Post by Wyldcomfort on Aug 30, 2007 23:56:27 GMT -5
Here is another one!!
More kids die on ATVs than bikes, study says
August 16, 2007
Markian Hawryluk, The Bend Bulletin
The death toll of children killed riding all-terrain vehicles, known as ATVs, now exceeds the number fatalities of kids riding bicycles, according to a new analysis released by Concerned Families for ATV Safety.
Although many more kids ride bicycles than ATVs, the analysis conducted by Dr. Jim Helmkamp, director of the West Virginia University Injury Control Research Center, found that from 2000 to 2004, ATV-related accidents killed an average of 171 per 100,000 children 15 or younger each year, compared with 152 killed in bicycle-related accidents.
While ATV deaths increased 24 percent over the five-year period, bicycle deaths dropped 18 percent, Helmkamp said.
"There's really no reason to avoid common sense, low-cost steps to reduce and prevent the number of injuries and deaths among kids from ATV accidents," says Sue Rabe, co-founder of Concerned Families for ATV Safety.
Rabe's 10-year-old son Kyle died in 2002 when the 500-pound ATV he was riding outside their Turner, Ore. home flipped over, crushing the 80-pound boy.
"Our organization believes Congress needs to conduct a thorough investigation into the full costs of child ATV accidents with an eye toward passing the recommended safety standards of the American Academy of Pediatrics," she says.
Those standards would keep children younger than 16 off all ATVs.
The group had initially advocated allowing children younger than 16 to ride child-sized ATVs but has since toughened its stance.
The group's leaders said they had urged the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to keep children off ATVs, but were told by commissioners that by the same logic, they'd have to ban bicycle riding.
"The ATV industry argues that the number of child deaths increases each year because ridership keeps going up," says Carolyn Anderson, co-founder of the ATV safety group. "The findings in this study show this not to be true. In fact, the death rate is increasing at a disproportionately high rate."
In his previous research, Helmkamp found that 44 states, including Oregon, have passed some ATV standards, including age requirements, size requirements, helmet use, or other specific safety requirements. Seven states and the District of Columbia have no legislation whatsoever. He found the seven states with no standards had a fatality rate twice that of those that had implemented safety requirements. States that have no helmet requirements have triple the fatality rate of states that do.
The fatality study mirrors findings of a study conducted by Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in February. The study found a stark increase in the number of Oregonians, both children and adults, injured on ATVs and off-road motorcycles.
Researchers compared the number of injuries reported to the Oregon Trauma Registry in two periods, from 1998 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2003. Injuries from the first period to the second increased 78 percent while fatalities increased from four to 10. ATV riders accounted for 68 percent of those injuries.
At OHSU's own trauma registry, injuries increased from 80 in the period from 1998 to 2001, to 209 from 2002 to 2005.
"This is a disturbing trend," says Dr. Richard Mullins, professor of surgery at the OHSU School of Medicine. "Injuries sustained in these accidents can lead to lifelong disabilities, permanent disfigurement and even death."
The study also found that the severity of injuries seemed to be on the rise. More than twice as many patients required care for severe injuries in the later period of the study, including a seven-fold increase in the number of spine operations. In both registries, children accounted for more than one in five injuries.
"A particularly disturbing trend appears to be that young children are being injured and killed operating a vehicle that they cannot safely handle," says Dr. Jerris Hedges, an OHSU professor of emergency medicine and co-author of the study. "It is particularly disturbing that dangerous riding behavior - leaps and acrobatic activities - is encouraged in advertising."
The study found that injuries were more likely to happen on summer weekends, suggesting the ATV injuries are linked to recreational riding rather than work activities, and more likely to occur in rural regions of the state. From 1998 to 2003, the Oregon Trauma Registry recorded 30 off-road accidents in Deschutes County, eight in Jefferson County and six in Crook County.
"We are not trying to discourage the use of these vehicles," Mullins says. "However, we feel it is important for people to understand that these are not toys. While protective clothing, safety equipment and training can reduce injuries, they do not eliminate the risk involved."
ATV manufacturers have argued that the increasing injury and death rate may be due to the influx of more powerful ATVs made in China and not subject to voluntary safety standards accepted by the major U.S. ATV makers. Last month, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced legislation that would require all companies who manufacture and sell ATVs in the United States to adhere to those standards.
"ATVs that do not meet these stringent product safety standards create serious safety hazards for those who use them, especially our children," Stevens said in a statement announcing the legislation.
Concerned Families for ATV Safety doesn't buy the industry's claim.
"They argue that unsafe Chinese models are flooding the U.S. market and are the main reason for child deaths and serious injuries from ATV accidents," Anderson says. "If the industry has evidence to back up that claim, they should let us see it. The truth is that since 2000, 97 percent of ATV recalls came from the same companies that are complaining about Chinese imports."
