Mass. Tries To Raise ATV Driving Age

**GRIZZLYWIZARD** · #1 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 06:58 AM

Mass. Tries To Raise ATV Driving Age
Reporting
David Wade
BOSTON (WBZ) ― It's the beginning of the season for riders of all terrain vehicles. But are all terraign vehicles, or ATVs, an opportunity for family fun, or a danger to children? Trying to answer that question has led to a fight over raising the riding age in Massachusetts.

Some people are worried about kids driving four wheelers and crashing, leading to deaths and serious injuries. Carolyn Anderson's son James was 14 when he went away with friends. Unknown to Carolyn, the family her son was with had ATVs. James took one for a ride and crashed into a tree.

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**Koko** · #2 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 07:50 AM

I love this gem of a quote...

"There's a reason kids don't get a license until they're 16," says Carolyn Anderson from the Concerned Families for ATV Safety. "ATVs are an equivalent motor vehicle, and deserve equivalent treatment," she adds.

Ummm...they are not even close to an equivalent. The similarity ends at the fact they both have 4 wheels. It's stupid parents that are the problem, not atv's.

**GRIZZLYWIZARD** · #3 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 07:59 AM

Very true!

Thom · #4 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 10:40 AM

I agree. I have a neighbor Brian who is getting his son involved. He is 6. he has a small 50cc and is being trained right. He wears full gear, helmet, chest protector, gloves and boots. He loves it. A pretty good little rider as well. Point is, his father is educating him on proper protection and rider control and etiqutte. you never see articles on this by the media though.

**GRIZZLYWIZARD** · #5 (**permalink**) 05-14-2008, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thom

Point is, his father is educating him on proper protection and rider control and etiqutte. you never see articles on this by the media though.

Of course not! Very boring news! We all want to read about death, destruction and mayhem.

formguy · #6 (**permalink**) 05-17-2008, 06:32 AM

Unfortunately Mass has no statewide ATV association and very few organized clubs. That and the fact the state is FULL of tree huggers, money hungry polititians and more special interest groups than you can shake a stick at, almost guarantees this will pass

Even though 98% of my family lives there, I could not wait to move out. Every day thier taxes go up to pay for laws that take away another personal freedom. It's hard to believe this was the state where the "Boston Tea Party" happened. Growing up there, we had several forests with legal riding. Now there are only three open to ATVs. Lack of orginization let the enviroMENTALS win

wildwest · #7 (**permalink**) 05-18-2008, 04:21 PM

http://devalpatrick.com/issue.php?issue_id=7642962

These statistics may be from different sources and I can guarantee you the ATV deaths would be even lower had there been more legal places to ride or had the children taken a safety course.
In 2005 142 kids under 16 died riding bicycles http://www.helmets.org/stats.htm
In 2005 145 kids under the age of 16 died riding ATV's..... http://www.atvsafety.gov/stats.html

Formguy is right, we used to have about 35 state forests to ride ATV's in, now its just 3. If there was a club to join around here I would. I'm a member of northeastatvers but that is more of a group/web forum at this point with limited members involved in groups etc. I wish I had more drive and spare time to actually do something about the lack of riding we have. If there was someone else that did, I would definitely monetarily support the group and help out how ever, whenever I could.

In the mean time, anyone in Ma write your state legislators and sign up for that deval patrick page...it can't hurt...please get my name off the first page from OCTOBER!!~!

NQRIDER · #8 (**permalink**) 05-20-2008, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formguy

Unfortunately Mass has no statewide ATV association and very few organized clubs.

We do now Vern!

As of June 1st, 2008, we have formed Massachusetts Trail Association.
We are made up of ATV riders who have been working with DCR since 2003.

Our first claimed victory will be when this proposed bill gets defeated.
As the President of MTA, I can guarantee this bill will not go forward!

BUT...all MASS riders need to get on board!
Contact us asap if you want to help out!

We have known riders here from Mass, KOKO, Thom, Wildwest, etc....
What we need is the unknown folks to come forward.