Our Galveston ATV accident lawyers at Denena Points, PC have written a number of times about ATV safety risks. With their high centers of gravity, ATVs are particularly prone to rollovers. And since ATVs are not enclosed vehicles, and don’t always have safety features like roll bars, safety belts or harnesses, or even high-back seats, during a rollover, riders often get ejected and seriously injured, sometimes being run over by the ATV itself.
That’s apparently what happened during a serious ATV accident in Hardin County on Monday afternoon. Tkeyah Jones, 19, was reportedly turning onto Jordan Road when she lost control of a Polaris Ranger ATV and it flipped over. A 9-year-old boy from Kountze was one of 5 people riding on the ATV when it reported rolled over and landed on him at U.S. 69 and Jordan Road near Tejas Grocery.
The young boy was airlifted in critical condition to UTMB in Galveston. He sustained severe head injuries when he was ejected and the ATV flipped over onto him. Three other people received more minor injuries in the accident. Accounts of the incident said that none of the riders were wearing helmets or the seatbelts on the Polaris Ranger ATV. Authorities were investigating the accident circumstances. (Source: Jose D. Enriquez, Beaumont Enterprise, 8/5/13) Our Galveston ATV accident lawyers’ thoughts and good wishes for safe recoveries go out to the injured riders.
Many of us tend to think of ATVs as fun, recreational vehicles. And we all tend to think sometimes that weighing safety considerations takes the fun out of a thing. So in many instances, ATVs have too many riders on them at once; riders don’t wear seatbelts or helmets; and they take risks like doing high-speed donuts in mud pits that will almost certainly tip the vehicles into a rollover. By their very design, ATVs tempt us to be freer in taking risks in order to have more fun. Unfortunately, fun often leads to fatal or serious injuries. Click the link to read about two tragic and fatal ATV accidents that claimed the lives of two Texas boys.
A recent raft of fatal and serious injury ATV accidents in Texas has our Galveston ATV accident lawyers writing to remind you, if you’re going to be out on an ATV, familiarize yourself with theseimportant ATV safety tips. And educate your family and friends about ATV safety. ATVs should be fun, not fatal.