Rise in ATV-Accident Deaths
Intensifies Debate Over Safety
By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
February 15, 2008; Page A12
Deaths in all-terrain-vehicle accidents are on the rise, a trend that is exacerbating tensions over pending safety regulations as the popularity of the four-wheeled vehicles surges.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission yesterday estimated that 870 people died in ATV wrecks in 2005, up from 860 in 2004 and 606 in 2002. The death toll likely will increase as more reports are confirmed.
Medical groups and consumer activists seized on these figures to support their push for stricter ATV regulations, particularly those aimed at children under age 16, who sustained nearly 30% of serious ATV-related injuries in 2006.
"How much more proof do we need that children under 16 don't belong on ATVs," said Renée Jenkins, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Like many safety advocates, Ms. Jenkins scolded the CPSC for putting more emphasis on training youth riders rather than restricting their ability to operate four-wheelers.
Yet the CPSC data also provided some ammunition for ATV manufacturers, who maintain their products are inherently safe. Deaths are rising because the overall use of ATVs is increasing, but the risk of death has remained the same, the report said. Even as the number of four-wheelers roughly doubled between 2000 and 2005, the estimated risk of death remained about one in 10,000.
The report also found that injuries to children under 16 are decreasing from recent highs.
"This continued downward trend is encouraging and again shows that the commitment...to rider education, parental supervision and state legislation is working," said Paul Vitrano, executive vice president of the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, a trade group.
Meanwhile, results from a separate CPSC study on youth fatalities will feed a debate over whether manufacturers can produce larger youth models targeted at teenagers. The study found that speed and collisions were bigger factors than rollovers.
Last year, manufacturers adopted new standards paving the way for a new class of "transitional" ATVs for 14- to 15-year-olds that can travel as fast as 38 miles per hour, above the cap of 30 mph. Consumer groups object to rolling out more powerful ATVs for teenagers, and the staff of the CPSC has been cool to this approach, as well.
Write to Christopher Conkey at
christopher.conkey@wsj.com
