are these as dangerous as they seem to me?3 died and a dozen injured last weekend within 30 miles of me.wife and i been talking about one but believe i've saw enough not to now.what say you owners and others???

Side by sides???

Not as dangerous as a four wheeler, but depends on how they're used. Young guys get to racing around in them, and ya, they can kill ya just like a bullet!

utv's or atv's

The Side x sides I havve been in have been very nimble. I took one in hard corner about 25 mph and my buddy laughed. Told me he would have gone through it a 45mph. Went throught the next corner on the trail alot faster and the machine grabbed and ran through the corner nicely. I was amazed that it wasn't top heavy at all. I have been looking at a Polaris General and we took a demo out for a few hours and found it to be pretty much the same.

Neighbor has the big Honda four seater. That thing has some get up and go for sure. I can see how folks get in trouble on them if they do not drive them like they have some sense.

Havent heard good things on Polaris warrantys... Honda, very good.

Do you live in a particularly dangerous area?

The foolish, reckless, untrained, and uncautious find a way to weed themselves out. Almost anything can be dangerous in the wrong hands. A plain old hammer can be incredibly dangerous.

A side by side can be a fool’s folly or a very useful vehicle and tool. I like mine.

Look at some of the used models for sale. 2 years old and already beat to hel&. Mine is old but looks and runs like new.

Neighbor bought a Honda. It's a nice rig but he is kicking himself for not spending a few extra bucks for the Polaris General. I wouldn't buy the Honda but not because they aren't a good product.

Yes at my age the UTV's and ATV's are used as toting around tools. The days of long fast hard rides are over for me. If you use them to get
from point A to point B they are safe. Unfortunatley they keep engineering them. I couldn't wait to get the 500 ATV, it was quick and strong,
now they are up to what a 900, almost double. Now who needs that much in a ATV? Kinda like bass boats, had a 200 Yamaha for years, it is a great
engine, now they're up to a 275 maybe higher, where is the ceiling on these big motors?

Didn't take long for some to turn this into "this brand is better..." even though no one ever asked.

Side by sides are less dangerous than a 4 wheeler, but people seem to feel bullet proof in one. They think they handle like a car, but if you're going fast they don't. Tires tend to bite and you can lose control. Most injuries I've seen, or maybe all, involved one of two things. Alcohol or kids.

Just like everything else, new toy, new crowd, got a go fast, crash and die at higher speed.
Doesn't matter if it's a two wheel push scooter, hang glider, mountain bike, faster boat, faster car, or side by side.

Mac

The guy where I trap cats has a couple like said more stable then a 4 wheeler and they power up a sharp hill with ease. I'm very impressed with what they can do. More interested in getting where I'm going then speed but the speed idiots sure tear things up with them during turkey season ruin a lot of good hunting area tearing it up for fun.

SXS to me are not dangerous if respected. They are not different than a four wheeler in a sense. I've had quads my whole life mainly sport quads I did a good deal of woods racing circuits and always rode a Honda. IMHO they are the best.. I now own a Cam Am commander 1000 and the only reason I left Honda was the fact that there machines at the time was pretty much all utility and I wanted something I could still get some speed out of.. if you respect any machine you will be fine I have taking my SXS pretty much every place the quad would go hills,trails,only thing you need to remember is its heavy and will sink in mad a lot faster

there are a few things that lead to ATV UTV deaths

speed , my managers friend died when they were going down a trail fast and a guy came around the corner from the other direction not in his lane , he was hugging the inside of the curve , and the two collided.


roll overs , typically when there are more riders than there should be on an ATV, one driver one rider behind then driver and a kid on each corner , they get to a hill and are top heavy and it rolls over it is a several hundred pound machine and one of the kids gets crushed.

I saw two young girls maybe 15 riding in a side by side on a gravel road that paralleled the interstate I was doing 70 and they were nearly keeping up with me so 60-65 , then I saw 2 young boys around the curve the girls could not yet see , stopped in the curve , I didn't get to see how that turned out I only hope the girls saw the boys in time.


just imagine that you made a very useful very powerful machine , then half the people driving them disregarded all the rules of driving they use on the road


here we have designated streets in town that they can ride on , they need to be 14 with ATV safety and a helmet.

add in that many of them may be traveling from bar to bar

speed alcohol , disregard for traffic rules , more of them out

used to hear about a lot of people dying on snowmobiles , these UTV are the new snowmobile because there isn't decent snow

no different than cars really , you can drive one and be safe your hole life or you can put the pedal to the floor and miss your first turn hit a tree and die.

I worked for a guy who used to have a motorcycle shop in the early 80s said around about 2500 miles was the most common time to see a bike back that had been laid down, that was right about the time people started feeling really comfortable , but his shortest customer ever made it through the gears once he had a Marine who was bullet proof buy a bike , guy turned out of his drive way he said you could hear him wind out every gear , then he missed the turn at the end of the road and went strait into the cemetery on the curve , and died.

Common sense will always get you further down the road.
I see a lot of them in use in Eastern Montana from Ranchers - Hunters.

GreenPete and cathouse. Pretty much said what I mean by respecting the machine it truly is a game of common sense.. last night instead of loading mine up and hauling it the 10 miles to check traps I said it's probably safer for me to just drive it there rather than hauling it in these conditions.. roads were really bad. So that's what I did I drove it down the road hoping not to see much traffic but I did catch up to some driving really slow but I didn't pass I just took my place in line an followed.. Respect

I see them around here all the time. Farmers use them for their cattle operations.
Deer hunters bring them in for deer season - don't know why - ya' can't get one through the woods where I live - way to thick.
I think for the hunters it's mostly a "look at me" thing.
Driven like you have some sense, don't see a problem with them at all.

My friend has a honda. That said, the first thing I noticed on my maiden voyage was I was constantly steering. That may sound stupid, but to me it seemed like alot of work. The steering wheel is relatively small so constant steering is essential especially on bumps and trails. Overall I feel like I have more control on my 4 wheeler and if I need to react quickly the 4 wheeler is more responsive. This may not be the case with all side/sides, I dont own one so it was just an observation.

Seems to me a person could get in a simple wheelchair and push himself up to enough speed to flip and get hurt or worse.

I was driving my 500'atv down a tight bush straightaway road here at exactly 17 mph when a deer exploded into me from the right.
I came too under the flipped machine with 5 broken ribs on my right side. Crazy things can happen at any speed, up the speed and you up the odds.

Osky