Safety first when riding off-road vehicles, Iowa BIG students demonstrate

CEDAR RAPIDS — Iowa BIG student and Prairie High School senior Spencer Wood has had his share of “scary incidents” when riding four-wheelers — also known as all-terrain vehicles.

“Nothing too serious, thankfully, but definitely stuff that could have been avoided,” said Wood, 18.

Another Iowa BIG and Prairie High student Addy Bowman, 17, a junior, said she’s seen adults make “super dumb decisions” while drinking alcohol and driving ATVs and side-by-sides when her family takes trips to Minnesota and Wyoming to ride the off-road vehicles.

It’s why they partnered with other students at Iowa BIG and set out to educate children about local laws on driving ATVs and UTVs, the importance of wearing helmets and seat belts and not getting into a vehicle with someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and postcrash safety.

Friday, the group did just that as the culmination of a yearlong project through Iowa BIG, a project-based learning program based in Cedar Rapids.

Along with Chris Lange and Teegan Baber, both 18, the group engaged sixth-graders at Prairie Creek Intermediate School in talking about off-road vehicle safety as a part of Prairie Ag Education Day.

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While relatively low compared to other motor vehicle accidents, the number of ATV and UTV crashes in Iowa has risen substantially since a new law was enacted in 2022.

The bill signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds standardized rules for ATVs and UTVs across all 99 counties, allowing these vehicles to be driven on public roads.

In Iowa, there were 20 ATV/UTV crashes in 2024 and 12 crashes each in 2023 and 2022. Before the bill was signed into law, there were four ATV/UTV crashes in 2021 and nine crashes in 2020.

There has been one ATV/UTV crash recorded this year in Iowa as of May 1.

The message the Iowa BIG team is trying to get across is “always wear your gear, ride the right size ATV, stay on the trail and never ride alone,” Wood said.

They brought their own off-road vehicles to demonstrate safety.

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In their research, the Iowa BIG group found that children 15 and younger accounted for 19 percent of all off-highway vehicle fatalities in the U.S., according to a 2023 Consumer Federation of America report. This included multiple cases of children as young as 3 years old.

In Iowa, drivers of off-road vehicles must be 18 years of age or older and have a valid driver’s license to operate them on public roads.

Children ages 12 to 17 can operate all-terrain vehicles in Iowa if they have taken and passed an education course and have an education certificate in their possession when riding on public land like parks and designated riding areas.

Under Cedar Rapids’ law, ATVs, UTVs, golf carts, and snowmobiles cannot be operated on city streets, rights of way, and public property, except for emergency personnel and governmental entities. Exceptions for snowmobiles still exist. Licensed businesses may transport these vehicles by trailer for contracted landscaping, maintenance, and snow removal services.

Lang, who grew up riding ATVs and side-by-sides on his family’s ranch in Texas, said the project caused him to start to “think a little more before I do stupid stuff.”

“I’m a lot more careful, use a lot less speed,” said Lang, who has seen firsthand a child roll an ATV.

“It opens your eyes to the real-life consequences,” he said.

Bowman said there’s a lot more to driving and riding ATVs and side-by-sides than “getting on and hitting the gas.”

In her own life, “this research and statistics have shown me to chill out a little bit” when driving, she said.

“I’ve learned a lot of the rules here in Iowa,” Wood said. “I learned rather to be safe than sorry, to take precautions. You can still have fun, but just don’t be dumb.”

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