Dont Start Them To Young!

[foolsp33d]

*Snip*

A LITTLE boy who plunged four metres to his death in a tragic mini-bike accident was "one of a kind", his shattered father has said.

Cody Williams, 3, died on Sunday when his Pee-Wee mini-motorbike overshot a river bank near Horsham, sending him falling into a dry river bed.

His father Tony recalled the terror of those moments.


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Expert advice: A SPOKESMAN for the motorbike's manufacturer was shocked to hear a three-year-old was riding the bike.

"I've never heard of a child that young using one," Yamaha Motor Australia's Sean Goldhawk said.

The company sets no age guidelines for the bike, one of the nation's biggest sellers.

But it did not endorse the use of training wheels.

"If you can't touch the floor you're not supposed to be riding it," Mr Goldhawk said.

"If you fit training wheels the warranty is voided."

The popular motorbike ridden by the boy stands 48.5cm from seat to the ground.

About 1500 are sold nationwide each year.

Pee-Wee dealers said the bikes were fitted with governing equipment which allowed parents to limit their power and speed for beginners.

"The safety record of these things is phenomenally good," one said.

Child health experts agreed three-year-olds wouldn't have the skills to ride a motorbike.

Developmental pediatrician Trevor Parry said it was highly unlikely a three-year-old could comprehend the actions needed to drive a vehicle, such as accelerating and braking.

"You would be delighted if a three-year-old showed any interest in, and was able to steer and pedal a tricycle around a playground," he said.


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"He was riding and I was running beside him.

"He shot off quickly and went down the ridge and hit a log," Mr Williams told the Herald Sun.

Cody died hours later in the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne from internal injuries.

Mr Williams described his son as his best mate.

He said Cody had been looking forward all Saturday to riding the 50cc Yamaha bike on the family property at Quantong, west of Horsham.

"This was his first weekend riding the bike," he said.

"We bought him his helmet on Saturday and he wore it all the way home. He just wouldn't take it off."

Training wheels had been fitted to the bike and it had been modified so it couldn't travel at more than 10km/h.

"He's been around motor bikes all his life and I had made sure he had everything to keep him safe," Mr Williams said.

Tragically, Cody was to die on that first ride.

A distraught Mr Williams yesterday recalled his desperate attempts to save his son in the Wimmera River bed.

"I raced down and pulled him out and gave him CPR until the ambulance came," Mr Williams said.

He was still trying to resuscitate his son when paramedics arrived from Melbourne. Cody was flown to the Royal Children's where he died that night.

Mr Williams said his son was a cheeky boy with a love of the outdoors.

"He always had a big grin. He was always smiling and he was fearless," he said.

"We'd go camping all the time together. He loved all sports. You just couldn't keep him indoors."

Mr Williams said riding Pee-Wee bikes was an everyday activity for country kids.

"They're not dangerous. It was just a freak accident. You could go to every farm shed in this area and they'd have a little Pee-Wee 50."

Sen-Sgt Trevor Elsom said the tight-knit community would feel the loss.

"Everyone knows everyone around here and it's really affected the community. It's such a sad loss," he said.

Family and friends were last night rallying around Mr Williams and his wife Michelle.

Kidsafe Victoria president Dr Mark Stokes said the case was a tragedy but he believed a child aged three was too young to be on a motorcycle.

"A three-year-old child is still learning to control their own body," he said.

He said 900 children under 14 were admitted to Victorian hospitals in the past three years with injuries from motorcycle accidents.

A further 1800 needed treatment at hospital emergency departments.

Dr Stokes said Pee-Wee bikes should not be sold unless a dealer was satisfied they would be only ridden by children who were old enough.

A Monash University Accident Research Centre survey has shown many young children have been injured on motorcycles in Victoria.

It found 43 children aged three to five needed treatment at Victorian emergency departments for off-road motorbike accidents in a three-year period.

There were another 116 in the six to eight year age group and 260 aged nine to 11.

Children aged 11 and under made up a third of emergency admissions after off-road accidents.

Brendan Roberts and Mark Buttler

*end snip*

Please, If you are a parent or an older borther or sister DONT LET KIDS RIDE MOTORCYCLES UNTIL THEY ARE OF AN UNDERSTANDING AGE.

 

[Sidney]

Damn thats pretty bad.

But why would you let your kid ride around near the edge of a cliff??

 

[Flarry]

Thats so sad. But I reckon you're pretty safe if you dont let your kid ride near edges, teach them to ride in big wide open area's and limit the throttle.

 

[Slide]

yeh thats a very upsetting event that could ever happen.

 

[SnItChY]

as a father

i feel for this mans loss
lost his best mate and his son in the same time my heart goes out to him

this is a tragic loss and may you ride the heavens lil man


R.I.P

 

[Hillz]

sad storey, but yeah what is a 3 year old doing away from arms reach near a river edge

 

[Mack]

Sorry but i disagree that a three year old cannot ride a peewee. I've started my own kids and heaps of others on a peewee at age 3. Only way to discover if you have a child with exceptional talent is to start em young. Age 3 is exactly when many top sports people were started in their particular field.
It is up to the supervising adults to provide a safe means to do this. In the example above the 4 metre drop off was obviously overlooked as a hazard.

 

[benox]

That's very sad.. I never want to even think of when I have a kid he drops off a cliff down a river bank and dies from a peewee..

 

[pitmaster]

Very sad indeed, cant imagine the familys pain,

but a few points, the guy from yamaha said, esp about the training wheels, that is a lie that that dont endorse or wheels will void the warranty, yamaha make there own sets of training wheels which they happiely will sell with a PW50, we looked at getting one from a yamaha dealer!!!

as many would know i started my 3yr last month on a bike, each kid is different, there are 6 or 7 yr olds in our family that there is NO WAY i would let ride our bike, you know the levels of your own kids, and Blake (mine) has amazing co ordination and understands throttle exeptionally well (well above average IMO) + theres no way in hell he'd ever be allowed to ride it any where even remotely dangerous like cliffs etc.....

iam fully with Mack on this one, but am fully awhere age is not the telling time you know kids are ready, its there mental and physical understanding,

Many condolences to that family at this time in need!!!

 

[coolmodee01]

i was reading this in the paper
and it is most definantly a tragerdy
me being a father of a 3yo boy i feel a great deal of compasion for the family
but as you all say i would not have my boy riding in an area like that
as for why the bike darted off at a speed he couldn't catch him it poses a question about the governing of the bike
as for the riding age it cant be determand by age but by skill
ny son can run my accelerator but he cant stop hold it up or steer so at this stage i wont be putting him on a bike by himself until he can show me he has full control well over his pushey anyway

this was a complete accident and i feel for the family and particually the farther

 

[Lngnhrd]

Yeah that is a very sad set of circumstances. I too have a 3 yr old that i can only hope he has the same passion for bikes as i. The no# one thing that really has me thinking about this is the fact that the bike had "apparently" been restricted to only do 10kph. 10kms is jogging to running pace. there shouldnt have been a reson for the bike to shoot of down into the river bed if the father was paying appropriate attention. i have a full size 110cc atv. i can restict it down to basically a walking speed. i chuck my kid onto that an he thinks he's king of the world. point is i've done this sevral times without the slightest of worries. dont mean to speak ill of anyone, but maybe supervision was the problem here? either way that has to be the most painful thing in life to live with. Peace.