ATV Safety Course Starting April 14th. NOW WE HAVE A SCHEDULE

[GrizzlyBear]

Over President's Day Weekend we had 7 ONFA members certified to give the RiderCourse provided by the ATV Safety Institute.  This course is approved by the State of Florida and will meet all requirements of the law going into effect on July 1, 2008.  The course will be available free to anyone interested in being a Trail Ranger.  All children we be charged $75.00 by the ATV Safety Institute.  We have been trying to get them to waive the fee, but they will not. There argument is that they provide all the material and and the liability insurance and as they are a non profit, they can not waive fees.  We will be providing all children who pass the course a picture I.D. that will be accepted on all public lands in the State.  Class size will be limited to 4 per class if under 12 and 6 per class 12 to 15.  The classes will be held at the OHV Center on Forest Road 88 in the Ocala National Forest. Classes will be separate for under 12 and 12 to 15.  Parent MUST attend if under 12.  ATV size is under 70cc if under 12 and up to 90cc if under 16.  All students must have helmets, goggles, long pants, long sleeve shirt and over the ankle boots. Classes will continue on the First and Third Saturday's of every month. Those who are interested, please post here and I will pm you with how to sign up.

Schedule for Safety Training Courses:  1st and 3rd Saturday of each month, starting in May.  Classes at 9:00am and 1:00pm.  Enroll in the class by calling the ATV Safety Institute at 800-887-2887 or by going to their website: wwwatvsafety.org and look for rider training.  If you have purchased a new ATV, the course is free.  If you have an older ATV, the course is $75.00 for under 16 and $125.00 for adults. 

[MadMudder]

Well I would say how mad i am about all this but I already have in another post. But I do have a quick question, Im 15 right now and ill be 16 janurary of 08. So this means im exempt from this right?

[GrizzlyBear]

Correct, it goes in to effect July 1, 2008

[Gato]

brother I can't really in good mind say this is good cause we still get kicked out of everywhere unpaved or not this is just going to mean my daughter will ride with me until she is 16 cause if nothing is done so we have someplace to ride I will not support this at all!!!

[GrizzlyBear]

If your daughter wants to ride on public land, weather she is with you or not, she will have to take a safety course approved by the state.  Right not, the state is only approving already recognized safety courses, and the will not waive their fees.  The fee includes $35.00 to the instructor.  ONFA is trying to get the fee sent to the organization.  The instructors have agree to waive their portion, we expect to have about $10.00 per student costs and are trying to see if the ATV Safety Institute will allow us to refund the $25.00 to the student (parent).  As of yet we have no answer.

[Gato]

  good luck

[Prairie Master]

If the state really cared for the kids it would be free. Polaris didn't charge my child for her safety course and they offered it for the whole family for free. This is just another way to make money money money . I'm still waiting for the toll booths on SR 19 to be put up

[eldiablo64]

honda actually pays $100 if you take the course if you buy a new honda

[backinsaddle]

I'm pretty sure they're mandated to offer an atv safety course, just not sure if they're mandated to pay for it.

[Prairie Master]

So who runs the so called ATV safety institute. Why not use your 7 already certified instructors and sponsor the course through the ONFA for free. I can't figure out why the cost is so high. Didn't the ONFA receive lots of grant money for this purpose? Seems like more and more organizations are trying to get rich with these new laws. 

[indianjoe]

Click here for info:

http://www.atvsafety.org/

How much does it cost?

Maybe nothing if you recently purchased a new ATV. Call ATV Enrollment Express toll-free at 1-800-887-2887 to find out if you are eligible for free training. If you are not eligible for free training, you may take the ATV RiderCourse for a small fee.

And if your interested in reading the statute that goes into effect: Here is link:

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?mode=View%20Statutes&SubMenu=1&App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=atv&URL=CH0261/Sec20.HTM

[viper]

So who runs the so called ATV safety institute. Why not use your 7 already certified instructors and sponsor the course through the ONFA for free. I can't figure out why the cost is so high. Didn't the ONFA receive lots of grant money for this purpose? Seems like more and more organizations are trying to get rich with these new laws. 

Good point --- If ONFA is going to sponsor the course and people are already certified why not for free? If the instructors that are trained not able to do this, then why train anyone else.

[GrizzlyBear]

the problem does not exist if you buy a new ATV.  The manufacturers pay the ATV Safety Instituet.  The problem is the thousands of kids that already own an ATV.  Even though they trained us, they are insisting that they receive their fee.  What we have is an unfunde State mandate.  I have written my state representatives and I suggest everyone write theirs.

[Prairie Master]

So the ATV safety institute are the only ones in the whole country qualified to teach ATV safety.  What a monopoly. The State of Florida must have a list of what is required for the safety course. Once a curriculum is written to meet those requirements we should get it approved and teach these kids for free and write the institute out of the picture.

[GrizzlyBear]

that was and still is my intent.  The problem is the Division of Forestry will only approve already accepted courses.  My intent from the beginning was to get the instructors certified (we are) and write our own course using basically ASI's course with modifications to meet the riding you would face in the forest.  Currently the state does not want to assume the liability.  There are no other approved courses, but they are looking at others now.  The problem is, if we don't start now, we will never get everyone approved in time.

[Stewards]

I am going to jump in here -- I am sure there are other institutes that are certified to teach the course. Is it the USFS that only certifies this saftety course.

