ATV casualties soar; officials say kids involved too often

RENO -- Injuries and deaths from accidents involving all-terrain vehicles continue to rise each year, and a significant number involve youths, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Many states have lagged in regulating ATV safety, including Nevada, said Dr. Denise Dowd, co-director of the Center for Childhood Safety at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. Dowd also has testified before Congress as a representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics about the dangers of ATVs to children.

"Very few states require licensing for individuals, very few have age restrictions," Dowd said. "As an ER physician, I've seen kids as young as 5 years old come in with devastating injuries.

"There's a reason we don't allow kids to drive cars. You can't educate a 9-year-old kid to be safe in an ATV. They just don't have the maturity or judgment to operate these kinds of vehicles."

If sales are any indication, off-highway vehicles, OHVs, are in full throttle. Even with a slight dip in sales from 2004 to 2005, all-terrain vehicles -- a popular OHV segment -- still enjoy brisk sales.

Sales of ATVs in the U.S. have jumped from 293,000 in 1995 to 780,433 in 2005, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, whose data doesn't include sales of nontraditional Asian imports.

Popularity comes with a price. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates ATV-related incidents accounted for 136,700 injuries at U.S. emergency rooms in 2005. ATV injuries accounted for 52,200 such injuries in 1995.

In Nevada, 275 ATV-related off-road injuries were reported by hospitals in 2005, up from 220 in 2004, according to the state health division.

The highest number of injuries were seen in the 15 to 24 age group, which accounted for 85 accidents or nearly one-third of all injuries reported. There also were 31 injuries involving kids age 14 and younger.

In Nevada, nine deaths were reported in 2004, according to the state health division.

Nevada ATV regulations are among the most lax in the United States, according to the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America. Nevada law prohibits ATVs on highways except under special circumstances, including emergencies or using highways that are trail connectors for up to two miles. Otherwise, ATV riders in Nevada have a lot of leeway.

The state doesn't require registration and titling of ATV's, or a license for operating the vehicles. With the exception of on-road ATV use, Nevada doesn't have minimum age requirements or helmet laws. The state also has no restrictions on passengers. ATV riders in Nevada don't need to take a safety course.