Sokol all terrain vehicle - photos

[Frank S]

Extremely dangerous for the rider when it rolls. There have been many deaths from ATVs where I come from, so many that compulsory standards for roll-over protection are being developed. This beast which is so much bigger and heavier than your usual recreational ATV takes the risk into the extreme category. It's so easy to fit a roll bar and driver restraint harness, but being politically correct they're made in a very different part of the world.

The most dangerous thing on any ATV is what is or is not located between the ears of the operator

[nova_robotics]

The most dangerous thing on any ATV is what is or is not located between the ears of the operator

Years ago I found a friend of mine in a bloody mess on a trail. Bits of his ATV were everywhere. He had a severe concussion, multiple broken bones and his face was split open. He was on his way to his girlfriend's place and he didn't want to mess up his hair, so he didn't wear a helmet. He was going way too fast on a very bumpy trail on a hardtail ATV. That was dumb. I have similar stories about myself, not quite as dumb but I've definitely been there and have the scars. In most situations it was a failure of the gray matter and not the machine.

...but a local guy was killed a few years ago because somebody put a nearly invisible wire gate across a trail. Took the guy's head off. I do not blame the rider in that situation. Unfortunately he got to pay for someone else's stupidity.

[Frank S]

a local guy was killed a few years ago because somebody put a nearly invisible wire gate across a trail. Took the guy's head off. I do not blame the rider in that situation. Unfortunately he got to pay for someone else's stupidity.

Incidents such as that one can only be attributed to premeditated malicious criminal intent, if it happened on a public trail a host of other descriptive words can be added. Done on private property there possibly may be some defense in some states, providing the proper signage or warnings are clearly displayed in prominent areas, but I would imagine even with those, and colored streamers on the wire would be hard to mount a defense for whomever had installed it. Active booby traps designed to do harm are frowned upon in most places.

[Bony]

I don't disagree Frank, many roll-overs occur here because one wheel, usually the front, drops into a rabbit burrow. Speed, kids riding, no helmet and inexperience also contribute. Deaths are little publicised as they're not counted towards traffic crash statistics unless occurring on a public road, albiet illegally as ATVs cannot be road registered.

[Frank S]

I don't disagree Frank, many roll-overs occur here because one wheel, usually the front, drops into a rabbit burrow. Speed, kids riding, no helmet and inexperience also contribute. Deaths are little publicised as they're not counted towards traffic crash statistics unless occurring on a public road, albiet illegally as ATVs cannot be road registered.

Over in Kuwait while I was there the kids would soup up their buggies as they were called to run over 120KMH. It was a regular occurrence to see from 1 to several racing on the streets on their back wheels only. or slew them over and ride on the 2 wheels on 1 side or the other, every acrobatic stunt known to man was tried on those things. It got so bad that the Police were ordered not to chase them for fear that they could cause an accident in the process, but to try and clear traffic until the kids had, had their fill of fun and moved on. All this did was server to empower the kids to do more dangerous stunts. It settled down for a while when the ministry issued a confiscation or destroy order for any ATV or motorcycle identified in the traffic cameras as having been ridden in stunts on the motorways, but that order didn't last very long

[Elizabeth Greene]

I don't disagree Frank, many roll-overs occur here because one wheel, usually the front, drops into a rabbit burrow. Speed, kids riding, no helmet and inexperience also contribute.

My one rollover was 100% inexperience. It was my first time riding it and my instructions for ascending and descending ditches was basically "You'll be fine."