ATV driver dies after crash with lawn tractor

Mousefield · Jul 27, 2010

OTTAWA (CBC) - Ottawa police have charged the driver of a lawn tractor with drunk driving after a fatal weekend collision with an ATV.
The crash happened early Sunday morning, when the lawn tractor was rear-ended by an all-terrain vehicle in West Carleton Township near Mohrs Road and Kinburn Side Road, police said.
The 28-year-old ATV driver, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown on impact, Ottawa police said. He was taken to hospital with serious head trauma and later died.
The other driver, a 26-year-old Pakenham man, was charged with impaired driving and is to appear in court in August.

Hard to believe. What were they thinking? :confused2:

dave1949 · Jul 27, 2010

Mousefield said:
OTTAWA (CBC) - Ottawa police have charged the driver of a lawn tractor with drunk driving after a fatal weekend collision with an ATV.
The crash happened early Sunday morning, when the lawn tractor was rear-ended by an all-terrain vehicle in West Carleton Township near Mohrs Road and Kinburn Side Road, police said.
The 28-year-old ATV driver, who was not wearing a helmet, was thrown on impact, Ottawa police said. He was taken to hospital with serious head trauma and later died.
The other driver, a 26-year-old Pakenham man, was charged with impaired driving and is to appear in court in August.

Hard to believe. What were they thinking? :confused2:

I wondered the same. Bad luck for the lawn mower driver. An ATV rear-ends him and just because he was involved in the accident, he is in trouble? ATV rider could have hit a tree with same results. Impaired driving? He supposed to get out of the ATV's way?
Dave.
Dave.

Mace Canute · Jul 28, 2010

No, Lawn Mower Man isn't in trouble for being in an accident. He's in trouble because he was driving a "motor vehicle" while impaired (and yes, a ride on lawn tractor is classified as a motor vehicle) ...the accident was just what brought his state of impairment to the attention of the police who responded to it.

I suspect he might be in a lot of trouble, but it's hard to say. If a prosecutor can convince a jury or a judge that because he was impaired, he wasn't legally supposed to be out there in the first place, and therefore he is at fault for the accident (it wouldn't have happened if he wasn't there). If that happens, he might be in for a load of grief.
If the decease's family sue for wrongful death, LWM's insurance company will probably refuse to indemnify him because he was driving while impaired.

Hawghauler · Jul 28, 2010

We thrive on victims and villians. The media ensures we get a proper measure of both regardless of truth or facts. Printed perception becomes manufactured reality.

mmurphy · Jul 28, 2010

Hawghauler said:
We thrive on victims and villians. The media ensures we get a proper measure of both regardless of truth or facts. Printed perception becomes manufactured reality.

Isn't that the truth!!! If it does not have the victims and villians, it is all about doom and gloom.

Bird · Jul 28, 2010

One problem with news media stories is that they don't give you enough accurate details to form a valid opinion as to fault. Of course laws vary from state to state and country to country, too. Were they on a public road? Did the lawn tractor driver suddenly change direction into the path of the ATV? Whatever happned was a tragic accident, but beyond that we really don't know much.

dave1949 · Jul 28, 2010

Bird said:
One problem with news media stories is that they don't give you enough accurate details to form a valid opinion as to fault. Of course laws vary from state to state and country to country, too. Were they on a public road? Did the lawn tractor driver suddenly change direction into the path of the ATV? Whatever happned was a tragic accident, but beyond that we really don't know much.

This is true. I think they purposely skimp on hard facts, then they can't be accused of getting them wrong

Editing seems to be a thing of the past. I'm no language genius for sure and I can't believe the poor quality of the writing I see in our local rag. Sometimes the stories are just about incomprehensible due to poor structuring and the apparent inability of the reporter to write out an ordered sequence of events. Or, my favorite is they will refer to a person by name as if they already appeared in the story, and you know who this person is or what they have to do with the topic. It's like they just print the reporter's notes and call it good.

Even if the lawn mower driver was just riding along in a straight line in a place he was allowed to be, you can bet this accident will be recorded as an alcohol-related fatality. I'm not condoning drinking in excess anywhere, but he could well be a victim of circumstances. Two or three beers on a hot day is all it would take to be classified as 'impaired'.

As to the ATV rider, it is tragic that so many of them die or are seriously injured every year. The great majority of ATV deaths happen with no other vehicles involved. They totally under-estimate how dangerous the machines are, or over-estimate their ATV skills; take your pick. But then, which among us was never young and invincible?
Dave.

sms0000 · Jul 28, 2010

Here's my 2 cents. "early morning" usually means 1-5am, which means they where drunk still Saturday night (technically sunday morning) together horsing around on motorized vehicles with no helmets or common sense (usually lost by large amounts of alcohol) in the dark and one friend/acquaintance ran into the other and ended in disaster. Sad but true.

gauthier · Jul 28, 2010

I don't see much difference tween running into the back of a lawnmower or running into a tree,if your riding a atv,just your bad luck..drunk tree or lawnmower man,don't really matter,,,now if you were in a car and a drunk lawnmower man pulled out in front of you,there wouldn't be much reason to try and figure out if he had been drinking or not cause he would be dead.

