7-yr-old killed riding quad bike ON UNLIT ROAD AFTER DARK!!!

[WendyWeber]

What were they thinking of???

I used to ride a bike, on unlit roads (actually I don't think we had "lit" roads where we lived when I was that age!), with my parents in front on their bikes.....not quite the same I know - but I was always behind them and could easily have veered off.

And yes - if DS1 could actually ride a bike (he can't...yet), if he had lights on his bike then I would allow him to ride on a quiet road at night.

Yes there were adults with them - DS2 with a very experience Quad rider, DH had never driven one before.

no im sorry I don't get this notion that we should not judge the parents because "they will be beating themselves up already". a child is dead because those parents gave a 7 year old a vehicle that is designed for adults and allowed her to ride it on the road, where adults drive, after dark. This isn't just a silly error of judgement that caused a death it's a bloody common sense decision that no parent in their right mind would make. Yes they will be beating themselves up and so they fucking should be! .

And the lane where this accident happened is a well-known local rat-run.

There are so many lunatic factors involved in this that you just can't imagine a sensible parent putting them all together and still saying OK, go for it

of course it's not "comparable" - my children were absolutely fine.......however if a tragedy had occurred I'm 100% certain that I would have been condemned and judged in the same way as these parents are being for allowing them on at such young ages......and as for the legality of it - actually DS1 was just old enough at 5yrs old to be travelling on one, legally DS2 shouldn't have been on it at all.......

exactly, hatrick! One of the neighbours there said she would not let her children ride their ponies on this lane in the afternoon, because of traffic using it as a shortcut (although the mother of the 7-yr-old did take her children's ponies to meet them from school so she was just less concerned about the risks from traffic anyway)

I have been thinking about it for hours too, Little, but it keeps coming up whenever I click on a news page and it's been making me crosser and crosser - if ever there was an avoidable accident, this one was. It makes me and and .

Yes, there will be a lot of comment tomorrow and I can't imagine any of it will be sympathetic, frankly. (I bet Madeleine will be dragged in too )

so at what point is it right to judge and what point is it wrong? does the death of a child absolve the parent of any wrongdoing?

if a child is killed through a parent drink driving/allowing children to ride in car without seatbelts/allowing children to ride on illegal quad bikes on the road, all of which are illegal, should those parents then not face prosicution because they have paid the ultimate price?

A 7 year old on a dark road driving a quadbike. Is extraordinary and tragic lapse in judgement.
I feel terrible for the parents, because they have to cope not only with the death of their daughter, but guilt for their part in the needless death.

So my primary emotion is one of sympathy and sadness for them, regardless of the fact I think it was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

I don't myself see what purpose prosecution could have other than to further punish the family as a whole, including their 10 year old son.

They've broken the law though, pooka, like the woman whose son shot his sister with the gun the mother had hidden in the garden. They both went to jail, despite being punished already by the death of the girl. There were younger children in that family too.

how were we "risking" their lives? DS1 at 5 (nearly 6yrs) was the same size as a 7/8yr old - and legally "old" enough. DS2 while under 5 was a similar size and weight to your "average" 5yr old. They both wore helmets - which fitted properly (as did we), DS2 was travelling with a guide that has been Quad biking for years, DS1 with DH - me - the one that can't even drive a car was on my own - travelling between DH and the Guide.

Or is it "risking their lives" because you consider Quad biking to be an overtly dangerous activity?

My point is that some of you simply LOVE to judge people, and will use ANY opportunity to do so - but heaven forbid if anyone sees you doing something which they consider foolish/stupid/unwise and judge you for it!

I'm not denying it was very foolish (and illegal) to let those children on their Quad bikes on a public road - I just don't like to see this "holier than thou" attitude when stuff like this happens - as if "you" would never do anything remotely dangerous/risky with your children.

You are missing the point completely, QOQ.

What a terrible tragedy.
I expect there are elements of this awful situation that have not yet been released to the public.

Why is there this perception that Quad bikes are so inherently dangerous?

• I'm not talking about this "particular" case

• it just seems the current trend on this thread is to label them as "dangerous"....how many of you have ridden them? How many people do you know personally that have ridden them and been injured? How many people do you know who've been injured riding a bicycle.....

In our circle of friends and acquaintances most of the adults seem to have ridden Quad bikes on one, or more, occasions. Only injuries I've heard of have been nasty blisters on their hands from not using gloves and holding onto the vibrating handles for long periods of time.

With regards to bicycles, I know of 1 person that has been killed riding one, and numerous broken/fractured bones from accidents involving them.