ATV deaths spur talk of bill

Written by Clarion-Ledger

Monday, December 21, 2009

Jimmie E. Gates

Lee County Coroner Carolyn Gillentine-Green and a state lawmaker are among the proponents of tougher laws for people using all-terrain vehicles.

Gillentine-Green said her opinion was shaped by her work with people involved in ATV accidents.

Last year, Gillentine -Green pronounced 20-year-old Crystal Hooper and Hooper's 5-year-old cousin dead after an ATV accident.

"I'm a proponent for anything to make it safer," Gillentine-Green said.

State Rep. Dannie Reed, R-Ackerman, is planning to refile a bill in the upcoming session to require safety practices and encourage safety education. Some dealers offer free training, but there are no ATV safety regulations in Mississippi.

A similar bill died in the last legislative session.

The proposed bill would require drivers of all-terrain vehicles on public roads or public land to wear a crash helmet and to meet the minimum-age requirement for riders. The number of riders allowed on a vehicle also would be limited.

Violators would face a maximum $100 fine per violation.

State figures show 29 people were killed last year and more than 1,500 traumatic injuries occurred because of ATV accidents in Mississippi, Reed said.

Reed also said the state's injury rate from ATV accidents is three times higher than the rest of the country.

From Jan. 1, 1981, until Dec. 31, 2007, Mississippi reported 271 people killed in ATV accidents, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Just from 2005 until 2007, 65 people were killed in the state, according to the safety commission.

"Mississippi has lost more people on ATVs than the state has lost soldiers to the Iraq war," Reed said.

Hooper and her cousin, Natalie Aguilar, were killed July 27, 2008, when Hooper lost control of the ATV. The four-wheeler ran into a trailer loaded with building supplies. Neither was wearing a helmet, according to published reports.

Gillentine-Green said ATV riders should be required to wear helmets. ATV drivers also have been distracted by things such as texting on cell phones, she said.

Source: http://beta.clarionledger.com/article/20091221/NEWS/912210312/ATV+deaths+spur+talk+of+bill

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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