Central New York Injury Lawyer Blog
At Michaels Bersani Kalabanka, we’ve seen a lot of bad ATV accidents in Central New York. From our perspective as New York ATV accident lawyers, the best cases are those in which the accident was not the injured guy’s (our client’s) fault. But unfortunately, many times severely injured victims of ATV crashes are themselves to blame.
The Good news about ATV accidents is that there are fewer of them than before. ATV Deaths and accidents have been going down steadily year after year since 2006. That’s because ATV’s are built safer, in part because of lawsuits brought by lawyers like me forcing manufacturers to make them safer. (Remember the old three-wheelers, and the tip-over accidents that plagued them? Personal injury lawyers sued them into oblivion!)
But there are still too many ATV accidents. This blog post is aimed at helping ATV users, and their parents, avoid accidents (and tickets!).
First, let’s look at New York ATV law, which is really an embodiment of good safety rules:
• No passengers allowed unless the ATV is designed for two (Most ATV’s are designed to carry only one person because you need to have “interactive driving”, that is, the driver must be able to shift his weight freely in all directions to properly maintain control around curves, etc.)
• Helmets are NOT optional.
• All ATVs must be registered, with renewals once a year, with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
• No ATV can be used on highways except to cross them.
• No one under 10 may ride or operate an ATV.
• Operators between 10 and 15 may ride an ATV only if they are on a parent’s land and supervised by a parent, or on a parent’s land and have a safety training certificate.
• A lighted headlight and taillight are required from ½ hour after sunset to ½ hour before sunrise.
Additionally, we strongly recommend you:
• get your kid some ATV training (statistics show that training reduces accident risk big time!)
• don’t ride on paved roads (ATV’s are tough to control on paved roads because of how they are made, and collisions with cars are deadly.)
• Make sure kids under 16 are on age-appropriate ATV’s.
Enjoy your ATV, but . . .
Keep safe!
Mike Bersani
Email me at: bersani@mbk-law.com I’d love to hear from you!
Michael G. Bersani, Esq.
mbk-law.com Central NY ATV Accident Lawyers
Michaels Bersani Kalabanka
1-315-253-3293