It was a beautiful early September day. Brian Sherry was hosting a party at his home for his summer softball league. Everyone was having a wonderful time. It seemed a perfect day. As nighttime rolled around, Brian was outside cleaning up after the party when his neighbor brought over his new all terrain vehicle to show him. His neighbor offered him a try but didn,t have a helmet with him. Since Brian thought he,d only take it up and down his street once, he took him up on his offer and quickly sped out of the driveway and down the street without a safety helmet. What was supposed to be an innocent, short, joyride turned into a tragic accident when Brian took a turn too wide on his way back and flipped the ATV over on a rock in another neighbor,s yard. He was thrown from the vehicle onto the pavement and suffered a massive blow to the head. An hour later, he was pronounced dead at Mass General Hospital.

This incident just occurred in my small suburban town of Georgetown, Massachusetts where just two years ago, a similar accident happened to a young boy named Brian Callahan riding with his friend on the back of an ATV. The operator of the vehicle was fifteen and inexperienced. He hit a boulder and the ATV flipped over throwing both passengers into the air. Luckily, the driver was wearing a helmet and survived the incident. His passenger, 15 year old Brian, wasn,t as lucky. He was not wearing a helmet, suffered massive head trauma and was pronounced dead at the scene.

We can make an example of these two Brians and gather something about all-terrain vehicles. They are a dangerous form of recreation. Both kids and adults fail to realize that their safety is in danger every time they mount these fast, off- road machines. They do not realize that proper operating knowledge and safety precautions are needed before they ride.

It is clear that operator knowledge is key to achieving a safe ride, but how about the operator who is too young to be concerned with or even think of such safety precautions? According to the U.S. Product Safety Commission, approximately forty percent of ATV related deaths and injuries are to youths under the age of sixteen. Some of the factors they claim put children at risk are that: (1) children believe that any item bought by their parents is safe, (2) the risk factor is often underestimated because of their lack of experience with accidents, (3) they over estimate their skills (often with increased experience), (4) and that they hurt themselves trying to imitate other friend,s complex maneuvers. In many cases, a child,s size is a factor. Their legs are often too short to achieve the proper clearance needed between the seat and groin area when standing on the foot rests. Their arms are too short to properly grip the handlebars when turning. Also if a child,s hands are too small he or she can not grip both the handle bar and brake lever properly to safely stop.

Possibly some reassurance can lie in knowing that ATV manufacturers do have safety programs to prevent more accidents from happening. Companies such as Yamaha Motor Corp, Kawasaki Motors Corp., American Suzuki Motor Corp., and Polaris Industries Inc. are taking actions which include: (1) implementing a multi- year information and education campaign teaching the dangers involved when operating ATV,s; (2) promoting ATV training to first time ATV users; (3) having under cover inspections of dealerships to investigate if dealers are taking into consideration the minimum age requirements customers must have to operate their desired vehicle.

However, these plans may not be as effective as one would think. First of all, although the education campaign is a great way to reach people about ATV dangers, who is really going to spend the time to go and listen? The last thing a person thinks about when buying these recreational vehicles is learning about all the ways they can get hurt on them. With that in mind, they most likely wouldn,t want to take a training course on their newly purchased machine either. The buyers of ATV,s are mostly young adolescents and teenagers with the occasional young-atheart adult. Most of their friends have them or they,ve at least seen people operate them. All they want to know is "How do I start it? and "Where do I pay? Lastly, there are so many ATV dealerships and people making their own personal used ATV sales. Companies can,t expect to monitor every sale. The point is, these vehicles are going to be sold to kids no matter what. And who,s to say there aren,t adults purchasing ATV,s for their sons or daughters?

Aside from operator error, the design of the ATV itself is a major reason why these mishaps occur. Understanding the uniqueness of the ATV,s design, may help lessen the risk of accidents and injury. For example, because of it,s high ground clearance an operator must be aware that the ATV may roll or flip with a simple shift of body weight. On top of that, the ATV is designed so that the operator simply straddles the machine as opposed to being fully seated, thus requiring him or her to maintain balance to prevent a roll over from occurring. The ATV,s powerful drive train with high and low gear ratios has capable speeds often too fast for conditions and/ or skill of the operator. With its wide low-pressured knobby tires, the vehicle may wobble or bounce easily causing loss of control. The fixed wheel axle for traction prevents the inner wheel from rotating freely when attempting turns on pavement, again leading to an easy loss of control. Lastly, the ATV is not designed to carry extra passengers. An extra person does not have hand grips or foot rests. More importantly, to maintain control of the ATV an operator needs the entire seat to shift position in order to prevent a roll over.

Surely, there are risks involved whenever one decides to drive any type of motor vehicle. The design of the ATV, however, makes it even more susceptible to accidents and injuries. So, what can be learned from the tragedies of the two Brians in the small community of Georgetown, Massachusetts? If your loved ones like to ride recreational vehicles, be sure they never permit an inexperienced person to operate their ATV until that person has read the owner,s manual, knows all warning labels and has completed a certified training course. Any ATV operator should also be made aware of the uniqueness of the design of the vehicle he or she is about to operate and the potential risk of accidents and injury. But, above all, the all-terrain vehicle owner should never be without a helmet and should urge anyone who is about to ride an all-terrain vehicle to wear one; no matter how short the ride they are planning. Someday, they may be very glad they did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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