Number of ATV units in use (registered): 6.9 million

Number of ATV-related deaths from 1982 to 2004: 6,500

Number of ATV-related deaths in 2003: 740

Number of ATV-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms: 136,000 in 2004 alone.

Children under 16 involved in ATV accidents: 30% of all deaths/injuries.

Above data were obtained from U.S. CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commisions) who just launched a major campaign to reduce deaths and serious injuries associated with ATV. One of their effort is to have ATV manufacturers/retailers to provide free training to all ATV purchasers and members of their immediate family. Check www.ATVsafety.gov for more info and to see what the stat is in your state.

 

I got paid $100 to take the course...... if I remember right??? I can't remember so well anymore since I smacked my head of a few branches while riding my atv..... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I just took the course on December 2, 2006. Kawasaki will send me a check in a few weeks for $100.00. It was fun, I met a few people, and had a blast. I also learned a few things as well. I think the safety course is a worthwhile investment and everyone should take it no matter how experienced you are, or how experienced you think you are. A little education goes a long way.

 

And about those stats: How many of those deaths or injuries happened while using the ATV as it was supposed to be used, on trails that they are supposed to be on and at least wearing a helmet? I know that any ATV story catches my eye and has since I've been riding from the early 90's. I don't recall any where someone was killed on the trails. Lot's of ATV deaths in that time, but most were on roads or on bikes loaded up with people or drunk. Just a couple of weeks ago the local headlines talked about a grandmother who was killed on an ATV. Turns out she lost control while riding on a road at night with two of her grandkids on board with her.

I'm all for the safety courses, but the people who are willing to take a safety course are not the majority out there getting killed.

Jaybee

 

I'm all for everyone taking the safety course. As far as the stats are concerned SC is low and I keep up with type of thing very closely. I am a member of SCORE and I get a lot of inside information on our state as a member. I don't remember the exact percentage but last year I believe the number of deaths and injuries in our state was 72% from people riding carelessly at their homes, on the city streets, without helmets, and the children were unsupervised. I do not read much on children in accidents while riding on trails with their parents or a responsible adult watching them. I know my 12 year old daughter rides a lot with me but never by herself unsupervised or without all of her safety gear on. You might say I am a little **** about that.

Mud

 

The reason I posted the above stats was because I had a recent incident right in my rural property. My teenaged daughter brought a friend (another teenaged girl) and they wanted to go for a riding. Even though my daughter might be a safe rider (6+ yrs of riding), it was her friend's first time. I gave a brief training to the friend and I was watching them for a while. My daughter was on the lead and her friend was just following, no more than 20+ mph in average. I just went inside the house to get something... Meanwhile, some time some where, my daughter's friend passed my daughter and was on the lead. And she was speeding faster and faster. There was a sharp left turn they had to make because a wire fence was blocking. The friened, not being able to make a quick turn at high speed, as she was turning she went through the wire fence and rolled over.. and over and over - total 3 times. Her neck got almost decapitated by the sharp fence wire. But luckily the ATV went through first the fence and broke the wires first. The friend's injury was amazingly minor... just few bruises here and there. Lucky. And I didn't get sued - lucky again.

 

Here is a link which contains results of a statistical study done by a professional researcher. It is about ATV accident rates compared to the accident rates of other sports or recreational activities:

http://www.heideninc.com/downloads/CPSC_ATV_hearing.pdf

It seems to indicate that ATVs are not so bad after all.

 

I appreciate the posting of the stats and related comments. I also took the ATV safety course and, since this was my first ATV, learned a lot. A very worthwhile program in my opinion.

The results posted confirm what I have seen in the local news. The majority of the "accidents", and not just the ATV related ones, would be better called "stupids" and considered as acts of wanton reckless behavior rather than an unfortunate incident. If they were tracked and reported on this basis a much clearer picture of actual risk management could be created and appropriate measures taken. There is no way a machine can be made idiot proof but real hazards can be engineered out or otherwise reduced to a minimal level.

 

The people who get killed while doing all the right things are the ones we need to look at..........

I imagine the number of death to people while riding in the proper way with all the proper gear and the proper experience for the terrain is probably very low. Too many times I read of an ATV death where the rider had no helmet, was drunk, or was riding a machine way beyond their capabilities.

How many ATV racers die on race tracks every year? Both MX and XC alike seem to be pretty safe.

The difference seem to be respect......... people who race or ride as a way of life seem to respect the machines more than those casually involved. People who buy these utility ATVs to work or hunt will eventually venture out sooner or later on a riding adventure, and often times they are not experienced enough to deal with what they discover.

A guy down the road from me flipped his Rincon in the street by my house. He was OK for the most part but he got up AMAZED that the thing was so hard to handle on the tar....!!!!! I'm like "dude it says right on the machine not to drive it on tar" ....... his response was that he's seen people do it so he didn't think it was that hard......real smart............

This summer I saw a guy buy his 12 year-old an FMF equipped Raptor 660.....He wanted to get something the kid could grow into....mind you the only ATV the kid ever rode was an old Honda 200sx for about four months..................... the kid was in the hospital after the first weekend with a broken collar bone and broken wrist........... and the Raptor was back at the dealer in favor of Honda 250ex (which is what the salesman had suggested he let the kid grow into in the first place)..........Of course this story is repeated all over the place all the time in some fashion...............

ATVs are machines, heavy powerful machines......... it's when people treat them as toys that bad things happen......

 

Thanks for posting this, you might have woken up some people about the importance of safty on atv's.I hope more people read this post and learn somthing from it.