Deaths From ATV'S Continue To Rise
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Deaths from all-terrain-vehicles (ATV's) due to personal injuries received in accidents involving are continually on the rise, a trend which has led to increased tensions over pending safety regulations as the popularity of the vehicles continues to rise.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an estimated 870 people died in ATV wrecks in 2005, an increase from 860 in the year 2004 and 606 in the year 2002. More reports remain unconfirmed that will likely increase the death toll.
Medical and consumer activist groups are using these figures as support for their push for ATV regulations to become stricter, especially for children under the age of 16. Children 16 years old and under accounted for approximately 30 percent of serious ATV-related personal injuries in the year 2006.
However, ATV manufacturers have also used part of the CPSC to support their argument that the vehicles are inherently safe. The report says that despite the rise in popularity of ATVs, the risk of serious personal injury and death has remained the same.
At the same time, the results of a separate study by the CPSC on youth fatalities will add fodder to a debate over whether or not larger youth models targeted at teenagers can be produced. Speed and collisions were found by the study to be bigger factors than rollovers.
Last year, new standards were adopted by manufacturers for a new class of "transitional" ATVs for 14-to 15-year-olds, which can reach speeds as high as 38 miles per hour, above the 30 mph cap. Consumer groups opposed the production of more powerful ATVs for teenagers, and CPSC staff has also been cool to the idea.