Post by Wyldcomfort on Mar 11, 2007 8:44:33 GMT -5
Oregonian
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Dying to ride full-size ATVs
An epidemic of child deaths and injuries on all-terrain vehicles should persuade Oregon lawmakers to restrict young riders
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A dult all-terrain vehicles are dangerous for kids. The ATV industry admits it. Emergency room doctors know it. More than two dozen recent (30 since 1984 through 2005) child deaths and scores of serious injuries in Oregon prove it.
Yet Oregon law still allows kids to operate the largest, most powerful ATVs. It also permits children, of any age, to legally ride the four-wheel machines.
That's just not safe. Look at the facts on the ground: ATV and off-road motorcycle accidents in Oregon have exploded by 76 percent in recent years, according to a study led by Dr. Richard Mullins, chief of trauma/critical care at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. The study found that kids younger than 15 suffer about 20 percent of off-road injuries. (Still trying to get this report - a million excuses why we can't - total runaround)
The state Health Division reports that 25 children died in Oregon ATV accidents during the six years beginning in 1999, with eight kids killed in 2005 alone. (Again, CPSC database shows a total of 30 from 1984 thru 2005 and there were five listed in 2005 - not eight) The Mullins study found that half of injured riders treated at OHSU suffered head, neck or face injuries, and the number of patients requiring spine operations has increased seven-fold.
The ATV industry and its most vocal supporters insist that there's nothing to see here, that legislators should just move on, that voluntary training and education, and parental supervision, are sufficient. (and why are we drafting a bill if we don't thing there is anything to see!!)
But it's not, and doctors see the bloody, broken evidence in their emergency rooms. Though the government can or should do little in response to ATV accidents involving adults, Oregon, other states and Congress should pass laws limiting ATV use by children.
By now, it is painfully clear that children under the age of 16 do not belong on adult-sized ATVs that can weigh 600 pounds and top speeds of 60 mph.
Several ATV safety bills are now idling in the Oregon Legislature; the most important would prohibit children under the age of 16 from operating adult-size ATVs and ban kids under the age of 8 from riding on any of the machines. The bill is hardly radical: It exempts off-road motorcycles and, in terms of children 8 and older, would codify in law what the ATV industry itself generally recommends. (The industry does not recommend or support this Bill) Yet some ATV riders are bitterly criticizing not just the bill but also its proponents.
Foes have threatened to recall one of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland. An Oregon mother who backs the bill, Sue DeLoretto-Rabe, whose son, Kyle, died in an ATV accident in 2002, has received cruel, unsigned e-mails (can you really have unsigned emails??) that attack her support for restrictions and blame her for her son's death.(who should be blamed - who should take responsibility?? - she bought the bike, rejected safety training, let the kid ride unsupervised)
Of course, those few cold voices don't speak for the vast majority of parents who enjoy riding ATVs with their children, do it safely and oppose any interference with their family traditions. That's an understandable position, but it does not begin to address the epidemic of child death and injury on adult ATVs.
Page 2 of 2
The critics also complain that ATVs are being singled out for regulation. In fact, ATVs are a notable exception to existing laws that set reasonable age limits to drive automobiles, motorboats and personal watercraft such as Jet Skis.
The deaths and awful injuries suffered by children can't be ignored any longer, or met with more vague promises of better "education." Look at the Oregon Health Division's brief summaries of just three of the more than two dozen Oregon child deaths:
"Age 6: Child was home on farm riding adult-sized . . . ATV (est. 600 pounds). Unsupervised, rollover." (Folks said he had been riding that bike everyday for a year - a five year old on a 500cc Polaris?? alone?)
"Age 12: One of three passengers on ATV riding on gravel country road. Vehicle rollover on (adult-sized ATV). Was 5 feet tall, 110 pounds." (Unsupervised)
"Age 13: Single passenger riding on adult-size (ATV) at sand dunes in Florence on family vacation. . . . Was 5 feet 1 inches tall, 90 pounds." (Unsupervised?- the guy from the paper says his folks were behind him- but they were not with him and he was going really fast on a Grizzly) Can someone down in Florence get the police report please??)