There are a couple of things here that you are missing -- The atv safety course is I am guessing patended, if you use any part of there course, they can turn around and sue you because it is a patend. The other thing that everyone on this website is missing is the liability issue. Prairie Master if you are trainer, you train this little kid, this 10 year old get serverly hurt, the parents can and probably will turn around sue the pants off of you (Prairie Master) and the ONFA. If I was going to do this and be a trainer, I would want to see the liability policy first. I would want to make sure I was covered. I would not take anyone's word for it either. This is serious stuff.

It is your OHV advisory board that has instituted this. It is them that you should speak with. The state doesn't want to assume the liability for a reason, the same reason why any of you should not assume the liability.

[GrizzlyBear]

stewards,

Thanks for making something a little clearer.  And the USFS doesn't care who we use, they only want the same liability issue solved.

[cd4mud]

$75.00 for the course per kid? What kind of ticket is going to be written to a minor for not having this course and how are they gonna pay? What is supplied for that money? Atv for each kid to train on? Books for each kid? Lunch for each kid? How long is this course? How do you sign up? Is ocala the only place to get this training? Just some questions that come to my mind.

[Stewards]

stewards,

Thanks for making something a little clearer.  And the USFS doesn't care who we use, they only want the same liability issue solved.

I am confused what does this have to do with the USFS -- the liability issues falls on you, not them. In reality they shouldn't even have to abid by the state rules, they are national.

It sounds like the dealers don't want to step up to the plate. That is who should institute this, they already do, so why re invinite the wheel.

[digginfool]

I have no problem with my kids taking a safety course, regardless of the price.  Let's face it; there have been too many tragedies with kids riding ATVs and we have to start somewhere.  The question I do have regards engine displacement for different age groups.  These engine size restrictions were created when the vast majority of youth ATVs were powered by 2-stroke engines.  Now that the 2-strokes have been mostly replaced by 4-stroke engines, shouldn't the engine size restrictons be adjusted accordingly?  How do I tell my son that he has to park his 90cc race quad for 3 years and ride some anemic 4-stroke 69cc turd that can't even get out of its own way?  Granted, these restrictions are for public lands only, but the level of performance used for the initial guideline should remain consistent.  Not only that, how do you justify putting a 13-15-year-old kid on a 90cc quad?  The small size alone makes it dangerous for the kid not to mention his skills most likely far exceed the performance level of the quad.  These standards have to be re-visited.

[GrizzlyBear]

the size restriction is only on when you take the course.  While we recommend that your child ride only the size the manufacturer recommends, we have no control over you and your child when the course is over.  The manufacturers are now looking at changing the size, however we must go with what is recommended now.  We are aslo told that if the child looks too big for the machine, we must refuse to train him and suggest he wait until he is 16.

Regarding the fine.  The Trail Rangers at the trailheads will be checking to make sure that your child has the Safety Certificate (in our case we will be issueing picture I.D.)  If you do not have that, they will kindly ask you to ride elsewhere.  The child will receive both a pictur I.D. and a handbook.  The course is about 3-4 hours.  We are working on getting dealers to provide us with some atv's  Ocala is only one place to take the course, it is given all over the state by the ATV Institute.  The link to there website is:

http://www.atvsafety.org/

You will be enrolling through them, just specify the OHV Center in the Ocala National Forest if you want us to do the training, otherwise, choose whoever you want.

[Prairie Master]

Over President's Day Weekend we had 7 ONFA members certified to give the RiderCourse provided by the ATV Safety Institute.  This course is approved by the State of Florida and will meet all requirements of the law going into effect on July 1, 2008.  The course will be available free to anyone interested in being a Trail Ranger.  All children we be charged $75.00 by the ATV Safety Institute.  We have been trying to get them to waive the fee, but they will not. There arguement is that they provide all the material and and the liability insurance and as they are a non profit, they can not waive fees.  We will be providing all children who pass the course a picture I.D. that will be accepted on all public lands in the State.  Class size will be limited to 4 per class if under 12 and 6 per class 12 to 15.  The classes will be held at the OHV Center on Forest Road 88 in the Ocala National Forest. Classes will be seperate for under 12 and 12 to 15.  Parent MUST attend if under 12.  ATV size is under 70cc if under 12 and up to 90cc if under 16.  All students must have helmets, goggles, long pants, long sleeve shirt and over the calf boots. Classes will continue on the First and Third Saturday's of every month. Those who are interested, please post here and I will pm you with how to sign up.

Hey grizz in your first post it states the institute provides all the material , why would you need to go to local dealers to find atv's, " As you stated  The course is about 3-4 hours.  We are working on getting dealers to provide us with some atv's  "

[Stewards]

Prairie Master - I believe you are right. I took the road course and the off road course on my motorcycle, and they would supply a bike for you if you let them know ahead of time. I didn't take it from ATV Safety Institute, but from one that is similar. That is why I say there is more than one institute that will teach safety course. Whether any course offered by someone other than the ATV Safety institute, will be accepted by the state, is a different matter.

[GrizzlyBear]

The course material does not include any personal equipment such as atv, helmet, boots, long sleeve shirt, gloves or goggles.  However, they do have a program setup with the manufacturers, through any dealer that want to participate, to lend atv's to the instructors.  However, the instructors are responsible to maintain, pickup and return the equipment with only normal wear and tear.  This may turn out to be a bigger burden then anyone wants to be responaible for.

[tony pitts]

good because we dont need any stupid laws made up by people that more than likely dont even ride atv's and think they know how to solve a problem. the parents should be responsible for there kids and what they ride. all i see is everyday the state wants more money for nothing.they close all of our good spots to ride and want us to pay more money to ride what a joke.......... show me where they really care show up at the atv rally with some good news about new places to ride and i will be glad to pay but until then they arent getting another dime from me.