Four people airlifted with serious injuries from Busco Beach ATV park over holiday weekend
Emergency officials in Wayne County say four people were airlifted with serious injuries from the Busco Beach ATV park over the weekend.
In the wake of the accidents, WRAL News has been pressing the park’s new owners about their safety procedures.
This year’s Fall Bash event brought huge crowds to Busco Beach, where riders hit the trails over four days for the holiday weekend.
During that time, Wayne County EMS leaders say they responded to multiple accidents at the park, and four people were taken by helicopter to the hospital with serious injuries.
Wayne EMS hasn’t provided updates on the conditions of those victims or said what led up to the accidents.
“I mean it’s unfortunate, these are calculated risks that we take out here,” park visitor Steve Patrick said. “These are very powerful machines, and they can do damage.”
This is not the first time there have been severe accidents at the park: a 16-year-old boy had his arm partially amputated last April after an ATV wreck at Busco Beach.
Emergency officials say since 2000, 13 people have died at the park; seven of them have been killed in ATV crashes, while six of the deaths happened by drowning.
Last week, Busco Beach announced the park is under new ownership.
WRAL News reached out to the new owners, asking for a response to this weekend’s injuries, and if they plan to implement any safety changes at Busco Beach.
The owners told WRAL News they’re working on a response.
“I’ve seen a lot of safe people out here,” Patrick said. “Obviously there’s thousands of riders, and I think if you play the odds, extrapolate that over all the riders in the country, in the nation, unfortunately you’re going to have accidents.”
Some riders told WRAL News they feel Busco Beach is a well-run park, but the sport brings some unavoidable risks for riders.
To cut down on those risks, they recommend wearing a helmet, keeping speed in check and never drinking while on an ATV.
“Obviously getting muddy, but just being safe about it and cautious and really trying to keep that first,” Patrick said.
In Wake County, Durham police and other local law enforcement leaders have been cracking down on illegal dirt bike activity across the Triangle.
A recently created task force identified dozens of people and helped file more than 1,000 charges in a string of illegal dirt bike and ATV riders in the Triangle.
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