Trail etiquette

[DirtDemon]

I was just wondering how all of you handle meeting another rider head on in the trails? I have always been taught to ofcourse hit the brakes, but more importantly always pull off to your right to avoid collision. I had an incident on Saturday where I came into a situation like this, I was cruising along pretty good, but I say a rider on an RM 250 come aroung a corner ahead of me. I saw him before he saw me and I promptly hit my brakes and skidded off as far as I could to the right. The trail was fairly wide at that point leaving more than enough room for him to get by me if he too had stayed to his right. Instead, he panicked, and turned his bike sideways right in front of me. I couldn't do anything at this point except keep on the brakes and hang on. I smashed right into the side of his bike and the rear end of my quad spun around sending me tumbling off to my left, no big deal, just some scrapes and bruises. But the other rider was launched off his bike and over my quad. He had obviously hit something with his groin area, his pants had several holes in the front and he suffered some an injury to his man parts, I will spare you all the exact details. His pipe was smashed in, my bumper was completely pasted flat to the front of my quad, my headlight was broken off and one of my front tires was puntured. What I am wondering is, who is at fault in a situation like this, if anyone. Is there a clear cut rule on how to react to head-on meetings like this, or is it just considered a hazzard of the sport? I felt bad for the guy, but I just figured we would each deal with our problems ourselves and go our separate ways.

[Anatoon]

The way you tell it it sounds like you did the right thing to me. I was going to add that the guy probably deserves a butt kicking, but it also sounds like he's already paying a dear price.

[Stoopidbot1]

I agree, you did all you could do. Just call it a loss and go your seperate ways. Glad you are ok

[DirtDemon]

Thanks guys, and that poor man did pay a dear price, he could be having problems with that for a good while, and I am sure his wife will be none too happy. I have already fixed my allignment, plugged my tire and built myself a fancy new bumper, so I am already to go. Something tells me, that the other guy won't be in any shape to ride for a while, on top of the direct "man part" injury, he smashed the front of his pelvis pretty hard too. He seemed to be in alot of pain, but we made sure he was up and walking aroung before we left him. He had four or so people with him too.

[Raptor8]

yeah some of these guys look at what's going UNDER instead of what's up ahead.... that's definitely his fault. He should learn how to ride. I've seen a lot of pitbikes pretty cheap... Anyone who rides desert [like stoopidbot] will tell you that the faster you go, the farther out front you're watching. What goes underneath you have already seen...

well you got a new bumper out of the deal... not bad!

The Oregon off road manual says to slow and move safely off to YOUR RIGHT. spot on man.

Edited October 19, 2010 by Raptor8

[trailridinqueen]

I often ride with a group of people at an atv park and have had close calls but luckily no serious wrecks with other riders. I agree with you that trying to stay to the right is a good preventive messure to not get in a wreck. You also have to look ahead and listen when climbing hills because with narrow hills it would really suck to almost get to the top of hill and someone start racing down it (listning is the key). One of the things that me and the group of people I ride have done is develop hand signals for each other, for example we have one for just that problem, if some dumba** is racing around the trails and not taking other riders into consideration so we all know to take cover lol.

[slickerthanyou]

I beleieve you done as much as possible, sounds like he needs to slow it down! I wouldn't of been so nice. I would of pulle dover then if the guy hit me and damaged my stuff he would of been hurtin more than he was. I'm all for etiquette, but some people don't understand that.

[DirtDemon]

It wasn't that he was riding too fast, it is that he wasn't paying attention. I was definately moving alot faster than he was, but if he was paying attention, he would have had more than enough room to ride right past me, he just panicked and turned his bike right in front of me.

I also agree with trailridinqueen, that listening is key. That is where a loud bike can be a double edged sword, everyone else can hear you, but it is harder to hear everyone else. Thinking about that, the guy definately should have heard me coming, my quad sounds like freakin thunder coming down the trail.

[DirtDemon]

yeah some of these guys look at what's going UNDER instead of what's up ahead.... that's definitely his fault. He should learn how to ride. I've seen a lot of pitbikes pretty cheap... Anyone who rides desert [like stoopidbot] will tell you that the faster you go, the farther out front you're watching. What goes underneath you have already seen...

well you got a new bumper out of the deal... not bad!

The Oregon off road manual says to slow and move safely off to YOUR RIGHT. spot on man.

I had to build the bumper, but it is a bit more sturdy than the stocker. I figured if there was any written rules or suggestions by any type of authority, that it would say to move off to the right to avoid head-ons, I was taught that from the beginning.