Why do teenagers think they are invincible?!

[ArabianGem78]

Usual story: 7:45 so dusk and car lights needed. Teenager riding through village where there are no street lights. No hiviz. No lights. Dark horse. Dark clothes.

I stopped to check/ask what the heck they were thinking.

"but we only live down the road"
"but we got caught out"
"but I will wear it next time"

But. But. But. But there might not be a next time. It's not the kids that make me want me to bash my head on a brick wall but their parents. Don't they care?

That is all: carry on!

 

[pippixox]

i was obviously a weird teenager! i always wore my hi-vis and still do even when i hack around a private farm land. think i'm a paranoid sort who thinks the day i don't wear it i will have an accident, same with my mobile.
but did use to know a few, usually teenagers who didn't like to wear them unless their parents were there to make them!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

It's part of being a teenager, that why they do lots of daft things - tombstoning, experimenting with various substances, legal and illegal, playing chicken on the road and railway lines, twoking, exceeding the speedlimit by 10s of mph on motorbikes etc, ect, etc. We were all the same once, even if to different degrees. That is how every country in the world at one time or another has managed to get thousands of young men to volunteer for their armed forces, even in the face of almost certain death.
The parents had probably provided hi-viz/reflective gear but it was sitting in the tackroom, 'cos teenagers KNOW it won't happen to them.

 

[cobalobM]

im a teenager and wear hi viz loool, as well as all my friends!

 

[PingPongPony]

not just teenagers, I could easily show you approx 20 riders that are over the age of 30 who do exactly the same thing as you've just described around here, even better, some hack on a very busy road where there's lorries, and some even cross an A road, yes all in the dusk, with no hi-viz, in dark clothes and most of them on dark horses, so not just teenagers that think they're invincible

 

[ZoeDBest]

I once got caught out, without high vis- have to say it is the one horsey thing I am most ashamed of and the most scary :S so off I went and brought myself a trusty bib- and never hacked out without it since- I learnt my lesson!!!!!!

 

[mandwhy]

It's part of being a teenager, that why they do lots of daft things - tombstoning...

I agree, they haven't built up the experience that sometimes stuff does happen to them!

What is tombstoning?!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

What is tombstoning?!

Jumping of cliffs into the sea - extremely dangerous.

 

[Megibo]

I'm 19, always put Hi-Viz on me and more recently some sort of Hi-Viz on the horse too!

 

[Hippona]

Usual story: 7:45 so dusk and car lights needed. Teenager riding through village where there are no street lights. No hiviz. No lights. Dark horse. Dark clothes.

I stopped to check/ask what the heck they were thinking.

"but we only live down the road"
"but we got caught out"
"but I will wear it next time"

But. But. But. But there might not be a next time. It's not the kids that make me want me to bash my head on a brick wall but their parents. Don't they care?

That is all: carry on!

I was the same at 15.
Except I wouldn't have been wearing a hat either, despite my mother running down the road shouting at me.
I'm 43 now.....you just at things differently when you're a teenager.
Not excusing it.....but teenagers do think they're invincible.....Always have, always will.

 

[Honey08]

Because they don't drive so they don't realise just how much they can't be seen. I was like that too, until one day my dad parked his car with it's headlights pointing down our lane, then got my mum to lead my pony down the lane until I realised how quickly it was hidden in the dark. We then put fluro but not reflective stuff on them and mum went off again, finally they put reflective stuff on and repeated the exercise. Having seen it for myself the "always wear reflective stuff" lesson went it.

 

[khalswitz]

Having been a teenager not toooo distantly in the past, I remember just sighing loudly, rolling my eyes, and assuming it was just something else I was getting nagged about. I had a grey horse, the roads weren't busy...

And I'll admit, despite riding more on the roads, and busier roads, now than then, and having a bay now rather than grey, I often don't wear high vis. In the winter, my winter jacket is a high vis jacket so I don't have to think about putting high vis on - in the summer I just forget. You don't need to tell me it's bad - but I guess I am always trying to not think about the what ifs of riding - I don't wear a bp or air jacket either, despite riding a sharp TB on the roads. I ride over bridges he could ditch me over, we often meet loose dogs and have had a few incidents with those - I guess cars and cyclists hitting me is one of those other things I try not to think too much about, or I wouldn't ride!

 

[Loubidy]

Always always always, bib, hat band, leg bands, exercise sheet - all hi vis
I'm 19 and always have, I think of it as if a driver hits me they have no excuse!!

 

[twiggy2]

my teenage daughter wont ride out with someone if they do not put hi viz reflective wear on (she always wears it),

i got a mouthful of abuse from a women in her late 30's who was riding at dusk with a friend they were both on bays with no hi viz on, the woman who yelled abuse had pulled her horse sharply across the road in front of me to hurl abuse at the driver coming towards us both, because he was driving to fast and he had caused the car overtaking them to brake sharply. I asked (politely) why she was shouting at him her reply 'he was doing 90 mile an hr you st*pid *******ing b***h and what the ****** has it got to do with you?'

I pointed out it was difficult to see them on the horses at that time of day when they were wearing nothing to make themselves and the horses visible and maybe if he had seen them in time he would have slowed down and then drove off. Did not bother to point out that if I been overtaking them when she pulled her horse across the road without looking the horse and car would have collided.

they ride past my house and the yard I work on almost everyday and treat the roads as if they own them, it pees drivers off and they become less tolerant of horses on the roads.