These tragic accidents have one thing in common: Children thrown from adult-sized ATVs. How about SUPERVISION
Under the narrow law now before the Legislature, kids ages 8 to 16 would be allowed to ride ATVs, but restricted to safer, less powerful youth models. The law wouldn't prevent all ATV accidents. It wouldn't stop family ATV traditions. (Put my adult size child on a child's size ATV and call it safe??)
But it would save young lives. Let's just look at how many lives it would save. Based on CPSC info, the least biased and most accurate - not manipulated or withheld, How many lives would this law save in the ten years of relatively complete reporting (1995-2005)??
There were 16 deaths, six illegally on public roads (4 of those without helmets), there were 7 on private land (one of which was a seven year old bystander) 2 without helmets, there were two at the Dunes with helmets and we are waiting to hear if there was supervision (the law requires). One in the desert - getting more info.
So we have 16 - 6 illegally riding on roads (4 no helmets breaking the 2nd law) (why would they follow a third) =10 - 7 on private lands (law wouldn't apply) = 3 - 1 died from asphyxiation (likely alone) not sure if public or private lands) = 2 that were riding on public lands, with helmets - but supervision is unclear. Both boys went over huge drop offs and how much difference does it make between a 300 pound kid quad to a five hundred pound adult quad when you are falling over 25ft. down? Maybe this bill could have saved them - but how many kids could have been saved by supervision? A parent actually leading the way - setting the pace, checking out the terrain?
As for the age restriction of age eight - how many children under the age of eight have died in Oregon in the past 10 years on public property - NONE. The youngest child on public property was a ten year old riding on a road with no helmet. So I want to know how many children, riding with their parents, under constant supervision with helmets and safety gear are dying in this "epidemic"? What is unacceptable is 4 out of 5 children under 13 that died from asphyxia. Where were the parents??? These are the true tragedies that the media and legislators are choosing to ignore. If they really cared about kids - wouldn't they write good legislation to protect them rather than feel good cover the guilt crap that does nothing but steer us down the wrong path......and the children will keep dying. Start protecting the children by holding the parents accountable. Sorry for the rant but this is such bull. Maybe we should start planning a Saturday Rally in downtown Salem with all of our rigs, kids, and quads....and maybe it is time to check into the legitimacy in the numbers game with Safekids and the State of Oregon - it is our taxpayer dollars being used.....
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Dying to ride full-size ATVs
An epidemic of child deaths and injuries on all-terrain vehicles should persuade Oregon lawmakers to restrict young riders
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A dult all-terrain vehicles are dangerous for kids. The ATV industry admits it. Emergency room doctors know it. More than two dozen recent (30 since 1984 through 2005) child deaths and scores of serious injuries in Oregon prove it.
Yet Oregon law still allows kids to operate the largest, most powerful ATVs. It also permits children, of any age, to legally ride the four-wheel machines.
That's just not safe. Look at the facts on the ground: ATV and off-road motorcycle accidents in Oregon have exploded by 76 percent in recent years, according to a study led by Dr. Richard Mullins, chief of trauma/critical care at Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. The study found that kids younger than 15 suffer about 20 percent of off-road injuries. (Still trying to get this report - a million excuses why we can't - total runaround)
The state Health Division reports that 25 children died in Oregon ATV accidents during the six years beginning in 1999, with eight kids killed in 2005 alone. (Again, CPSC database shows a total of 30 from 1984 thru 2005 and there were five listed in 2005 - not eight) The Mullins study found that half of injured riders treated at OHSU suffered head, neck or face injuries, and the number of patients requiring spine operations has increased seven-fold.
The ATV industry and its most vocal supporters insist that there's nothing to see here, that legislators should just move on, that voluntary training and education, and parental supervision, are sufficient. (and why are we drafting a bill if we don't thing there is anything to see!!)
But it's not, and doctors see the bloody, broken evidence in their emergency rooms. Though the government can or should do little in response to ATV accidents involving adults, Oregon, other states and Congress should pass laws limiting ATV use by children.
By now, it is painfully clear that children under the age of 16 do not belong on adult-sized ATVs that can weigh 600 pounds and top speeds of 60 mph.
Several ATV safety bills are now idling in the Oregon Legislature; the most important would prohibit children under the age of 16 from operating adult-size ATVs and ban kids under the age of 8 from riding on any of the machines. The bill is hardly radical: It exempts off-road motorcycles and, in terms of children 8 and older, would codify in law what the ATV industry itself generally recommends. (The industry does not recommend or support this Bill) Yet some ATV riders are bitterly criticizing not just the bill but also its proponents.
