Child Dies In Quad Bike Accident

i just wonder what would be said if i had an accident on my bike with one of my kids as pillion.(touch wood it never happens)

biking community may be ok but the general public would flame me. highly irresponsible to take a child on the back of a motorbike.

The father made the decision, chose a quiet road, quiet time of day and still the unimaginable happened. sad sad story. poor man. poor kid. really feel for other driver

Originally Posted by wyrdness

We do know quite a few of the circumstances from the news reports:
A 7 year old kid was driving a motor vehicle on a public road.
It was at 7pm at night, in the dark, on an unlit road.
The kid had owned the quad bike for only 1 day.
The parents had allowed this.

Given that, I don't see how you can say 'it's quite likely the circumstances weren't as dangerous as they're hyped up to be'. Of course it's dangerous to let completely inexperienced 7 year olds drive on public roads. The fact that the kid was killed confirms this. She could easily have swerved into the path of the incoming vehicle.

"shielding children from responsibility does no one any good"

That is just an unbelievably stupid statement, in the circumstances. Are you suggesting that the parents were right to let her drive a motor vehicle on a public road?

I was saying I find it amazingly arrogant that that everybody thinks that they know best. This forum is full of people who enjoy indulging in other peoples mistakes to somehow boost their ego. You wrote that statement like you were presenting it in court

We all make mistakes, we're only human.

[Ruffy]

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

I was saying I find it amazingly arrogant that that everybody thinks that they know best. This forum is full of people who enjoy indulging in other peoples mistakes to somehow boost their ego. You wrote that statement like you were presenting it in court

We all make mistakes, we're only human.

Isn't it by debating such things that we all learn to gauge what's a reasonable risk and acceptable bahaviour? Everyone's opinion is a valid offering, even if agreement is rare.

In this case, it seems most posters are agreeing that they don't believe that the 7 year old kid should have been put in that position, so it makes it all the more unbelievable when someone (i.e. the parent) judges that it is OK. Is there anyone reading this who would have allowed a 7 year old out in the reported circumstances?

Something occurred to me, in regards to whether the parents should be prosecuted...

FWIW I can see where people are coming from with the idea that they've suffered enough, their child was killed etc, but the underlying issue here is that their neglect / stupidity has caused the death of a child.

If any other parent caused a child to die through neglect, albeit under different circumstances, they would likely be prosecuted for child abuse, so why should they be any different?

Parents nowadays can be prosecuted just for allowing their children to play truant from school, so surely there is a very strong case for prosecution in allowing, even encouraging something as dangerous as allowing a child to ride a quad on a public road?

The one question which still puzzles me about this case is the fact that the family live on some kind of farm? Some web sites showed a gated entrance to a long driveway. There was very possibly even much more land for the quad to be ridden on?

Why,oh why did they decide on a pootle on a public road then?

Originally Posted by tonyk

i
i feel sorry for their parents but would u,

No, not really.

I feel that he brought this on himself, and only has himself to blame.

My take:

Someone (a child) died. The parent brought this death on. The parent should be prosecuted.

[yorkie_chris]

We used to mess around with all sorts of baby-petrolhead stuff, probably from age 8 upwards when I had a little BSA 50.
Sometimes being silly with friends led to the public road, but we'd had our bike's for more than a day Complete stupidity yes, but all fun and games at the time, nobody got hurt (badly).

I just feel sorry for the parents in this case, what a bunch of f###ing idiots.