ATV Florida Forum

here is a link to the story in the palm beach post.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pbccentral/content/local_news/epaper/2005/08/23/s3b_ATV_0823.html

more bad new for us  :(

greeaaat :(

holy cow! i hope they get better!

y its there fault to begin wit now there runin it 4 us alright i feel bad a little but not a hole lot

I think after there all well they should work to pay for the damages to the man's truck not let insurence co. pay.
 do about 500 hours of comunity work. not be able to apply or lose there drivers lic. to there at least 21 years old maybe by then they will know the rules of the road.


 just my 2 cents worth......

call me stupid but above and beyond all i hope they will be o.k. we were all that age once and have done stupid things. remember those are someones kids that are hospitalized right now.  should they or their parents be held accountable-absolutely.  if my son did something stupid like that all i would be concerned about  him being ok. dont get me wrong i would wait for him to get better to just beat the crap out of him for doing something so stupid.
my prayers go out to those kids.

I am with you on that one gery. They are just stupid kids acting like stupid kids, it happens. I justh hope it doesnt get spun to bad to look like its all ATV'ers. I hope those kids will be ok.

I can't say I'm the safest rider far from it actually but these kids should have known better.  What the hell was the driver thinking not only did he risk his life but the lives of his passengers...I've had to deal with the consequences of unsafe riding first hand as many of you have as well I'm sure it's serious!! I do hope they all make a quick recovery and my heart goes out to the families but now our atv riding culture has taken another blow and I hope this kid thinks twice before riding like an idiot. :tsktsk.gif

they was probably under 16 too!

that sucks. no more riding there

They were  havin' fun and it took a turn for the worse . Hope the parents take action once they  recover , then kick the crap out of'em .

here is a key statement
I do hope that they are ok but let look at where the problem stems from as well and not just the end result.

Fajardo I don't care where you move to to ride but me thinks it is always illegal to ride on the street.
don't those things come with little tags that say no passengers and do not operate on the highway :N

Am I the only one who found this statement from the article a little disturbing?

"Donofrio and Fajardo said the ATV appeared to be a single-passenger four-wheeler and that none of the teenagers was wearing a helmet, although one was strapped to the front."

who would strap themselves onto a 4wheeler?

Never fails, thats why I like this site some one has got a similar sense of humor. Even when it really is'nt a funny sitsheation.

I assisted with the investigation of this crash. All three were flown out with serious injuries. The impact was so great, the driver's right tennis shoe was still sitting on the footpeg. The driver has a 50% chance of losing his leg. He was issued citations for no D/L, unregistered vehicle and running a stop sign. The only helmet was strapped to the front luggage rack. As if all this isn't bad enough, this same rider was pulled over twice before for riding on the roadways. The first time, I issued him a written warning. The second time, my partner and I issued him a citation, then had his parents respond to pick up the ATV. The law was clearly explained to the rider and parents. Because of one person's irresponsibilty innocent people are seriously injured for life, and the sport has incurred another large blackeye. Parents need to be more accountable, as these parents found out the hard way. Lets prevent another tragedy like this one by riding responsibly, wearing a helmet, and staying off public roadways.....


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Ouch!

thanks for the update PBSO.  It's sad what happened.  I agree that parents need to be held accountable...a large fine, lots of community service, something.  It's a shame they're going through this, and at this point, no penalty can be worse that what happened to their kids.  However, this is gross negligence and disregard for the law.  I hope they learned a lesson, and others will learn a lesson from this as well.

that kids parents should be arrested and put in jail for their negligence.
i mean my sister in law was convicted of afelony child abuse for beating her kid with a belt(well deserved-the beating that is) but yet these kids are seriously injured because their parents didnt have enough control to stop this from happening. lock their @ss up( i mean these injuries are much worse than alot of child abuse cases.
i hate parents that just dont give a crap enough to discipline their kids.

oh ya one more thing- that pic should remain frozen on top to remind us all what could happen if you ride on the street and without a helmet.

I agree with Gerry. That kids parents neighbors should go over to there house and hand out some justice of there own. It is sad. Those pics are very graffic and leave a very serious message to anyone who reads this thread.  When a vehicle meets an atv there is only one loser! It does not matter where it occurrs. On pavement or a trail. I hope that boy does not lose his leg.     

I think the passenger in the truck hit the nail in the coffin by saying "It's sad," Fajardo said. "There are no places to ride. People moved out here to ride, but now it's illegal."  This accident is the direct result of the county of West Palm Beach and the State for not providing an area to ride.  The only legal place to ride in West Palm Beach is Holey Lands and guess what it's closed.  Now is the time for all you West Palm Beach residents to go to the county commission meeting and complain about this and bring up this accident as a reason.  I don't care how negligent these teenagers were the fact of the matter is if there was a place for them to ride this accident could have been prevented.  Now FWC is going to restrict riding even more in Holey Lands because of the new rules of not being able to ride recreational ATV's during hunting season.  I surely won't be surprised if you see more accidents like this.

i'm sorry but i disagree. this accident is a direct result of bad parenting. my  son doesnt hop on his atv when i'm not around. are we to say "its ok to ride on the street and endanger lives cause theres no place to ride"- i dont think so. his parents knew about it and didnt take appropriate measures to stop it from happening again. if my son does something like that guess what-" for sale" on his bike.  but my son is a great kid and i trust him to make the right call.

