Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

A Wisconsin family is picking up the pieces after a tragic weekend, when 3-year-old Andrew M. Bahl was killed in a Yamaha Rhino rollover accident. The boy was a passenger on a vehicle driven by his father, Bradley J. Bahl, age 29.

According to reports on local television station NBC15, the rollover occured on private property in the area of Lancaster, Wis., on Sunday morning. The report says the Rhino rolled over, pinning young Andrew. The boy was transported to the hospital by local emergency response personnel and then life-flighted to Madison, Wis., where he passed away. His father suffered a broken leg in the accident.

The family, no doubt, suffers a broken heart.

Sadly, this is just the latest in a series of tragic events associated with the Yamaha Rhino, which is suspected of design flaws that make the vehicle fundamentally unstable. While the details of the Wisconsin accident have not been released, information on the company’s web site, www.yamaha-motor.com and in the Yamaha Rhino Owner’s Manual acknowledges that “abrupt maneuvers or aggressive driving have caused rollovers – even on flat, open areas.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family.

Please, please use extreme caution if you own and operate a vehicle of this nature, and do not allow very young children to ride with you. Parents are certainly going to be careful when navigating a Rhino with a child aboard, but experience has shown that even the most cautious operator can find himself in the midst of sudden tragedy when an unstable vehicle rolls over and helpless passengers are thrown.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.