By LEONARD GRAY

Another devastating tragedy has struck a family in the River Parishes, this time the death of a 13-year-old Gramercy boy, riding his new four-wheeler in an unauthorized area.

All-terrain vehicles and similar three-wheelers and dirt bikes and the like are equipped with powerful engines. No engine, however, is proof against the unexpected and the inexperienced.

These devices are popular among children, so much so it’s common to see them buzzing around neighborhoods, sometimes with several children clinging to them. No seat belts. No horn. No brake lights. No identifying characteristics.

In this latest tragedy, though, it was a matter of being in the wrong place.

All the laws in the world cannot prevent such a horrifying event. People who operate such vehicles will do as they please, unless they get caught, or a tragedy occurs.

The law is that no such vehicles are allowed on public streets, or on the levees or on railroad tracks. There are any number of safety considerations involved here and not just for the driver.

Here, it involves parents refusing to allow their children on such vehicles, especially children under the legal driving age, who have had no formal driver’s education or hold a driver’s license.

The driving age is set where it is, because the law feels younger children are not mature enough to drive motor vehicles safely. There are exceptions, of course, but the reasoning is sound.

Unfortunately, sometimes people fail to remember this. And sometimes, people get hurt. And sometimes people die.

What the law can do is educate the public and what communities can do is provide safe, designated areas for the operation of these vehicles.

The Bonnet Carre Spillway has a designated area solely for the operation of ATVs.

However, children learn from adults, and if adults operate these vehicles in an illegal or unsafe manner, there’s an excellent chance their children will as well.

No parent should ever have to bury their child. That is not the natural order of things. However, events such as this remind us all of how quickly life can be taken away.

LEONARD GRAY is assistant managing editor of L’Observateur.