Child Dies In Quad Bike Accident

[Lissa]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...EWS&ICL=TOPART

I have mixed feelings about this. I feel very sorry for the girl who died, I feel very sorry for the woman who hit her, and while I feel sympathy for the father for losing his daughter, if he hadn't allowed his children to ride illegally on a public road he would still have her. Whether he should be prosecuted or not I still can't decide.

What do you think?

dont see that prosecuting will make any difference. just puts costs onto courts etc. I would imagine it was one of those roads that hardly anyone goes down and dad probably thought it would be safe. thats the problem with buying these quadbikes and off road bikes unless you have your own field you probably dont get a chance to use it much. feel sorriest for the other driver.

Putting him in jail is not going to make much of a difference. He's just lost his kid, that's probably worse than any jail sentence he is likely to receive. He was totally reckless, and now he has paid for it.

There is a reason why kids aren't supposed to drive.

[the_lone_wolf]

i'd always felt the father has nobody but himself to blame for this, the initial reports suggested the other driver had failed a breath test, now that it appears that isn't the case but i'm still inclined to say the father was not just irresponsible, but reckless. i mean who in their right mind buys a 7-year-old a 100cc non-road-legal quad bike, then takes them out, at night, along a country lane

tragic as it is, it was blatantly a stupid thing to do, a conviction would send more of a message, rather than a custodial sentence...

I don't think there's anything to be gained by prosecuting the parents, but have real mixed feelings about this one in general.

I've met a lot of kids who ride relatvely high powered quads, some extremely well and aged much younger than 16 (the legal age to ride on roads). And in South Africa recently we did a quad tour which, due to unforseen circumstances, ended up being lead by an 11 yr old girl who dealt extremely comnpetently with roads, wild animals and some very tough terrain, and had a real good head on her shoulders.

Thinking of these individuals I do have some sympathy for the father who thought that a supervised run down a quiet local road with him driving in front would be OK.

Clearly in this case it was a dangerous call to make as the girl was unfortunately killed, but I suspect that this type of thing happens (safely) quite a lot, esp in farming communities.

I'm not saying what he did was right but it's just food for thought really...

Originally Posted by dissuade

Putting him in jail is not going to make much of a difference. He's just lost his kid, that's probably worse than any jail sentence he is likely to receive. He was totally reckless, and now he has paid for it.

There is a reason why kids aren't supposed to drive.

+1 on that, I dont think sending the father to jail is goin to make a big difference, he,s probably been punished enough already but these will become more common if adults buy vehicles for children and then let them go off unattended.

[Luckypants]

I feel so sorry for all involved. The whole family has a life sentence of grief and "what if's". The father was reckless to let the kids out on a lane, in the dark and following his car. (if I read the report correctly) BUT without knowing the family, it would be unwise to draw from this if he is a bad dad or just made one bad decision.

Prosecution is probably a sensible to course to 'send out a message' because it may make other parents think twice. Jail or even a heavy fine would be unreasonable given the circumstances. The poor guy has paid a price no parent wants.

[timwilky]

I honestly believe the parents must be prosecuted. Their reckless behaviour in encouraging the children to ride on the road a motor vehicle directly led to the death of a child.

Do I feel for anyone? Yes the poor woman who collided with this child. She will always feel the guilt of having killed a child, initial reports of failed drink/drug tests etc would probably have led to fingers pointing and no doubt some pretty nasty comments.

Heavily publicising the tragedy and showing people what can happen to thier children would achieve a lot more than a prosecution, thats just a quickly forgotten news story, not a warning. The guy caused the death of his child, his life is already ruined through his own negligence, I'm surprised he hasn't topped himself already. A prosecution will serve no benefit.

I don't agree with what the spokesperson is saying about not letting children use quad bikes on private land. Most of the ones designed for use by children have both a throttle restrictor so you chose how much gas the child can give it, and a remote control kill switch which you hold in your hand in case they suddenly develop an attraction to the nearest wall.

A quad bike is a dream toy for most kids and perfectly safe if used on spacious flat ground under supervision from a responsible adult.

Lets not forget the car could have hit a bicycle or a wee pedal along go-kart and killed the kid just the same. The quad bike is not to blame here.

its idoits like this that spoil it for the proper off roaders.