Trail ATV riding is a fun and exciting sport that can provide hours of entertainment for the whole family. It is nothing like a good day on the slopes, out in the Sun and wind, to bring the family or meet and make new friends. But the trail ATV riding is not all fun and games; There is a large degree of precautions involved. While you are having fun, you always have to remember that you are working with a vehicle motor and, although it is designed for leisure, this vehicle has need to be treated with the same respect and the same caution that you would for a car or a motorcycle. For this reason, before you jump on this new ATV and hit the trails, you can consider taking an ATV safety training course.
Unlike a car or motorcycle, no license is required to operate an all-terrain vehicle. Many people learn to drive older brothers and sisters, parents or friends. While learning the family or friends is not a bad idea overall, there might be some finer points to the ATV driving your family or your friends could have let out.
While you could find some places that will provide a safety ATV training course not all courses are certified trainers. Institute of safety of ATV (ASI) was founded in 1988 with the intention to offer a course that educate runners on the safe operation of their vehicles and the hope that once students completed the course that the number of accidents and injuries on the ATV trails would to be reduced. The idea seems to have worked, since 1984 most accidents involving the ATV riding have been considerably reduced. ASI is also a not-for-profit organization.
When you purchase your ATV most manufacturers such as Honda, Arctic Cat, Yamaha and others will offer you the possibility to follow the ATV safety course free of charge. If you do not have a mountain bike and can consider to buy one for yourself or a family member, you can still take the course for a small price. As with the motorcycle safety Foundation where the course provides the motorcycle, some ASI course could include the use of ATVS given by manufacturers, motor sport stores local or private donors. Check with your instructor first to see whether or not you will need your own ATV.
ASI course takes you through all the bases and operating an ATV with horseback riding and takes half a day to complete. Certified instructors that teach you step by step skill each required in a controlled environment. You begin with the appropriate use of safety equipment and how to start and stop your vehicle correctly. Then you continue going up and down hills and on and around obstacles on a closed path. Each lesson builds on the previous, more challenge that the course will become.
Children from 6 years old can attend the course. There are special classes for age between 6 and 16 and the parents must be present during the classes. All ASI instructors complete a general education program and must meet all the requirements of ASI until they are allowed to call themselves a certified instructor. ASI reports they have over 1,000 active certified instructors in places more than 12000 through the United States. For more information or to locate a course near you, visit the ASI Web site at the http://www.atvsafety.org/
