to www.cookecity.com . My dad put 2 HD webcams up so you can see North and South of the town. If you haven't seen it already.

[Johnny Vegas]

This August up by Cooke

GOD'S COUNTRY RIGHT THERE! I love that place. Millers trail is wicked. I like Daisy more because its less intense in most area's. Plus I just feel like I'm more in Bear country up in Millers trail and it's just erie.

[Bwana]

GOD'S COUNTRY RIGHT THERE! I love that place. Millers trail is wicked. I like Daisy more because its less intense in most area's. Plus I just feel like I'm more in Bear country up in Millers trail and it's just erie.

Daisy huh.......

[Johnny Vegas]

Daisy huh.......

ROFL Nice! Was that in August? Wouldn't surprise me if there'd still be snow up there around then.

[Bwana]

ROFL Nice! Was that in August? Wouldn't surprise me if there'd still be snow up there around then.

First week of August this year. There was a lot more in other places off the trail.

[Bwana]

Just off the back trail between Cooke and Silvergate.

[Chief Henry]

Daisy huh.......

cool picture man...

In my hometown area in NW Iowa about 5 years ago, I beleave it was a 16 year old boy got drilled by a vehicle on a gravel road. I beleave his parents grounded him for something and he got upset - so he took they're ATV and
went hauling ass down a gravel road and he didn't stop at an uncontrolled intesection on a gravel road. It was sad.

[Johnny Vegas]

Just off the back trail between Cooke and Silvergate.

I just love that place! I just love the outdoors and this is THE place to go IMO. I've fished that creek so many times and never caught a thing. I got great practice working on fly fishing though. Silvergate has an awesome 4th of July every year. The mountains amplify the explosions from the fireworks. I just love it there period. Nice green picture!:D

[Bwana]

The back side of Daisy....

[Chief Henry]

Bwana,

I remember that story of some kids driving through a huge pile of leafs. That was so funny.

[Johnny Vegas]

cool picture man...

In my hometown area in NW Iowa about 5 years ago, I beleave it was a 16 year old boy got drilled by a vehicle on a gravel road. I beleave his parents grounded him for something and he got upset - so he took they're ATV and
went hauling ass down a gravel road and he didn't stop at an uncontrolled intesection on a gravel road. It was sad.

sorry to hear about that. I bet it still feels like yesterday when you talk about it. I just lost a friend of mine a couple days ago when he feel asleep behind the wheel in his truck and was going so fast he drifted into a ditch and the truck flipped end over end. Still has yet to sink in until the funeral I'm sure. Sorry for your loss.

[Bwana]

Dinking around on a bad bad hill up around Daisy.

[Johnny Vegas]

The back side of Daisy....

MAN! I can't even recognize it. I'm used to seeing that place covered in snow when I'm out snowmobiling. It's been awhile since I've gone 4 wheelin' up there. You got some nice pics!

[Johnny Vegas]

Dinking around on a bad bad hill up around Daisy.

I see a pole on the front. Did you do any sort of fishing up there at the lake? Did you catch anything? I've never caught a fish up there. What do you call fishing if you can't catch a fish?

[Bwana]

Bwana,

I remember that story of some kids driving through a huge pile of leafs. That was so funny.

Heh, that time of year is upon us again. I plan to leaf blow a monster pile by the curb this weekend. And yes, I have a rather heavy object or two to "hold the leaves down" in the event of a big wind.

[Bwana]

I see a pole on the front. Did you do any sort of fishing up there at the lake? Did you catch anything? I've never caught a fish up there. What do you call fishing if you can't catch a fish?

Because of all the late snow this spring and summer, the water was still running very fast on Goose Creek. Normally, I would have caught around 50-70 fish in an afternoon, (No BS) I only nailed 12 this year. That was fine, it gave me the chance to get a little extra ATVing in and I found a bunch of new trails. I'm talking way back in there, bears, moose and thick woods. I'm about half surprised I didn't run into a Bigfoot back there. :D

[Bwana]

What do you call fishing if you can't catch a fish?


I call it relaxing..........

[Johnny Vegas]

I call it relaxing..........

then I relax when I go to Cooke City!:D

[badgirl]

Dinking around on a bad bad hill up around Daisy.

wow that is a big 4-wheeler.:eek:

[Bwana]

wow that is a big 4-wheeler.:eek:

Polaris 800 X2, with Maxxis Bighorn tires. It will damn near climb a tree, but if it lands on me, I'm toast, so I try to keep that in mind as well.

[badgirl]

Polaris 800 X2, with Maxxis Bighorn tires. It will damn near climb a tree, but if it lands on me, I'm toast, so I try to keep that in mind as well.

yea good idea. If it landed on a bull it would probably be hurting. Be careful !!!

[Valiant]

The back side of Daisy....

Wow that is beautiful..

I only own sport quads, and used to race a while ago out in Waynoki Oklahoma.. Do they have where you can horseback that area, guided or not??

[Chief Henry]

Heh, that time of year is upon us again. I plan to leaf blow a monster pile by the curb this weekend. And yes, I have a rather heavy object or two to "hold the leaves down" in the event of a big wind.

LOL

[Chief Henry]

Because of all the late snow this spring and summer, the water was still running very fast on Goose Creek. Normally, I would have caught around 50-70 fish in an afternoon, (No BS) I only nailed 12 this year. That was fine, it gave me the chance to get a little extra ATVing in and I found a bunch of new trails. I'm talking way back in there, bears, moose and thick woods. I'm about half surprised I didn't run into a Bigfoot back there. :D

I hope you didn't hear banjo's :evil:

[Bwana]

Wow that is beautiful..

I only own sport quads, and used to race a while ago out in Waynoki Oklahoma.. Do they have where you can horseback that area, guided or not??

Unlimited trails, seriously. We take a string of pack horses back about 25 miles and elk hunt in the area.

[Bwana]

I hope you didn't hear banjo's :evil:

I sport either my Glock 20, or my .454 casull at ALL times when I'm that far back in bear and moose country. I have a feeling either one would smoke a "banjo player" as well.

[Bwana]

This is why they call it Daisy pass, Pilots Peak in the background.

[Bwana]

wow! glad you're okay. Its crazy up there, but beautiful at the same time. My parents own the Soda Butte Lodge in Cooke City, Montana so I go up there quite a bit during the summer's. The Beartooth Mountains are crazy scary to do anything of the sort. You have some nerves of steel. Snowmobile season is almost here!

I never did ask you, do your parents live up there then, or do they live here in town and have someone manage the place? I need to make it up there this winter and do some powder bust'n. Keep in touch and let me knwo when your heading up to ride your machine this winter.

[Radar Chief]

The back side of Daisy....

I wanna wheel where you guys are going.
I’ve got a few photos from Oklahoma but nothing that scenic.

[rockymtnchief]

Aaaaaaaah....Cooke City and the Beartooths. My favorite place in the world! I've hiked/biked/ridden many trails up there and I know there's ten times more to see up there. I've also drank and broken in a few mattresses at the Soda Butte Lodge. lol