ITD reminds people to follow ATV and UTV safety guidelines

Steve Dutcher grew up with off-road vehicles like ATV’s and UTV’s all of his life, he’s also been selling them for nearly a decade at Action Motor Sports.

He’s seen his fair share of riding no-no’s.

“One thing we see on occasion is people riding double on a single ATV,” Dutcher said. “Another common problem we see is people not wearing helmets.”

Carma McKinnon, the Idaho Child Passenger Safety Statewide Coordinator, recently said in a press release off-road vehicles aren’t safe for transporting children. Particularly pointing out most designs are one-seaters, which don’t provide a safe riding for any kind of passenger.

Even in two-seaters, Dutcher said people still don’t follow safe guidelines like wearing a helmet.

He said, “It’s not hard to have just a little accident, bump your head and have it really impact your life.”

On all off-road vehicles there are stickers showing required safety guidelines, including the number of riders and an age requirement.

Another big safety guideline people don’t follow is riding on paved roads. Dutcher explains off-road vehicles are built to manage with off-road elements like slipping.

“(When riding on-road) your vehicle can catch immediately and could tip over where there are other cars and traffic,” he said.

Dutcher said retail locations like Action Motor Sports will be sure to teach and train people how to use their off-road vehicles before actually riding them.

Here’s a link to more safety information from the ATV Safety Institute.