5 y.o. killed in Motocross accident in NC

The kids riding skills were never in question. The other biker ran into him. You can minimize the risks as a parent but it's just as dangerous to attend school than it is to ride a bike. You can no more control a deranged person entering your child's school then this 5 year old being run over by another biker. It was an accident! A very tragic one.

I don't let my 5 yr old drive cars or play in pools by themselves either.

As for drive by shooting and random acts of violence. These are not comparable... the risks of motorcycle riding in this fashion are known (however infrequent or frequent they may be.)

We are are not talking about what is safe or unsafe me you and me, we are talking about the safety of a 5 year old child who looks to his parents to keep him safe. As adults we are physically mature and experienced enough protect ourselves in a large variety of situations. 5 year old kids are not. If something goes wrong or a danger presents itself they don't have the experience or physical maturity to deal with it.

Putting them in such potentially dangerous situations when they are not physically or emotionally prepared for is reckless and unwise and in this case deadly. At 5 years old you can not comprehend the danger involved in many situations and can not protect yourself adequately.

Unfortunately many parents use themselves as a ruler. Saying "well I ride a bike and don't get hurt so my kid will be fine as well". Or "he really wants to do it", or "he could get hurt anywhere". Instead they should be looking to mitigate risk of serious injury and protecting their children from dangers while by allowing them to watch, learn and grow in experience and physical stature before undertaking these more dangerous activities.

MarathonMind wrote:

As a parent, I would be 100% against my 5 y.o. riding a motorcycle.

I'm curious. What age would you consider acceptable for your child to start riding motocross?

Parent of 3 wrote:

your correct! wrote:

I'm glad you posted your name as, moron, because that's what you are. To all of you runners of the road out there--you have more of a chance of getting hit by a motorized vehicle than this kid did getting killed by another biker.

Nothing is completely safe but one does the best they can to minimize the risk of harm.

Exactly why I don't let my 5 year going running on city streets or dirt bike racing. They (5 yr olds) are not physically mature enough to adequately pretect themselves if a seriously dangerous situation presents itself. 5 yr olds require closer supervision when dealing with vehicles than can be given from the sidelines or stands.

I assume you have never seen young kids ride motorcycles. They pick it up quite quickly and can be very good at it. My sons have motorcycles though they do not race. They mainly just put around the yard or ride on some land we own. But I have seen young kids that could put me to shame on dirt bike track. These kids know how to handle themselves. That is not even the issue in this incident, it was the fact that another kid landed on the 5 year old. Same damn think could happen to an adult and it would be just as tragic.

But if another rider crashes into them (a real possibility) they are not physically mature enough to protect themselves. You would get hurt, they would be killed. Their skill at riding in not in question. Its there ability to recognize and deal with dangerous situations that present themselves.

And yes I have seen 5 yr olds on a dirt track riding. I left as I did not want to support this dangerous activity.

Parent of 3:

You are absolutely correct in your assessment that 5 year old don't belong on a motorized bike. It is certaintly not worth the risk, no matter how small. It is hardly the fault of the 12 year old. Sorry, if I were the parents, I would have a hard time living with myself.

Parent of 3 wrote:

But if another rider crashes into them (a real possibility) they are not physically mature enough to protect themselves. You would get hurt, they would be killed. Their skill at riding in not in question. Its there ability to recognize and deal with dangerous situations that present themselves.

And yes I have seen 5 yr olds on a dirt track riding. I left as I did not want to support this dangerous activity.

????? And just how would you protect yourself if you are lying on the track and another motorcycle lands on you?

Child or adult there is a good chance you are going to die. I'm sure there have been 5 yr olds run over that didn't die, just as there have been adults that have (I would assume at least one adult has died in motorcross).

as a runner and motocross racer let me say this:

many 5 year olds ride everyday. one dies and it is the worst thing ever and then everyone wants to ban motorcycles.

however, high fat diets and lack of exercise is killin gway more children yet we still do not have four years of pe mandatory in school. go figure.

i know of many 5-8 year olds that are more capable of riding than many adults. it is all individual.

how many children dies last year playing football? should we ban that as well?

kevinb wrote:

as a runner and motocross racer let me say this:

many 5 year olds ride everyday. one dies and it is the worst thing ever and then everyone wants to ban motorcycles.

however, high fat diets and lack of exercise is killin gway more children yet we still do not have four years of pe mandatory in school. go figure.

i know of many 5-8 year olds that are more capable of riding than many adults. it is all individual.

how many children dies last year playing football? should we ban that as well?

I too race and run. I have children. I believe that the adults have the ability to decide if THEIR own children should ride or not. Tragic accident indeed. But just that... an accident. Be sympathetic to the loss of the parents and don't judge. It's America, we have the unique ability to make our own decisions in life. You make your decisions... and I'll make mine thank you very much.

Oh, and by the way... I've raced motorcycles since I was 4, even made "pro" in my early 20's. I never sustained an injury racing mx until I was 22. It's no more dangerous for a child to race than an adult.

So... one child died in the last year riding motorcycles... tell me, how many children were murdered last year in our schools???? Should we ban children from attending public schools because it's too dangerous???? I think not. Get out of your glass bubble. Accidents happen.

