Absolutely speak to the parents. I would care less if it started a "riff", because they would be considered 2x as ignorant as the kids do by operating an atv in such careless manner, speed kills and maims, has no mercy on anything.
Ex; while a senior in high school, some kids were doing something similar on a street about 10:30 pm, TT250 Yamaha dirt bike, no helmets, no lights, no registration, no inspection, no nothing. I was coming the opposite way and was just into a left turn at a "Y" intersection, turning across the opposite lane, to the road that Y's off to the right of the opposite lane, effectively cutting off the opposite lane for a brief moment. At that time I was doing 3 MPH, WHAMMMM !!!! bike and 2 kids 13,& 14 years old hit my bumper, both flew over the vehicle, one landed approximately 60 feet beyond my back bumper, the other hit a telephone pole in mid air and slid down into the hedges. I never saw them. I checked the bike it was in the last gear, they were going at least 55 mph, speeding in a 30 MPH zone. The kid who hit the pole had his leg twisted up by his head, the other one was unconscious, appeared dead. Both spent weeks in the hospital, broken legs, who knows what else, the one who hit the pole lost some toes on one foot. I graduated with a summons from the sheriff, and a $3.5 million dollar lawsuit, with the threat of wage garnishment for a long time etc. It took 4 years to resolve, someones insurance policy paid both those rotten kids, and to boot I had numerous confrontations for years with the driver when encountered in public places, I would have finished him off had I the chance at the time,(it was a real bad situation, both of them were after me) they tried to pin it on me, said and accused that I did it intentionally, ok yeah right ! I knew who the driver was, his family had a long time local business, most people knew who they were, but nothing beyond that. Years later through circumstances where I infiltrated his older brother, he wanted me to drive for him,one night I ran into both of them, this kid then owned up and apologized, both of them learned an extremely painful lesson.
About 4 months later, best friend riding on the back of an ATV, dummy driving was going too fast,down a farmers lane, lined with big ole maple trees, ran head on into a pick up with a snow plow hitch, he destroyed his leg, pins etc. deformed, was an excellent football player, had to skip the following season and live with a leg that will never be the same.
In short, be it the parents, or whomever, someone needs to get graphic with these kids about the consequences, they don't learn until it happens to them. They need to see it first hand.
You want more incidents, I could go on, I am no EMT or the like, but unfortunately I have seen the actual results, dead, mangled people, so many times I don't think I can remember them all, besides all the others I knew that are gone, from motorcycle accidents. Both motorcycles and ATV's are something to respect, when you don't, it happens and a lot more than people think, you have no protection, speed kills quickly, if it does not, it will maim or alter your life permanently. Said kids need to understand and respect that, parents need to take care of that.
They need to see the consequences first hand, and honestly, I could care less of anyone's opinion about being graphic, its no different than tractor, farm equipment, and similar when it comes to safety, graphic depictions of incidents are shocking, grotesque, and some may think out of line, but it works, so each to their own.
