Yamaha ATV Recall

I forgot I didn't post about our recent beach trip here. Jeez, I must be getting old. Anyway, I'll be posting more about that soon. I just remembered that there was one incident on that trip that I will never forget.

One of the activities that we made sure not to miss, was this trip up a mountain using an ATV. Not knowing how to drive anything, I was initially scared but excited at the same time. There were 11 of us in total so imagine the surprise of the renting company manager when he saw us lol! Nevertheless off we went on a single straight line to the mountain using our ATV. It was exhilirating. When we reached the mountain, the view was breathtaking! We spent about an hour on the mountain and then prepared our way back to the renters place. The trip down was not as exhilirating, frightening is more like it.

I guess it's not much of an issue when you are used to riding one, but many of us were first time users of this type of vehicle so we were apprehensive. Our guide kept reassuring us that it was okay. But with 11 people, only 2 guides, and high mountain slopes, you can't be too sure. True enough, we were horrified when on one of the slopes, one of my friends' ATV rolled over and pinned her! Que horror indeed! Many of my other friends jumped out of their moving ATVs to help her, there was pandemonium I tell you! We initially thought she only had scratches but it turns out, she had one of her legs broken. When the vehicle was turning over, she instinctively stuck out her leg to try to balance herself resulting in said injury.

It was a good thing that a hospital was nearby so she was treated for her injuries immediately. She's completely healed now but it made me look back and think about what we could have done after the incident. Who was responsible? Was it merely taken as an accident?

I searched the net and found that the type of ATV that we used, the Yamaha Rhino, were being recalled as these types of injuries were common. These Yamaha Rhino Rollover incidents were becoming more and more rampant due to the design of this particular model that lawsuits were being filed left and right. The Yamaha Rhino is narrow, top-heavy (high center of gravity) and it's small tires give the vehicle less stability. These are the reasons why there are more accidents whith this model. I told my friend about this and she is planning to prepare what she can do. We were both relieved to know that we had rights when it comes to these types of accidents.