Foes have threatened to recall one of the bill's co-sponsors, Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland. An Oregon mother who backs the bill, Sue DeLoretto-Rabe, whose son, Kyle, died in an ATV accident in 2002, has received cruel, unsigned e-mails (can you really have unsigned emails??) that attack her support for restrictions and blame her for her son's death.(who should be blamed - who should take responsibility?? - she bought the bike, rejected safety training, let the kid ride unsupervised)
Of course, those few cold voices don't speak for the vast majority of parents who enjoy riding ATVs with their children, do it safely and oppose any interference with their family traditions. That's an understandable position, but it does not begin to address the epidemic of child death and injury on adult ATVs.
Page 2 of 2
The critics also complain that ATVs are being singled out for regulation. In fact, ATVs are a notable exception to existing laws that set reasonable age limits to drive automobiles, motorboats and personal watercraft such as Jet Skis.
The deaths and awful injuries suffered by children can't be ignored any longer, or met with more vague promises of better "education." Look at the Oregon Health Division's brief summaries of just three of the more than two dozen Oregon child deaths:
"Age 6: Child was home on farm riding adult-sized . . . ATV (est. 600 pounds). Unsupervised, rollover." (Folks said he had been riding that bike everyday for a year - a five year old on a 500cc Polaris?? alone?)
"Age 12: One of three passengers on ATV riding on gravel country road. Vehicle rollover on (adult-sized ATV). Was 5 feet tall, 110 pounds." (Unsupervised)
"Age 13: Single passenger riding on adult-size (ATV) at sand dunes in Florence on family vacation. . . . Was 5 feet 1 inches tall, 90 pounds." (Unsupervised?- the guy from the paper says his folks were behind him- but they were not with him and he was going really fast on a Grizzly) Can someone down in Florence get the police report please??)
These tragic accidents have one thing in common: Children thrown from adult-sized ATVs. How about SUPERVISION
Under the narrow law now before the Legislature, kids ages 8 to 16 would be allowed to ride ATVs, but restricted to safer, less powerful youth models. The law wouldn't prevent all ATV accidents. It wouldn't stop family ATV traditions. (Put my adult size child on a child's size ATV and call it safe??)
But it would save young lives. Let's just look at how many lives it would save. Based on CPSC info, the least biased and most accurate - not manipulated or withheld, How many lives would this law save in the ten years of relatively complete reporting (1995-2005)??
There were 16 deaths, six illegally on public roads (4 of those without helmets), there were 7 on private land (one of which was a seven year old bystander) 2 without helmets, there were two at the Dunes with helmets and we are waiting to hear if there was supervision (the law requires). One in the desert - getting more info.
So we have 16 - 6 illegally riding on roads (4 no helmets breaking the 2nd law) (why would they follow a third) =10 - 7 on private lands (law wouldn't apply) = 3 - 1 died from asphyxiation (likely alone) not sure if public or private lands) = 2 that were riding on public lands, with helmets - but supervision is unclear. Both boys went over huge drop offs and how much difference does it make between a 300 pound kid quad to a five hundred pound adult quad when you are falling over 25ft. down? Maybe this bill could have saved them - but how many kids could have been saved by supervision? A parent actually leading the way - setting the pace, checking out the terrain?
As for the age restriction of age eight - how many children under the age of eight have died in Oregon in the past 10 years on public property - NONE. The youngest child on public property was a ten year old riding on a road with no helmet. So I want to know how many children, riding with their parents, under constant supervision with helmets and safety gear are dying in this "epidemic"? What is unacceptable is 4 out of 5 children under 13 that died from asphyxia. Where were the parents??? These are the true tragedies that the media and legislators are choosing to ignore. If they really cared about kids - wouldn't they write good legislation to protect them rather than feel good cover the guilt crap that does nothing but steer us down the wrong path......and the children will keep dying. Start protecting the children by holding the parents accountable. Sorry for the rant but this is such bull. Maybe we should start planning a Saturday Rally in downtown Salem with all of our rigs, kids, and quads....and maybe it is time to check into the legitimacy in the numbers game with Safekids and the State of Oregon - it is our taxpayer dollars being used.....