All you need to know about All-Terrain Vehicles

All-Terrain vehicles are used for fun and recreational purposes. They have a different status from a legal perspective in different states across the country. In many of the states, kids and teenagers are allowed to ride an ATV and that too without a driver’s license. But even if the government does not require you to register it does not decrease the amount of risk associated with these vehicles. The ATVs have their respectively associated safety risks.

To begin with, All Terrain Vehicles churn out a lot of power and this makes them tough to control, and handling them can become a seriously risky affair mostly at very high speeds. Rollovers at high speeds is a common type of accident associated with the ATVs. There also have been numerous cases of collisions into barricades and oncoming traffic. The injuries from these accidents can be fatal and put the rider and others’ life in grave danger. Most of the time the injuries from ATV result in a visit to the emergency room. Naturally, most of the riding associations do not encourage kids below sixteen years to ride these beastly machines across the country. 

ATV riding can be safe if you follow the safety measures and encourage your child to follow your steps. Make sure that your child follows all the safety precautions while riding the ATV and understands how traffic flow works on the road. This will prevent them from taking any rash decisions that may end up in an undesirable result. Make the kid completely familiar with the operations of the ATV and do not let him or her ride the ATV without putting on the complete safety gear. 

How ATVs work?

ATVs are four-wheelers or three-wheelers that are mainly intended to be used for off-roading and on dirt roads. You can use them on paved roads and highways too. The tires are big and balloon-like with excellent grips so that they stick to the surface and gain the maximum amount of traction. The seat is centered atop the ATV chassis which is usually made from a steel-aluminum alloy. The seat is in the center of the vehicle and the engine is either at the rear or at the front end of these vehicles. The handlebars are placed usually at the shoulder’s height of the rider in a seated position. One interesting thing to note here is that although there are some three-wheeler ATVs still being used in the market, their prominence has decreased gradually over the years. This is due to the fact that the three-wheeler ATVs are less stable than the four-wheeler ones. 

A typical ATV usually weighs more than 600 pounds. The major part of this weight is due to the steel aluminum frame that encompasses the whole chassis of the ATV. Also, the heavyweight of the ATV makes it stable to ride on uneven surfaces. The engines of the ATVs are powerful enough to generate a speed of around 65 mph in just a matter of seconds. The only drawback with the ATVs is the high center of gravity of these machines. This can cause the ATV to roll over and the rider can get injured. Although, modern ATVs come fitted with standard safety pieces of equipment like seatbelts, roll bars, and safety cages. These pieces of equipment have greatly increased the safety of the rider.

Who can ride ATV?

There are no federal laws governing the usage of ATV, however, there are different laws in different states and provinces that regulate the riding of these All Terrain Vehicles. There are many states who go by the common requirement of the rider being sixteen years of age and then there are other states where there is no age limit to ride an ATV. Also, in some states, you are likely to encounter ATV riding law that requires the supervision of an adult. 

This is because ATVs can be very large for the kids and they might not be able to handle them. Another plausible reason is that riding often requires the ability to make decisions quickly such as speeding up or slowing down and changing lanes. Teenagers are not quite adept at this. Even if you want your kid to ride an ATV then you can go for electric mini ATVs. Electric mini ATV is the best choice for kids. They come in compact sizes and their power and speed are kept in check so that the kids are able to handle the electric mini ATVs easily. If you are interested to buy an electric ATV then click here to check out a varied range of electric mini ATVs. Their collection of ATV is really cool.