Surprise: Two Wheels Safer Than Four In Off-road Riding And Racing, Study Finds

[Moontanman]

Surprise: Two Wheels Safer Than Four in Off-Road Riding and Racing, Study Finds

 

 

 

 

ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2010) — In research that may surprise off-road riding enthusiasts and safety experts, a Johns Hopkins team has found that crashes involving ATVs -- four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles -- are significantly more dangerous than crashes involving two-wheeled off-road motorcycles, such as those used in extreme sports like Motocross.

 

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101007132234.htm

[CraigD]

I don’t think Villegas and team’s findings come as much of a surprise to many ER docs and nurses and public health experts, or to people who have given much thought to the mechanics involved in bike and 4-wheeler (or their even more dangerous predecessors, 3-wheelers) falls. The problem was so well-recognized within the first years of the appearance of 3-wheelers in the early 1970s that old and new safety groups were immediately alarmed, and 3-wheelers were effectively banned by the US by the mid 1980s, to be replaced by the more popular 4-wheelers.

 

The mechanics of getting hurt on bike and 4-wheelers strike me as pretty simple.

 

As a class, the most dangerous common crashes are those where your machine flips forward to land on top of you with your butt still in the saddle, pushing your head, neck, and spine into the ground. Bikes are tall and thin, and tend to tip, not applying all the work their mass and speed permit into your body. ATVs, which are usually more massive (about twice) than a bike, are wide, and tend to drive you down like a hammer on a nail. Unfortunately, your head, neck, and spine aren’t as sturdy as a nail.

 

My experience with 4-wheeler injuries leads me to conclude that, like most vehicles, they’re most dangerous in the hands of those least able to ride them - first time riders and children. Combined with the sense of confidence they instill in inexperienced riders – unlike bikes, they seem impossible to tip over – this can be a recipe for tragedy, as the study shows. I’m personally wary of letting kid under the are of 14 or so (depending on maturity) ride a 4-wheeler, much preferring to let them ride bikes. A beginner who isn’t a little scared of whatever they’re operating is, in my experience, a danger to his or herself.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Ya...what he said...hardly surprising....motor bikes fall on their sides, quads roll (easily) and actually seem quite content upside down whereas bikes are happiest on their sides (and almost inevitably in their lives will end up that way)... and it really doesn't matter how you get into trouble on a bike it will always end up on it's side (not upside down on top of you....well not for much longer than a second or so anyways).....so you get some scuffs some scrapes and you get on with your day...unless of course you hit something other than the ground then there might be some broken bones...