Friday, February 06, 2009

Child Abuse?

Senate Bill 379, if passed by the legislature, would bring sanity to the enforcement of laws regarding All Terrain Vehicles(ATVs). The bill would reform the current unwieldy board that deals with ATVs and would put enforcement and education under the Game and Fish Department. The board is dominated by sellers of ATVs who resist any common sense restraints on the use of these machines. That includes letting children drive them and subsequently slaughter themselves.

I think the bill should go further than its requirements that the department take care of law enforcement, education and training, information system development, trail building and the like.

I really feel that any parent who lets a child under 14 drive these vehicles should be found guilty of domestic violence or child abuse if the youngster is injured or killed on these dangerous machines. Everyday, emergency rooms around the country fill with maimed kids whose parents don't show the common sense of a bag of hammers. They allow their kids to climb on these ATVs to tear up fragile lands, vacant lots in cities, watersheds, riparian areas and trails. (This is bad enough when the adults who should know better do it.)

ATVs can be useful when used by ranchers and other people who need to get around our lands responsibly.

3 comments:

Bosque Bill said...

Right you are, Jim, thanks for commenting on this issue. I'm sure the ATV vested interests will be all out to defeat it.

The bill is currently in the Senate Corporations & Transportation Committee. I've contacted all the members and encourage like minded persons to do the same.

outlaws said...

I would much rather have my son or daughter on an atv in exploring the environment. Than out on the streets smoking meth, stealing car, robbing folks, at an under aged drinking party or sitting on a couch playing video games.
We all seem to for get how young and more dangerous we were as kids, teens and young adults being pulled on the hood of the old Chevy threw the bosque.
As with any recreational sport proper guidelines along with common sense should be practiced. I would not go so far as to saying it is child abuse to put your child on an atv, however I do think it is very irresponsible to put your child on one with out the proper safety equipment
Any one with disregard to proper safety equipment.
I don't go to work without my gun, bullet proof vest and safety equipment.
If you have never been to an off-road event, I highly suggest you attend a local club to see the time and effort put into keeping everyone's safety and well being a priority.
That's all for now, off to by my 3 year old his first gas atv and new safety gear!

THRASHMASTER said...

Well, this Jim Baca may have been around the hood in ABQ, but he doesn't know much about outdoor riding. From what I get outdoor riding isn't his thing, so he thinks it shouldn't be allowed to exist. He knows he can't completely shut it down (at least not yet), so instead he attempts to greatly restrict it, which is the worse thing to do- that is just taking another step towards communism.
What he should be doing is looking to "organize it." The races aren't guys flying as fast as they can in any direction they want. No one is out there with nothing on but a speedo and pair of flip flops, etc., etc..
And what's with the lies? "Kids are slaughtering themselves all over the country?"- "Hospitals are full of maimed kids all over?" Does this guy have a clue at all about this? I do know a few people in the medical field and they all say that most injuries come from their parents themselves, skate boards and bmx bikes. So..., where did he get his numbers from?
I'll tell you myself that I broke more bones as a kid playing football and riding my BMX bike then I have riding motocross.
Yes, people do get hurt riding motocross, but they get hurt in all sorts of things. To single this one out is hypocritical. If Jim looked at what "really" did it, then things would get going in the right direction. i.e.
Some of the gear needs to be updated by the manufactorers- like the boots need to be made where the foot part can only go up so far, not where someone can brake their ankle from the G forces of landing off of a jump because the foot part can bend up to the shin- or the riding areas need to be maped out, so everything is 1 direction. Maybe put directional arrows up in areas that have a lot of cross cross type riding, and change the direction from week to week.
It's not the bike, or the rider at fault here (in most cases). If a trail has a good run on it, but is crossed by another trail somewhere along the way, sooner or later 2 riders are going to be ripping on each of those trails and find each other at the crossing point.
It's stuff like that that this Jim needs to be going after, NOT the riders like they intentionally wrecked, or like they are the only kids getting hurt out there doing their "kid stuff." And restricting riding for kids under 18 and threatening to punish their parents if they go riding without their parents is communism as well.
This is America and we're supposed to be able to "pursue happiness," right? Well it's laws like this that restrict that happiness (so the Government can just keep putting more of our money in their pockets- THAT is all this is- JUST ANOTHER SCEME FOR THEM TO TAKE MONEY FROM US AND PUT IN "THEIR" BANK ACCOUNTS, in 1 way or another). The reason we have the best sports atheletes in the world is because our kids start out young and go until they're at the prime age. If Jim thinks he's going to restrict them until they are in their prime THEN tell them to try it, then Jim better not expect any American atheletes to get to that top spot- EVER. That is just fact. i.e.- why do they start gymnasts so young? AND the American people will only take so much until they start fighting back.
Our Government has done more than enough against the people this last year (or the last century of them). They DO NOT need to pull any more stuff against the people for quite awhile! If you want to talk about "slaughter," then let's talk about this ECONOMIC SLAUGHTER that our Government just threw us into! (and how NO ONE is getting arrested for it, or even being called in my the FBI for questioning??!!) Now tell me, what dirt bike rider or ATV rider did all that much to anybody else (and used the bike or ATV to do it?) Does it "really" warrant all of this? Hardly.
So let's be real. Jim doesn't like dirt riders, in fact he probably doesn't like anything that is action packed. I'm sure he would be as happy as a Dentist at a Hershey plant if all forms of racing were made illegal. That goes for all motorcycle racing, car racing, pedal bike racing...., I'm sure he'd even be happy with football being taking out as well, right?
Well, all I can say is "be careful of what you wish for" Jim, for those who live by the sword, die by the sword. If this passes and all of a sudden we have a bunch of "new" government people chasing us around saying "You can't do that, not unless you give us more money," then those very people will be coming back around to you and your type, saying "You can't do that, not unless you give us money for it," for that is ALL this is. ANOTHER SCAM BY THE GOVERNMENT TO PUT MORE OF "YOUR" MONEY IN "THEIR" POCKET (in one way or another), and that is ALL THIS IS. Anything else they say is just a lie! And we all know it.
They may find people like this Jim to try and get you to think that it's the best thing for you (like this TRILLION AND A HALF that we just gave all those that pulled this in the first place!!), but everyone knows that it's just another sceme where they get more money from you and put it in their pockets- either by just taking it right there on the spot or getting a bunch of it in a pile then saying "Oh, look at all the money, now we can give ourselves another raise!".... (which is EXACTLY what the communists say- "You work day and night and give us all the money, THAT is the best thing for you- and look at all we do, we let you eat, have a place to sleep... we'll even let you drink non stop....)
Just call all those involved in creating this bill and ask them what this "General Fund" is that they plan on putting this money into.

Robert in Los Lunas.