More kids die on ATVs than bikes, study says
August 16, 2007
Markian Hawryluk, The Bend Bulletin
The death toll of children killed riding all-terrain vehicles, known as ATVs, now exceeds the number fatalities of kids riding bicycles, according to a new analysis released by Concerned Families for ATV Safety.
Although many more kids ride bicycles than ATVs, the analysis conducted by Dr. Jim Helmkamp, director of the West Virginia University Injury Control Research Center, found that from 2000 to 2004, ATV-related accidents killed an average of 171 per 100,000 children 15 or younger each year, compared with 152 killed in bicycle-related accidents.
While ATV deaths increased 24 percent over the five-year period, bicycle deaths dropped 18 percent, Helmkamp said.
"There's really no reason to avoid common sense, low-cost steps to reduce and prevent the number of injuries and deaths among kids from ATV accidents," says Sue Rabe, co-founder of Concerned Families for ATV Safety.
Rabe's 10-year-old son Kyle died in 2002 when the 500-pound ATV he was riding outside their Turner, Ore. home flipped over, crushing the 80-pound boy.
"Our organization believes Congress needs to conduct a thorough investigation into the full costs of child ATV accidents with an eye toward passing the recommended safety standards of the American Academy of Pediatrics," she says.
Those standards would keep children younger than 16 off all ATVs.
The group had initially advocated allowing children younger than 16 to ride child-sized ATVs but has since toughened its stance.
The group's leaders said they had urged the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to keep children off ATVs, but were told by commissioners that by the same logic, they'd have to ban bicycle riding.
"The ATV industry argues that the number of child deaths increases each year because ridership keeps going up," says Carolyn Anderson, co-founder of the ATV safety group. "The findings in this study show this not to be true. In fact, the death rate is increasing at a disproportionately high rate."
In his previous research, Helmkamp found that 44 states, including Oregon, have passed some ATV standards, including age requirements, size requirements, helmet use, or other specific safety requirements. Seven states and the District of Columbia have no legislation whatsoever. He found the seven states with no standards had a fatality rate twice that of those that had implemented safety requirements. States that have no helmet requirements have triple the fatality rate of states that do.
The fatality study mirrors findings of a study conducted by Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in February. The study found a stark increase in the number of Oregonians, both children and adults, injured on ATVs and off-road motorcycles.
Researchers compared the number of injuries reported to the Oregon Trauma Registry in two periods, from 1998 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2003. Injuries from the first period to the second increased 78 percent while fatalities increased from four to 10. ATV riders accounted for 68 percent of those injuries.
At OHSU's own trauma registry, injuries increased from 80 in the period from 1998 to 2001, to 209 from 2002 to 2005.
"This is a disturbing trend," says Dr. Richard Mullins, professor of surgery at the OHSU School of Medicine. "Injuries sustained in these accidents can lead to lifelong disabilities, permanent disfigurement and even death."
The study also found that the severity of injuries seemed to be on the rise. More than twice as many patients required care for severe injuries in the later period of the study, including a seven-fold increase in the number of spine operations. In both registries, children accounted for more than one in five injuries.
"A particularly disturbing trend appears to be that young children are being injured and killed operating a vehicle that they cannot safely handle," says Dr. Jerris Hedges, an OHSU professor of emergency medicine and co-author of the study. "It is particularly disturbing that dangerous riding behavior - leaps and acrobatic activities - is encouraged in advertising."
The study found that injuries were more likely to happen on summer weekends, suggesting the ATV injuries are linked to recreational riding rather than work activities, and more likely to occur in rural regions of the state. From 1998 to 2003, the Oregon Trauma Registry recorded 30 off-road accidents in Deschutes County, eight in Jefferson County and six in Crook County.
"We are not trying to discourage the use of these vehicles," Mullins says. "However, we feel it is important for people to understand that these are not toys. While protective clothing, safety equipment and training can reduce injuries, they do not eliminate the risk involved."
ATV manufacturers have argued that the increasing injury and death rate may be due to the influx of more powerful ATVs made in China and not subject to voluntary safety standards accepted by the major U.S. ATV makers. Last month, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) introduced legislation that would require all companies who manufacture and sell ATVs in the United States to adhere to those standards.
"ATVs that do not meet these stringent product safety standards create serious safety hazards for those who use them, especially our children," Stevens said in a statement announcing the legislation.
Concerned Families for ATV Safety doesn't buy the industry's claim.
"They argue that unsafe Chinese models are flooding the U.S. market and are the main reason for child deaths and serious injuries from ATV accidents," Anderson says. "If the industry has evidence to back up that claim, they should let us see it. The truth is that since 2000, 97 percent of ATV recalls came from the same companies that are complaining about Chinese imports."