Ready to ride?

ATV injuries, deaths often occur because of young driver, lacks of safety gear. 

Adults and children alike will wake up on Dec. 25, with a gift from Santa that doesn't quite fit under the tree - a brand new all-terrain vehicle.

Maybe an Arctic Cat 700 H1 for dad alongside a youth model 90 DVX for son. The latter is a smaller version that sends shivers down the spines of many physicians.

"I deal with a lot of trauma," said Dr. Christopher Blewett, chief of pediatric surgery at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. "Some injuries are accidents that just can't be prevented. Others are preventable injuries, and an ATV injury falls into that category very often."

An average of 140 ATV-related injuries were treated at UMC's emergency room from 2006-08. According to UMC trauma staff, 81 percent of those treated did not wear a helmet. During that time, the death rate was 2.2 percent.

Throughout the past 15 years there have been 271 ATV-related deaths in Mississippi, including 65 between 2005-07, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. The total amount of deaths are the 13th most in the nation from a state with the 32nd largest population.

ATV accidents recently made national headlines after former NBA player Rodney Rodgers was paralyzed from the shoulders down after falling off his ATV in the woods of Vance County, N.C., last week. The former Wake Forest star had 12 years in the league and was the Sixth Man of the Year in 1999-2000.

In November, Charles Morris, 50, of New Hebron landed unconscious in a ditch after taking a spin on an ATV he has owned for three months, according to a UMC release. He spent four days in the hospital.

Blewett said the most typical occurrence is a rider hitting a rough patch of terrain and being thrown off.

"It's the same kind of thing as if you're in a car accident, if you're ejected from your car, the chances for severe head injury goes up dramatically," he said. "If you're on an ATV, then by definition if you come off, you're ejected. Now you're a projectile that's going to come in contact with a lot of fixed objects such as rocks and trees and fence posts."

While adults are vulnerable, they are free to make adult decisions. Children present a different thought process.

More than half of the 140 treated at UMC for ATV-related injuries in the past three years were children younger than 16. In 2007, 107 youths younger than 16 were killed in ATV accidents nationwide.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is against anyone younger than 16 riding ATVs.

"I really don't think they're safe for children," said Dr. Rick Voyte, a physician at UMC pediatric critical care. "I'm pretty much a hard-liner.

"It's heart wrenching. I feel a sense of anguish for the family and the child. There's also a sense of frustration knowing that it was probably preventable."

Blewett recently treated a toddler, not yet toilet trained, who was driving an ATV, according to an UMC release. The child suffered a lacerated liver, was in the hospital several days and had to follow a six-week recovery plan.

For all ages, Blewett stresses wearing helmets, using a vehicle with the appropriate amount of power and not drinking beforehand or riding with someone who has.

ATVs vary from youth-sized 200 pounds to 1,000-pound models for adults.

"You may break bones and have internal injuries - fracture a spleen, lacerate a liver, injured kidney," Blewett said. "We can fix the majority of those things. Head injuries, very often it's limited in what can be done."

Head trauma can include fractured skulls, cut scalps, bleeding in the brain and tearing of vessels around the brain.

Voyte points out that nonhead injuries can heal, but there are plenty of other issues.

"A lot of the internal organ injuries will heal themselves, but spinal cord injuries may or may not," Voyte said. "It's not uncommon to become a quadriplegic or paraplegic after a spinal cord injury. That's extremely life changing for no matter what age.

"Beyond looking at a lot of things can heal, but think of the cost. Not just to the individual, but to the family and to society as a whole."

Morris was not wearing a helmet when he had his accident last month, but isn't concerned about getting hurt on an ATV anymore.

"I'm not foolin' with it again," Morris said.

"If he had taken my advice, he wouldn't have gotten it in the first place," his wife Bernice said.

Additional Facts

Safety tips

The All-Terrain Vehicle Safety Institute offers the following advice for novice and veteran riders:

# Always wear a helmet and other protective gear.

# Never ride on public roads; another vehicle could hit you.

# Never ride under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

# Never carry a passenger on a single-rider vehicle.

# Ride an ATV that's right for your age.

# Supervise riders younger than 16; ATVs are not toys.

# Ride only on designated trails and at a safe speed.

# Riders can take an online safety course at www.atvsafety.org or find the nearest physical course at 1-800-887-2887.

Source: http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20081209/HEALTH/812090338/1242/health

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