Face To Face: Which Way To Turn?

Filed in archive ATV Safety , Off-Road on January 3, 2007

When you're on the road in the United States, you drive on the right side of the road. The lanes are (usually) defined by paint or a barrier of some type. We all know what side we're supposed to be on, so why don't we think about that when we're off-roading too?

Something that happens nearly every time I'm off-roading with other people around is at some point I find myself coming head to head with someone coming the other direction, and they more often than not look surprised and confused about which way they should go to avoid a head on crash.

When you're off-roading, and come face to face with other off-roaders, you should almost always turn right (or go to the right) to avoid conflict. From what I've seen, this is one of the single biggest reasons two vehicles collide off-roading causing injuries. It's also one of the easiest to avoid where multiple vehicles are involved. There are no hard fast rules for every situation, and each occurrence has it's own peculiarities. So your response is dictated by the current situation.