Lesson 4 Technical Information

Technical Information - Lesson 4

Lesson 4: Safe Driving

✅ Describe hand position on steering wheel

  • No curling of thumbs (to prevent steering wheel torque from breaking a hand bone in rough terrain) Hand-over-hand steering is used for making turns. Reach across the steering wheel to grasp the opposite side and pull the wheel over the top, repeating as needed
  • Shuffle steering, also known as pushpull, involves pulling down on one side of the steering wheel with one hand while pushing up with the other hand on the opposite side. The two hands come together but never cross, they continually shuffle to return to 10 and 2 or 9 and 3 o'clock hand positioning

✅ Describe left-foot braking (two-foot control)

  • Left-foot braking (two-foot control) allows you to get over an obstacle more smoothly without as much start-and-stop jerkiness. Left-foot braking (two-foot control) also reduces the suspension compression that happens when you only use the right-foot brake and slow the whole SxS.

Best applications:

    1. Slow maneuvers
    1. Rock/obstacle climbing/off-camber
    1. Increased control
    1. TRAILER LOADING / UNLOADING

✅ Courteous and Ethical Behavior

  • Arizona is the sixth largest state and includes approximately 73 million acres or roughly 113,909 square miles of diverse habitat. Riding on public lands is a privilege, responsible riders know that the best way to protect existing riding privileges is to stay on designated roads and tails and act respectfully and ethically towards other users, wildlife, and the environment

  • To protect soils and vegetation, SxSs operators should make every effort to stay on designated trails and in designated areas

  • Do not participate in cross-country travel. Other riders will see the tracks assume it is a new trail, and further damage the area

  • Habitats take a long time to recover, particularly desert habitats. Damage to soil and vegetation from irresponsible SxS use may last for several years. Some arrears may never recover because of the impact of erosion

    • Streams and their banks are exceptionally fragile
    • Stay in the middle of trails to avoid widening them
    • Don't chase wildlife. It is both illegal and extremely stressful to wildlife and also could lead to personal injury and property damage