 

[Ellie and Wiebe]

:O How stupid! I'm almost 16 yet hack out in full hi-viz and only in full day light with my mobile on! Silly, silly people!!

 

[sarahann1]

Because their brains aren't fully wired up yet, true story. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml

 

[SatansLittleHelper]

Makes me cringe. ..Im 32 and always wear a hi viz vest as a minimum. So many people round where I live just dont bother at all...bloody scary!!!! :eek3:

 

[OldNag]

I pass one regularly on way home from the yard (she is not from our yard). No hi viz, hacks at dusk in dark colours and is ALWAYS texting. She looks about 17/18?.

 

[loopiesteff]

There are a few near me too. Dark bays, black clothing, no hats, texting on phone, no feet in stirrups, rein in 1 hand on the buckle. Makes me cringe! Especially when I know one of the horses is a fruit loop ready to explode at any moment!!!

 

[tinap]

not just teenagers, I could easily show you approx 20 riders that are over the age of 30 who do exactly the same thing as you've just described around here, even better, some hack on a very busy road where there's lorries, and some even cross an A road, yes all in the dusk, with no hi-viz, in dark clothes and most of them on dark horses, so not just teenagers that think they're invincible

I agree! I actually know more adults that don't/won't wear hi viz than teenagers. In fact most of them won't even wear a hat either.

I nearly had a very nasty accident with the worst local offender who was riding at dusk when it was really hammering it down. Dressed in black on a dark bay horse, no hat no hi viz. I only saw them when the front of my car nearly hit the horse as it was rearing & spinning in the middle of the road. Apparently he 'didn't like rain'.

Idiot.

 

[Casey76]

Just like one of the girls from the stables in my village. Out hacking with no saddle and just a headcollar with no hat on. Her horse is pretty unflappable, but he is still a horse, and she was riding down the main street of the village, not out on the farm tracks

 

[Mardy Mare]

I'll happily admit I was a very stupid teenager, even before my teens!

Riding out bare back and in head collars. Riding with just a patterned saddle cloth on the pony (no surcingle) because I wanted to pretend I was an red indian

Handstands against pony, leapfrogging onto pony, jumping bareback and in head collar. Cantering pony back from the field in just head collar, single rope- not hat

Teaching pony to rear on command

Taking my mums friends 18yo horse XC in the field (I had permission to ride him but he hadnt done XC for years- he loved it!)

My mum always always drummed in the hat wearing but I still didn't bother on occasion. She was constantly telling me off!

Now I'm 30, I take safety very seriously and always wear high viz, helmet etc. My attitude is totally different and I cringe at some of the stuff I used to do.

However, I wish I still had my fearless attitude I had as a teenager!

 

[iggyoggy]

Teenagers like to rebel,the more you tell them,the more they do the opposite

 

[Albertus H]

Its also totally NOT cool to wear a hi-viz! Just the way it is unfortunately. I used to go out with mine on then tie it round my waist as soon as I got out the gates! Its a street cred thing I think.

 

[cambrica]

When I was a teenager there was no such thing as hi -vis and my riding hat had an elastic strap! It's a bit like wearing a seatbelt though, we never used to have to but now you feel very vulnerable if you don't. Hopefully it's that mentality I have engrained into my kids. They wouldn't dare step out of the yard without hi-vis.

 

[fburton]

Undeveloped frontal lobe function, apparently. There was a TED talk about this recently.

ETA: http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_jayne_blakemore_the_mysterious_workings_of_the_adolescent_brain.html

ETA2: As a teenager, I occasionally engaged in play-fighting with horses. :eek3: Bonkers!

 

[awilliams]

Don't think it's just a teenager thing. I live behind my old yard and see people wearing no hi viz and no saddles/tack, in light or dark, even my old yo not wearing hi-viz (and sometimes even without a hat! ) Which I really don't understand. On my current yard we're not allowed to leave without hi-viz on. Regardless of age I don't see how people don't want to be seen when out on the roads and the safety of their horses.

 

[fatpiggy]

Because their brains aren't fully wired up yet, true story. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-teen-brain-still-under-construction/index.shtml

Funny how that doesn't apply to them all though. I did as I was told as a teenager, end of, or I knew my backside would suffer. Funnily enough I was quite able to get up at 6.45am to go to school too but it seems today's teenagers are medically unable. I think the fact that my parents made sure I was in bed by 9.30pm might have had something to do with it and of course there were no TVs allowed, and mobiles and computers were a thing of the future.

As to it just being teenagers and/or horseriders and I can assure that I see quite a few 20-30 year old cyclists on my way to work in the mornings who quite happily ride along in black or navy clothes, no lights and no reflectors and nothing fluoro. My car is bright red but I still put my lights on. They are going to learn a very hard lesson if they carry on and that is that the law will give them no protection whatsoever in the event of an accident. Makes me so cross along with their antics at red lights, crossings and so on because they give all cyclists a really bad name. Some of us know the law and act in line with it.

 

[AshTay]

What's twoking?

 

[its_noodles]

(im not a teenager) but i did get caught out one time riding back from the beach during high tide crossing a raging river. the river was up to my knees and it wasnt funny. i was actually dangerous...