In the last month or so, friends of mine have had their lives touched by tragedy related to off-road 4-wheeler accidents.
I just returned from the home of a former co-worker whose 24 year-old son was killed in a four-wheeler accident last night.
He was on a paved two lane county road that he was unfamiliar with, riding a hopped up four-wheeler. He unexpectedly found himself in a curve, ran off the road and collided with a tree. His father told me that his forward was crushed. Undoubtedly, he died instantly.
He would have been 25 this Sunday.
Five weeks ago, the son of a high-school friend was riding his four-wheeler after dark, apparently going to a party, and backed off a cliff near Little Rock. Searchers found him seven hours later, early in the morning. The accident has left him a paraplegic.
I have no desire to ban these recreational vehicles, but I have known quite a few people over the years who have had deadly or near deadly accidents on them. Can't count the number of times I have seen good old boys blasting down darkened roads at high speeds on a vehicle with handling that can only be described as tricky at best.
And of course, hardly anybody wears a helmet.
Just feeling really down right now. What, if anything, can be done about the carnage associated with the use of these treacherous go-buggies?