! WARNING
Indicates a potential hazard that could
result in a serious injury or death.
48
Sound Judgment
Your Physical
Condition
Being physically exhausted is like
being drunk. Try to do something that’s
detail-oriented when you’re really
tired, and you’ll feel totally uncoordi-
nated.
Reckless Riding
If you are involved in an ATV accident
when you’re speeding, you have a 25%
chance of landing yourself in the hospi-
tal. The faster you go, the more likely
you are to destroy your head and inter-
nal organs, and skip the wheelies,
jumps, stunts, and any other showboat-
ing.
Laws and Regulations
Any police officer will tell you that
ignorance of the law is no defense.
Your best defense is to check out your
local, state, or provincial ATV laws
before riding. It’ll also make sure that
you can continue to ride in your favor-
ite areas. The quickest way to have a
land area closed is by riding over the
regulations.
Group Behavior
People always do crazier and riskier
things in a group than they would con-
sider doing by themselves. When
you’re ATV riding with others and
things start to get out of hand, decide
whether you’re willing to be injured or
see your friends injured.
SIPDE
By themselves, none of these safe
behaviors and sound judgments will go
very far. But when you put them all
together . . . when you’re paying atten-
tion to how you feel, when you’re
monitoring the movements of your
ATV, and when you’re constantly eval-
uating your environment, then you’re
practicing SIPDE. SIPDE is an acro-
nym that stands for:
Don’t ride:
1. When you’re tired
S
I
P
D
E
S
CAN/
SEARCH
I
DENTIFY
HAZARDS
P
REDICT WHAT
WILL HAPPEN
D
ECIDE WHAT
TO DO
E
XECUTE THE
DECISION