October 20, 2017 • Kanav Dev Singh

7 Safety Tips You Must Follow When Go Karting

Do you love going out with your family and enjoying a good ride? If you do, then a 200cc 4 seater Go Kart is the perfect option to spend your weekends and holidays with your whole family. These are fun vehicles on which you can spend hours of your afternoon. But just like every other vehicle, you need to follow certain safety standards to have an exciting and safe driving experience.

You never know when your adventurous afternoon turns into a tragic one. This could put your Go Kart in the black list not for you but also for your partner and children. So, make sure you are following these safety tips for a fun filled and satiated experience with your whole family.

What kind of danger are you in?

When Go Karting, there is a very high percentage of getting a head trauma. After this, neck trauma is second on the list. These reasons for the occurring of these injuries is usually when the Go Kart is driven through areas with low branches or if the Go Kart flips over.  But the biggest reason is poor driving practices.

A few of the instances of Go Kart accidents are:

• Ramming into the side of a car leading to death
• Go Kart getting flipped after going over the jump causing head trauma
• Hitting a tree resulting in death
• Drove in front of a moving truck leading to death
• Ramming into a chain link fence that can cause you internal bleeding injuries
• Performing high speed maneuvers can cause you some serious 3trd degree burns

These deaths and injuries can be avoided by practicing the safe Go Kart driving.

Tips to be Safer

Let’s take a look at the tips to be safer that could help you save lives:

1. Wear a Helmet

The first step in the right direction is to wear a helmet. It basically  protects your head from flying objects like rocks and branches. Moreover, when your Go Kart flips over and your head is flung about, it’ll save you from getting any serious damage.

2. No Long or Flowy Hair or Loose Clothing

Boys with long hair but girls specially fall prey to the spinning shafts. The axles and wheels of the Go Kart are waiting to grab. Long hair should be tucked away in a bun or ponytail and under a helmet. Even a few loose hair can be grabbed by some spinning elements. Just like hair, loose clothing can get caught in the spinning machinery that can be avoided by following the no loose clothing rule.

3. Check your Equipments

A lot of accidents, though occasionally but do happens due to faulty equipment. Several tragic accidents have happened because of leaking gas in rollover situations. So, gas spillage is a severe and real danger. In addition to this, wearing heavy clothing is recommended because they acs as a thermal and abrasive shield. So, you better not Go Kart in shorts.

Faulty brakes, flat tires and faulty steering usually possess the equipment dangers. At high speed, the breaking of chains can also cause injury, more so if they are not shielded. Make sure you perform regular maintenance on your 4 seater Go Kart from steering linkages, brakes to tire pressure etc. Failures can be predicted as they are due to frayed belts, loose steering, sloppy chains and worn out parts.

4. Seat Belts

A helmet would protect you against any head injury and a roll cage against any roll overs. Though the cage can become a hindrance when occupants collides with it, wearing the helmet with seat belt can protect you from flying around and getting injured.

When the impact occurs, seatbelt will not let you fly out of your 200cc 4 seater go kart. A driver not seat belted will be cut loose and thrown out of it. So, make sure you wear a helmet, heavy clothing and a ribtect vest to protect your head, chest and body from any abrasive injury.

5. No Riders in Lap

Are you thinking of adjusting the 5th person on your go kart? Don’t! Many deaths have occurred because of a young rider sitting in the space between steering wheel and the driver. Though the young rider won’t simply fly out of the go kart but even on a minor rear end collision, it can be fatal. The rider on collision would get crushed between the driver and steering wheel. Don’t take chance on your loved one's lives.

6. Proper Driving Areas

Most of the tragic accidents occur due to poor selection of driving area. So, make it your priority and put extra efforts in finding the right one. Areas where you collide with a parked car or run into fence or which is a busy roadway should be avoided. Find a clear and unobstructed area to ride your go kart.

Also, bystanders pose a great injury risk, so they need to be clear of the driving area. Head on collision, whiplash, burns, side impact hits and sudden flipping can cause some serious situations and injuries to you.  Moreover, riding a Go Kart is illegal in many areas so find a clear area on your private property.

7. Good Driving Habits

Young drivers doesn’t understand how dangerous and fast Go Karts can be. So it is important that every driver is properly tested and know how to drive one safely. Try to avoid your young drivers from riding it as just one sudden move can plow the go kart into a tree, fence or car. The driver of the go kart should be a responsible one and shouldn’t follow dangerous and erratic driving.

Conclusion

Just like any other things that are fun, Go Kart is fun but involves risk and danger. Make sure you follow all the above mentioned safety tips to enjoy a safe fun time with your family. Also, young riders should always have adult supervision and vehicle should be used properly to avoid any injuries. If you are looking for buying a Go Kart for ultimate fun, take a look at out Go Kart collection.