MarathonMind wrote:

The Fidler family, who live in Kannapolis, said Sunday they don't blame the older biker for the accident, but said the bigger bikes shouldn't have been on the track at the same time as Cody....

Translation ... the kid who hit him does not have much money so it's not worth their time to file a lawsuit. On the other hand, the organization who staged the event has money and a lawsuit will certainly follow. I wonder how much money their child is worth? I'm sure they'll be thinking of him while sunbathing on their private yacht while vacationing at their winter home in the Caribbean.

Or maybe they shouldn't have [U}chosen to allow their 5-year-old to participate in a dangerous event. The parents should face charges and never be allowed to have another child. If the mother gets pregnant she should be forced to put it up for adoption. Man, I hate people who are unfit to be parents.

Parents should face charges wrote:

Translation ... the kid who hit him does not have much money so it's not worth their time to file a lawsuit. On the other hand, the organization who staged the event has money and a lawsuit will certainly follow. I wonder how much money their child is worth? I'm sure they'll be thinking of him while sunbathing on their private yacht while vacationing at their winter home in the Caribbean.

Or maybe they shouldn't have [U}chosen to allow their 5-year-old to participate in a dangerous event. The parents should face charges and never be allowed to have another child. If the mother gets pregnant she should be forced to put it up for adoption. Man, I hate people who are unfit to be parents.

wow, you know they are going to sue and then where they are even going to vacation? sweet, can you give me the winning lotto numbers for tomorrow then?

so by that rationale any parent that has a child die doing any activity is unfit. genious.

You do have the right to make your own decisions in life. You don't have the right to make decisions that could harm others...that's the difference.

I don't have a firm opinion on this issue, just pointing out that just because you can make your own decisions doesn't necessarily mean you can make your own decisions for your kids.

another Parent of 3 wrote:

Parent of 3:

You are absolutely correct in your assessment that 5 year old don't belong on a motorized bike. It is certaintly not worth the risk, no matter how small. It is hardly the fault of the 12 year old. Sorry, if I were the parents, I would have a hard time living with myself.

Have you ever been on a "motorized bike"? No, that's ok not many people have. Have you ever let your children follow their bliss? Yes? Good me too. It's just that what I think of as bliss involves, running, riding "motorized bikes", swimming, blah, blah, blah. I agree with you that I would have a hard time living with myself if anything happened to my boys. We all would, we love our kids, some of us love them so much that we want them to develop the same zest for life that our parents instilled in us.

Try to wrap your mind around the concept that many of us do not see motorcycling as a dangerous activity. I grew up around "motorized bikes" so are you implying that my parents didn't love me? (I won't tell you about riding on the tank, hanging on the handlebars, without helmets or shoes with my Dad back in the day, you'll start trashing him and tell me I'm lucky to be alive. My response would be yes I am lucky to be alive because being alive is a blast). These kids aren't anywhere close to little Evil Kenevels, they're puttering around driveways, closed courses or remote public/private lands. They have a grin from ear to ear, they are learning to control their bodies and minds. They are developing a high degree of self esteem and judgement. Of course they're no good at it they're only 5. But barring tragic accidents, they will be...They are interacting with their Dad's in something that they both love to do.

Obvously I'm a little bit sensitive about this issue mostly because I can't help but feel for the family that just lost their son. I may be overreacting but one truism out of all of this is that they absolutely did not lose him becasue they were inferior parents to you. I don't pretend to know them but I would venture to guess that they loved their little one at least as much as you love yours. They lost him to an accident plain and simple.

I'm going to check out of this thread but it is one of the reasons that I like letsrun.com even when I disagree with some it is from a runners perspective and runners usually have a very steadfast resolve, which is a quality that I like.

does this have anything to do with running??? ok a tragedy happened, terrible things happen everyday. stay on topic this is a running website. i hate when these ridiculous threads take up space all over the board

Marathon/Moto Mind wrote:

Try to wrap your mind around the concept that many of us do not see motorcycling as a dangerous activity.

You may not see it as dangerous, but there is a reason that many states have set age restrictions on use of motorbikes in certain settings.

This is a true tragedy, an accident with a horrible results, but it could have been prevented.

It is my opinion (and I already konw some of you disagree) that small children should not operate large powerful machines (the news article said it could go 30mph) over which they may or may not have control. It also said that he went for his first dirtbike ride when he was 6 weeks old. Something about that just strikes me as odd, even very wrong.

I think the parents realize that the "blame" rests on them, thus their statement about the 12 y.o. who hit their son. Blame isn't quite the correct word b/c they did not cause their son to die, they made it so he was in a situation in which death or injury was possible.

Yes, death and injury are possible in everyday life. Car wrecks, etc all are possible, however we take precautions to avoid them. Having a 5 y.o. on a track where others are zipping by at up to 50 mph is neither using good judgement or avoiding injury/death.

I'm sorry for their loss.

This boy you're accusing of having a mullet and that's the reason he died, that was my neighbor and my best friend. I looked his story up to remember him and what he loved, and I find this. You are dispicable and ignorant. God blessed me with the gift of a loving friend, Cody, and that's why I am blessing you. Bless your soul so you can know how truly ignorant you sounded and may God bless you with some respect and an irreplaceable friend, and God bless you Old and Grumpy for standing up for a young boy.