Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

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Message edited 12/20/2009 11:20:01 PM.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

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Message edited 12/20/2009 11:20:11 PM.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Never!!!! My BIL (an adult male) had an accident on an ATV last spring. I've seen the resulting numerous surgeries, therapies, months out of work, trauma to his family...
A young child? Never! Seems so dumb to me!!!

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

I really don't think this is anyone's business, as long as they are keeping it safe (going slow, using helmets....)
Just like it's no one's business that some parents don't use shopping cart cover , or that they use a leash on their kids, or that they put the Xmas lights and the tree up before thanksgiving.....
I think we all need to mind our own lives and our own kids .

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Posted by 5ofClubs

I am done because I am getting too heated and don't want to say anything I will regret but I have no problems with them or my son being on one

If you think about it, no one should be on a horse, or a bike, or in a car either. Be careful...

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

NYS ATV Rules and Regulations


Interesting reading!!

Some highlights:

You cannot have a passenger on an ATV with you unless it's an ATV specifically built for a passenger - I'm thinking that having two kids on your lap between you and the handles does not pass that rule.


A person under 15 has to be under adult supervision. The adult has to have taken a registered ATV safety course.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Posted by tatuka

Posted by Salason

Posted by tatuka

I really don't think this is anyone's business, as long as they are keeping it safe (going slow, using helmets....)
Just like it's no one's business that some parents don't use shopping cart cover , or that they use a leash on their kids, or that they put the Xmas lights and the tree up before thanksgiving.....
I think we all need to mind our own lives and our own kids .

Except that a shopping cart cover, a leash or the timing of Christmas lights can't seriously injure or kill a child.

And actually giving a child a heavy, mechanical, moving vehicle can endanger those around them...

ummm, the OP posted that the father was driving it, NOT the kids : "My neighbor is driving his 4 wheeler with not one but two small children sitting in his lap, wedged between his body and the steering wheel."....

and my point in above post was that it really is not anyone's busyness. I wasn't comparing one to the other

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

In the situation that you described, no. Since he is plowing, he doesn't know what obstacles he may hit.

I think one child on a slow ride on a well plowed road is fine. It is the only time they will get to use them here.

If I'm not mistaken, I do think it is illegal to drive them on the streets.

And if they make any sort of noise, then they are really annoying and I hope the battery dies or it runs out of gas.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Posted by headoverheels

Posted by tatuka

Posted by Salason

Posted by tatuka

I really don't think this is anyone's business, as long as they are keeping it safe (going slow, using helmets....)
Just like it's no one's business that some parents don't use shopping cart cover , or that they use a leash on their kids, or that they put the Xmas lights and the tree up before thanksgiving.....
I think we all need to mind our own lives and our own kids .

Except that a shopping cart cover, a leash or the timing of Christmas lights can't seriously injure or kill a child.

And actually giving a child a heavy, mechanical, moving vehicle can endanger those around them...

ummm, the OP posted that the father was driving it, NOT the kids : "My neighbor is driving his 4 wheeler with not one but two small children sitting in his lap, wedged between his body and the steering wheel."....

and my point in above post was that it really is not anyone's busyness. I wasn't comparing one to the other

Yes, but 5ofclubs mentioned that she is getting her son (who is not yet 4) his own ATV soon, that's why it was brought up.

Message edited 12/20/2009 2:57:24 PM.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

I'm not commenting on what anyone else wants to do here but one child was probably about 3 to 5 ish and the other is a baby - none of them with helmets on and it was going fast enough to plow snow, so I don't know if my estimate of 5mph is accurate or not.

All I keep thinking is what kind of affect the weight of a grown man and a 5 year old will have on a baby crushed against the steering controls will have? And if the baby fell off, would it fall clear of the wheels or not?

Do what you like with your own kids, I'm no authority, I just don't understand the thinking, especially with a snow plow on the front of this thing.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

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Message edited 12/20/2009 11:20:39 PM.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

no because I always worry the worst will happen. on the other had my DH would totally do something like that.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

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Message edited 12/20/2009 11:19:49 PM.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

absolutely positively NOT!! i wouldn't even let DS walk in the street today just in case a car came down the street (even though the street was barely plowed)

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

I am a nervous nelly so my future children NO WAY..

I just asked DH and he said yeah, he would go slow ... yeah right! NO WAY! lol

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

We went on an ATV excursion in the dominican republic this November - up to the top of a mountain, over to the beach, thru some rivers, etc. It was a 4 hour ride.

I was crapping a brick the whole time I was so scared. I usually don't get like that I'm pretty fearless for the most part but the lack of control (steering, brakes, speed) and of course lack of seatbelts and roll cage just freaked me out. We were wearing helmets, but I dont think they really would have done much. (Also didnt help that I looked over the side of the road and saw it was just a huge cliff down...)

So no - I wouldn't let a child sit on the lap of an ATV driver. I think it should be licensed like the usual driving exams and no passengers.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

Posted by 5ofClubs

Posted by Wendy

Posted by 5ofClubs

Posted by Wendy

Sounds like the asshats by me. You know until they got their 5 year olds their own quads so they could zip all over not stopping at the stop signs.

Our children will be getting their own ATV's. Andrew will be getting one very soon. If taught how to use it and taught where and when to drive it. It is no one elses business.

Read what I said - these kids zip all over the middle of the road as fast as they want, not stopping at intersections ...

No reason to get nasty Wendy. You were insulting me and I was not nasty at all.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

on the streets - like in the scenario described by OP - no...but we have taken our older son (starting at about 3.5) for ATV rides on my MILs ranch (ours is for 2 people - DH or I drive). Of course it is closed - no traffic - and DS doesn't like to go fast.

Both of our kids have gone in the Polaris (cross btween an ATV and a golf cart) back and forth between MIL and BIL's house (on the same property) - but that has a seatbelt at least.

As comfortable as I am with the above...I really don't think I could let them ever go on the streets until they have a license. Even in the rural area MIL lives

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

You know what...not anyone else's business. If that's what HE wants to do with his children, then that's what he can do.
We went to Florida and took DS out in the golf cart a few times to look at Christmas lights - no seatbelt, no carseat, just me holding him while DH drove. Maybe someone else thought I was doing a horrible thing, but I was fine with it.
In the long run, everyone can spout all the laws they want and have all the opinions they want, but parents do what they are comfortable with.

And, for the record, if he were driving slowly and on a big ATV, I would have no problem with DH driving DS on one. As AP said, those are the memories that live on.

Re: Would you put your children on the lap of someone driving a 4 wheeler?

NO WAY.