ATV Tragedy

Written by The Frederick News-Post

Friday, October 17, 2008

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission released the most recent nationwide statistics in February. They were from 2006 and reported 555 deaths for the year from ATV accidents, 20 percent of whom were children under 16. Fifty of those had not reached their 12th birthdays.

But the numbers are moveable feasts.

Statistical reporting on this subject is not an exact science and annual figures continually change as hospitals and coroners continue to submit data. Last year for instance, the 2005 count added 199 to its death toll, raising the number of fatalities to 666. You can begin to see why CPSC never really closes the books on data collection; why the agency warns that yearly figures actually are higher than reported; and why the 2006 numbers "already in" likely will climb to 870 deaths when all is said and done. If it ever really is.

Maryland-specific statistics are subject to the "incomplete data collection" disclaimer as well. Accordingly, our 1982-2006 death toll is 58, but "data collection for 2003-2006 is incomplete."

Here, in Frederick County, the fatality numbers are less subject to flux.

They are firm, mournfully personal, and most recently attested to in this week's front-page story, "ATV driver hits tree, dies."

The Oct. 12 ATV death of 44-year-old Ronald Lee DeGrange had been preceded by five others in as many years: 8-year-old Dominick L. Gonzales in 2007; 45-year-old Byron Timothy West in 2006; 16-year-old Anson Nesbitt in 2006; 16-year-old Benjamin M. Barr in 2005; and 11-year-old Zachary Tanner Bard in 2004. Enough, already!

That's what numerous individuals, organizations and governments are saying, including the state of Maryland.

In June, Maryland created an All-Terrain Vehicle Safety Task Force to "study major issues surrounding all-terrain vehicle safety." The group's looking into things like: accurate ATV ownership tracking; appropriate safety equipment requirements/provisioning; how to deliver ATV consumer education; where ATVs can be safely used; training ATV owners; and methods to raise public awareness about ATV safety. The task force will file an interim report by Dec. 15 and a final report by May 31 of next year, at which time its authorization concludes.

In the meantime, if the idea of hopping on an ATV is even a remote possibility, get yourself to the ATVSafety.gov website forthwith. There, the CPSC "ATV Safety Messages" mantra asserts: Get trained; wear a helmet; no children on adult ATVs; don't ride tandem; don't ride on pavement; don't ride under the influence."

Take it seriously and in the context of agency spokesman Scott Woofson's declaration that ATVs are "one of the deadliest products under the CPSC's jurisdiction."

There's another observation you might want to consider with commensurate sobriety. It was offered by the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America and places blame for ATV accidents on "rider error," as in: "It's all our fault." Considering that SVIA is the ATV industry's lobbying arm, that's saying a lot. We need to be listening.

Source: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/opinion/display_editorial.htm?StoryID=81526

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Community Voices

“We’ve had success bringing illegal riders to justice by snapping photos of their ID stickers. The problem in California is that they’re too darn small to see from far away or at high speeds. While I’m normally not in favor of the government getting involved in things, requiring all ORVs to have a visible ID with a minimum size and standard location would make them an even better tool for property owners to identify trespassing riders. We should also look to Wyoming’s lead and make trespassing penalties clear so riders think twice before they head off designated trails and onto my land.”

- Mesonika Piecuch, private property owner, Kern County, CA