ATVs, or all-terrain vehicles, can provide hours of enjoyment for their riders. However, these personal vehicles are also the source of hundreds of deaths each year. ATVs can be fun, but you should consider following these safety tips to help protect you from injuries or even death while riding on an all-terrain vehicle.
All-terrain vehicles have long been known for their dangers. When this mode of transportation first arrived, they were built on a three-wheeled frame rather than the modern four-wheeler shape. The first ATVs arrived in the United States in 1971, but they were not redesigned until the 1980s. At first, manufacturers of ATVS did not know until it was too late that the three-wheeled design was not very stable, leading to many rollover accidents.
Thus, in the late 1980s, the Justice department requested that the three-wheeled design be discontinued in favor of four-wheelers. Sadly, many people still continue to use the original design, which is incredibly unsafe. However, one could say that the new design is not much better. In 2006, over 555 people died in ATV-related accidents. Over 100 of those were children. Additionally, 146,600 people were injured in these accidents according to government reports. Tragically, almost one-third of these injuries were to people 16 years of age or younger.
Parents and consumer protection agencies contend that many of these deaths to children are due to the negligence of ATV-manufacturing companies. They say that the industry does not provide child-sized vehicles for the market, so kids often turn to riding full-sized, full-powered adult vehicles. Often, children can lose control of the all-terrain machines, resulting in falling off the vehicle or sustaining rollover accidents.
Because the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not regulate the ATV injury, many states do not have laws regarding the operation of such vehicles. Most states do not require a rider to have a driver’s license or special training to drive an ATV. Additionally, there is usually no age limit to driving such a vehicle. Thus, it is often up to the riders themselves to help protect against accidents.
Some things that you can do to protect yourself and those around you from ATV accidents include:
Do not allow children younger than 12 to operate a full-sized vehicle
Wear protective gear, such as motorcycle helmets, long sleeves, and closed-toed shoes
Read the owner’s manual and make sure that you understand how to fully operate the ATV
Do not drink alcohol then drive an all-terrain vehicle
Do not go at excessive speeds, and be wary of gravel roads, sharp turns, hills, and other obstacles
Avoid public roads because accidents with a regular vehicle could prove fatal
Sometimes, no matter how safe you are while driving an ATV, things such as product defects and the negligence of other people can still result in injury to you or someone you know. For more information regarding product liability law as well as other forms of personal injury law, check out the personal injury law firm of Habush Habush & Rottier, S.C., today.