My kids got a first hand safety experience a couple of summers ago - one they still remember.
I had just bought them a shiny new 36volt (3 deep cycle batteries in series) electric, 2 seater go kart. I set the rules up front: 1) you NEVER ride the kart without seatbelts on, 2) there is a max speed adjustment (from 2 to 22 mph) that only I will set (and I set it pretty slow) and 3) you can ride only with MY permission and under my supervision.
Over the following weeks, the kids kept complaining about the kart being set to go too slow, that the seatbelts were uncomfortable and "none of my other friends with karts have to do this!". But I held firm on the rules.
One day, my boy was driving the kart with his sister beside him. As he drove down our 400 ft driveway, he got interested in something, took his eyes off the road, and veered into a 30" dia. oak tree at, I estimate, about 8 mph. I happened to be in the back yard at the time and didn't see what had happened. The kids walked back to where I was and had this bug-eyed, white as a ghost appearance. They both broke into tears as they told me what had happened. Obviously, I was concerned whether or not they were injured and they showed me the bruises and abrasions where the seat belt crosses the shoulders and chest. The left front rim and tire were destroyed and the left axle assembly was bent back at a 45 deg. angle. (8 mph to zero nearly instantly is a heckuva hit!)
There's no doubt in my mind that both kids would have experienced SEVERE injuries if I had not insisted they wear seat belts at all times as they would have both gone head first into that large oak tree.
I left the kart, un-repaired, in plain view a couple of weeks as a reminder before purchasing new parts and putting a torch to the front end assembly to straighten up the steel.
My kids never complain about seat belts and safety anymore.
They can't imagine ever getting into any moving vehicle without the belts.
This was a lesson we will all never forget.
Too bad the neighbors down the street don't have the same regard for safety.... those kids still fly up and down our dead end road on old style karts without rollbars or safety belts. Can you imagine a cart without a roll cage going up under a parked (or moving) car like the scenarios described earlier in this discussion? Makes ya want to go hug the kids, huh??
You can never be too safe with your children!
R
