Fatal ATV rollovers not rare

Cynthia Bullion

The type of ATV accident that recently killed two 11-year-old DeSoto County girls is more common and deadly than most people may realize.

Since 2006, 13 children and four adults across the U.S. have been killed in rollovers involving the same ATV that locals Lauren Dilworth and Emily Bates were riding Saturday when killed a Yamaha Rhino.

The girls were thrown from and then pinned by the ATV as it rolled over on a paved street in a subdivision south of Olive Branch. They both later died of multiple injuries Dilworth on the scene and Bates in an emergency room.

Richard Phillips, a Batesville attorney handling two of those lawsuits in Mississippi, said experts have contributed a high number of Rhino rollovers in comparison with other similar side-by-sides to the ATV's dimensions.

"The problem is that the Rhino has an unusually narrow wheel base, high ground clearance and high center of gravity," he said, noting that the ATV was designed to fit into the bed of a pick-up truck and for off-road use. "Just slight modifications in the design would have prevented numerous injuries and deaths."

However, Yamaha has not issued a recall on the Rhino - that was first manufactured in 2003 - or changed its dimensions in the wake of deaths, injuries and lawsuits.

The company instead issued new safety labels warning customers that the Rhino may rollover "even on flat, open areas," offered to install doors free of charge on early models of the ATV and revised design specifications to include the doors on later models.

Don Lindholm, part owner of Southaven Kawasaki-Yamaha, said his business has installed doors on approximately 30 pre-2008 Rhinos since Yamaha issued the notice but not received any complaints about the ATV being unsafe.

Weighing around 1,000 pounds and having a top speed of 45 mph, Yamaha Rhinos have been shown in some expert tests to roll over when cornering at relatively low speeds.

"They are so much more dangerous than people think," Phillips said.

DeSoto County Sheriff Bill Rasco said on Wednesday that a reconstruction of accident that killed Dilworth and Bates showed the ATV was traveling between 15 and 25 mph when it flipped.

"Its dimensions, tires designed for off-road use and location - the ATV was returning from a dirt to paved surface - at the time were all factors in the crash, he said.

"Once the tires dug into the pavement, (the ATV) was too top heavy and rolled," Rasco said.

Source: http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2008/10/23/news/doc49004f9f62305758122837.txt

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