Lawmakers consider ATV safety regulations

Written by WLBT-TV

Monday, November 02, 2009

Julie Straw

Brandon, MS (WLBT) - Here in Mississippi all terrain vehicles and their riders are hardly regulated. There are no ATV safety laws in Mississippi, but should there be? The House Transportation Committee discussed the issue Monday afternoon. This comes just one day after a Brandon man is killed while racing his ATV.

"I told him. I said Albert please don't be driving so fast, please," said Albert Wooten's sister Kirby.

Thirty-one-year-old Albert Wooten loved few things more than fixing up his four wheeler and racing it. Family members say he could get up to 110 miles per hour, but it was during a race at a Jefferson Davis County race track Sunday that something went terribly wrong.

"His hand slipped on the clutch and that's when the vehicle went to the right, his helmet flew off and he had a collision and then God called him," said Cassandra Mency.

County Coroner Greg Blackwell says Wooten crashed into a steel guard rail and died at the scene.

"It certainly is a tragedy. Unfortunately these tragedies happen all over our state," said Chairman for the House Transportation Committee Congressman Warner McBride.

Mississippi ranks 13th in the nation for the highest number of deaths from four-wheeler related injuries. We are one of six states with no ATV safety legislation, but that could soon change.

The House Transportation Committee met with public safety officials and medical professionals Monday to determine what changes need to be made to keep ATV riders, especially children and teens, safe.

"Is it because we don't have enough helmets on? We want to identify the fact of what's happening and then look at measures of what we might do to combat these things to try to help these people," said McBride.

The Wooten family hopes the committee takes action to prevent another family from this pain.

"I love him dearly and I'm going to miss him," said Kirby Wooten.

Wooten's family is still finalizing funeral arrangements. This is the third ATV related death we have reported at WLBT this year.

Source: http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11430329

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