Not mentioning any names but I never wrecked sled, bike or wheeler in my life. I may have bounced off a few trees back in my teens while dirt biking but the bikes was never damaged and I rode it the rest of the day once I came to.
If you've never wrecked anything in you life, then it's obvious you're not going fast enough! Holy CRAP! You must drive like a Mother-in-Law!
In all seriousness though, people ride for all different kinds of reasons. Some to be social, some to sight see, and others for the thrill. I ride for every one of those reasons at different times. Everyone draws the line for safety in a different spot too. It's always easy to be judgemental on that one..because everyone is either more careful than you, or less so.
I do agree on the safety courses. There's a ton of ignorant folks out there that simply don't know any better, or have no respect for the machine. Safety courses or licensing would definitely help. Tonight I saw a little girl not more than 10 years old tooling around on a wheeler. Shorts, T-shirt and bare feet. Of couse, no helmet either. I'm sure her parents don't see ATVs as being very dangerous.
On any given weekend you can see guys on ATVs that are riding way over their heads too, but as an adult, you are responsible for your own actions...and I truly wouldn't care if they were riding naked through a river of razor blades. That's their choice. As long as they're not harming anyone else, I say let them be.
As for me, I'm pretty conflicted over having snowmobiling/ATVing violations apply to your license. I'd like to see the rules about drinking and riding applied like that....but then I ask myself "What makes that different than any other violation?" Those rules are simply in place to protect other people from each other. Speeeding and reckless driving put other people in danger too.
On my snowmobile I'm often flying along. I've been 100mph when riding at night quite regularly. I'd hate to have to give that up for fear of it affecting my license. Same thing on the dirt bike. I used to drive my street bike like an idiot. I've totaled a few of them, and been down three times at speeds exceeding 90mph (and broken everything except my hip, back, and neck at one time or another too) . Once I started dirt biking I got my kicks on that and began riding normally on the street. Riding off road I can ride at the limit of my ability the entire time I'm out. Try that on the street and you end up with a pile of tickets.
Myself, I do my very best to have a good time riding off road...but I also do my very best to not hurt anyone else either. For all the times I've wrecked, I've never harmed another person or machine. The only thing I attribute this to is being careful when there is a potential for oncoming traffic, riding well within my abilities when anyone else is around, and staying on my side of the trail/road. I've also never had a drop of alcohol and ridden either....just not my thing.
Sorry for getting this thread SOOOOO far off topic, but it's a cool subject with lots of different opinions.
Joe