Mousefield · Jul 29, 2010

Details are still a bit lacking but I have found out the following regarding the original news article.

The accident happened about 3:30 AM.
That day/night a group of about 10 friends, including the ATV driver, visited a few clubs.

charlz · Jul 29, 2010

dave1949 said:
As to the ATV rider, it is tragic that so many of them die or are seriously injured every year. The great majority of ATV deaths happen with no other vehicles involved. They totally under-estimate how dangerous the machines are, or over-estimate their ATV skills; take your pick.

I think it is mostly under-estimation. The four wheels make it very stable and easy to ride. People with little to no skill can ride them. They weigh a lot and you tend to stay on them during the crash which compounds injuries. Here is a great example: YouTube - Reporter Crashes ATV

Scooby074 · Jul 29, 2010

sms0000 said:
Here's my 2 cents. "early morning" usually means 1-5am, which means they where drunk still Saturday night (technically sunday morning) together horsing around on motorized vehicles with no helmets or common sense (usually lost by large amounts of alcohol) in the dark and one friend/acquaintance ran into the other and ended in disaster. Sad but true.

I bet thats what happened.

Probably in someones yard, not on the street. When i was younger it could have been me or my friends. Anything with a motor was fair game.

dave1949 · Jul 29, 2010

charlz said:
I think it is mostly under-estimation. The four wheels make it very stable and easy to ride. People with little to no skill can ride them. They weigh a lot and you tend to stay on them during the crash which compounds injuries. Here is a great example: YouTube - Reporter Crashes ATV

Could be. Ever walk (maybe 3 mph?) into something solid with your head and get a goose egg? Then think about 15 mph into a tree trunk, helmet or not, that's gonna hurt. It would be easy to do yourself in - even at what probably feels like not much speed at all.
Dave.

orezok · Jul 29, 2010

mmurphy said:
Isn't that the truth!!! If it does not have the victims and villians, it is all about doom and gloom.

Even though I live far out in the desert, Los Angeles is my "local" stations on the dish. All the LA stations cover is "fuzz" and "was"! It's pathetic.

charlz · Jul 29, 2010

dave1949 said:
It would be easy to do yourself in - even at what probably feels like not much speed at all.

And a lot of the machines are powerful, you can go from 3mph to 45mph in not much time at all as that reporter so aptly demonstrated.

studor · Jul 29, 2010

Local accident -- party got a bit "out of control". Alcohol definitely involved. For whatever reason, lawnmower man was charged with drunken operation of a motor vehicle. Charge is public record, the rest is not untill after the trial -- the newspapers are telling you what they are allowed to tell. Tragedy of young man s death from what was avoidable is just reinforcement of the dont combine alcohol and gasoline.
This week another medical report was published locally on ATV's. Seems like unsupervised kids are riding them and seriously injuring or killling themselves -- and this took research

Transit · Jul 29, 2010

Mousefield said:
Details are still a bit lacking but I have found out the following regarding the original news article.

The accident happened about 3:30 AM.
That day/night a group of about 10 friends, including the ATV driver, visited a few clubs.

That confirms my suspicions, no mention in the story if the ATV driver had been drinking. Chalk it up to miss adventure on the ATV driners part. All fools.

Hawghauler · Jul 29, 2010

Hold my beer and watch this!

TGF · Jul 30, 2010

Mace Canute said:
No, Lawn Mower Man isn't in trouble for being in an accident. He's in trouble because he was driving a "motor vehicle" while impaired (and yes, a ride on lawn tractor is classified as a motor vehicle) ...the accident was just what brought his state of impairment to the attention of the police who responded to it.

I suspect he might be in a lot of trouble, but it's hard to say. If a prosecutor can convince a jury or a judge that because he was impaired, he wasn't legally supposed to be out there in the first place, and therefore he is at fault for the accident (it wouldn't have happened if he wasn't there). If that happens, he might be in for a load of grief.
If the decease's family sue for wrongful death, LWM's insurance company will probably refuse to indemnify him because he was driving while impaired.

Love the Avatar Mace, also love Trailer Park Boys, good old Bubbles.

merrickvilleguy · Jul 30, 2010

They were drunk at 3:45 am looking for their dog ... drunk driving is drunk driving. They are both at fault.

I mean driving an atv offroad at night is dangerous enough (especially at speed) ... let alone without a helmet ... and worse when drunk ...

It's a dog ... it will get found or find its way home ... either way, is something to deal with in the morning.

The atv driver died as a result of the stupidity.