You can argue this how ever you want.  The parents and teenagers are most definitely to blame.  All I know is that the past couple of months in South Florida there has not been one legal public place to ride.  Maybe some private tracks to ride at for the Sport bikes but no where for the Utility bikes which was involved in the accident.  Where do you want these teenagers to ride?  West Palm has no excuses for there not being enough land that's available.

"this accident is a direct result of bad parenting"-Gamer
How dare you judge the parenting skills or lack there of...you don't know what measures these parents took to try and stop their child from inproper ATV use.  Hell for all we know the parents could have taken away the key and the kid stole it from them so he could go on a quick joy ride with his friends, as a teenager myself I don't always mind what I'm told. I've had to face the consequences for my actions but ya know what if it's something I want or love to do nothing in the world will stop me. These teens had recieved previous warnings not to ride on the rode, they knew better!!  Yes, the parents seemingly could have done more but that's not for anybody here to say. Hopefully now these teens will understand the laws concerning ATVs and use better judgement of their own the next time they decide to ride!!! 

when i was 16 i knew right from wrong and new what the conseqeunces would be for my actions....
 this kid was stoped 2 times before for riding on the street.
 I think they should have a tattoe on there forehead saying this is what happens when you ride illegaly on the road then every time he looks in a mirror he can see how stupid he is......

how dare i- cause i am a parent. and parenting doesnt start when the kid turns 15 or 16. parenting starts before the baby is even born. parents that arent there for their kids or let them wonder off not knowing where they are and then suddenly think they can control their kids. yeah right.  apparently they didnt take appropriate measures to stop this from happening.

oh and one more thing- how dare i- cause i can.

opps sorry gamer that wasn't your quote...

Once again im on your side Gery. this is deffinately a result of bad parenting. I know if i did somethin wrong once, especially if it involved the cops, i wouldnt dare think of doin it again.  My parents would tear my butt up :X

I disagree with Gamer about placing blame on the county. Owning an ATV is no different than owning a boat. It's a recreational vehicle. Put it on a trailer and take it somewhere you can legally and safely ride. PBC is overgrown and overpopulated. All the property is owned by someone and no one wants to accept the liability to allow off road vehicles on it. Thats the bottom line. The county will not provide land for off-roading due to liability. It's always been illegal to ride ATVs on the streets. Thats a state law, so if someone moved to the Loxahatchee area thinking it wasn't part of the state of Florida, they are just plain ignorant. To directly blame West Palm Beach for the actions of an irresponsible teenager is equally ignorant.

You don't have to trailer a boat in South Florida.  There are plenty of places to use your boat down here in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach county and can even be kept at a Marina.  That was not a good example.  As far as liability goes that's the whole reason the county and the state should be all over providing a place for us to ride so the liability is not on the private property owners.  The State has laws protecting itself from Liability at there ATV Parks.  The same can be done for countys and citys.  West Palm has several WMA (Wild Life Management Areas) where off roading could be done safely and responsibly however there banned.  I can't believe you guys would even argue about this.  We need more places to ride and this is the reason.

gamer, i as a rider understand your frustration. the bottom line is the county officials dont care. put yourself in their shoes. if they would agree to an atv project it would mean more work for them(development/liability/admin., etc.) and since we are the minority they'd rather ignore us then get off their lazy @sses and do something. all i ever see them doing is sitting in those stupid meetings saying ya's and na's.

You are correct.  I typed the wrong word.  I did not mean to put direct blame on the state or county.  What I should have typed was that you can partly blame the county and state for not providing an area in South Florida which is the most populated place in the state.  There are more areas to ride in the central and north part of the state where there are less people.  The next ATV Park needs to be down here.

I live in loxahatchee, about 2 miles from where the crash took place. I used the boat example, because most of the yards I see out here have boats in them. They are all on trailers and need to be towed someplace to be used. ATVs are no different. There is no where to ride out here except on the roads, canal banks and posted private property. These options are unsafe and illegal. Unless the state/county is willing to bulldoze about 200 homes, equal to about 350 acres, there is nowhere here to build an ATV park. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of knocking down about 200 homes so I can have a place to ride. I've done the road, canalbank, and property thing. That got me two tickets and arrested in a natural preserve. Ironically, it was PBSO4 who arrested me and towed my quad. I'm as frustrated as everyone else....I just faced facts and decided not to be part of the problem. When my ATV is on a street, it's on a trailer.