December 3, 2002
In this edition:

• ATV Safety Update - Mother Urges Parents Not to Buy ATVs for Their Children This Holiday Season
• New Forest Regulations Could Eliminate Off-Road Vehicle Planning
• 170,000 Off-Road Vehicles Descend on Southern California Dunes for Dangerous, Damaging Weekend

ATV Safety - Mother Urges Parents Not to Buy ATVs for Their Children
This Holiday Season

As holiday shopping begins in earnest, one mother urges parents to leave all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) off their holiday shopping lists. While the off-road vehicle industry takes every opportunity to state that it does not sell adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16, a recent investigation demonstrates that this policy is violated almost without exception. A November 8, 2002, Good Morning America report about ATV safety included a hidden camera investigation designed to determine whether or not ATV dealers abide by this "golden rule." Good Morning America staff visited or telephoned ten randomly selected dealers nationwide and asked salespeople to recommend an ATV for a 14-year-old child. Nine of the ten recommended an adult-size ATV with the full knowledge that it was being purchased for a child younger than 16. Most dealers made this recommendation without caveats while one explained the age restrictions then proceeded to tell the producer how to evade them.

This lack of information can have a devastating impact on America's families. This past May, Susan and Tom Rabe of Turner, Oregon lost their 10-year-old son, Kyle, when the ATV he was riding overturned at low speed on a gentle slope. The dealer they visited sold them an adult-size machine with full knowledge that Kyle would use it and did little to warn the Rabes about the dangers of ATVs.

"This will be our first Christmas without Kyle," said Mrs. Rabe. "If the ATV industry's approach to safety actually worked, Kyle would be here today because he would never have been on that ATV. As a mother, I urge every parent to scratch these deadly machines off any holiday list."

Despite the fact that many dealers are doing the wrong thing when it comes to children, over the past several months, however, some ATV dealers and law enforcement officers have spoken out about the dangers these vehicles pose to children. One clear message emerges - ATVs are not toys. For example, a dealer near South Bend Indiana stated: "They [riders] don't comprehend what hitting a tree is…. Don't take (an ATV) as a toy." (South Bend Tribune, "Not to be toyed with, ATV accident rate highest for young people," 9/8/02) An officer with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks explained: "ATVs are not toys. And a lot of these ATVs are not designed for children to ride. They are too powerful for them to handle." (The Clarion-Ledger, "Improper use can turn ATVs into death traps," 10/9/02)

In August 2002, the Consumer Federation of America, Natural Trails and Waters Coalition and Bluewater Network joined together with doctors to release a comprehensive report documenting a growing ATV safety problem. The report - All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Safety Crisis: America's Children At Risk - highlights how children under 16 suffer a disproportionate share of ATV-related injuries and deaths. Read the report online at www.naturaltrails.org.

New Forest Rule Could Eliminate Off-Road Vehicle Planning

Last week, the Bush Administration proposed a rule that could overturn planning regulations designed to protect the ecological health and wildlife of this country's 155 National Forests. The Forest Service, under this new proposed rule, will permit planning that avoids the necessary environmental impact analyses that currently accompany Forest management plans. Many Forest plans are more than a decade-old and in that time, off-road vehicle use has grown considerably. The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition estimates that more than 11 million off-road vehicles are presently used in the United States. Planning and analyses are necessary to ensure Forest supervisors are adequately assessing and minimizing environmental damage.
On November 27, Senators and Members of Congress raised similar concerns in a letter to Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth. The letter states, "In any case, we believe that it is most practical for the Forest Service to study the significant impacts of many forest uses at the time a plan is adopted. Consider, for example, the question of what areas and how many miles of forest trail should be open to all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, and other off-road vehicles, a question now being faced by the Superior and Chippewa National Forests in the revision of their plans in Minnesota. When will the Forest Service study the significant environmental impacts of these and other recreational uses, if not at the plan level?" Senators Bingaman, Leahy, Reid, Edwards and others continued to state, "Almost every forest will experience significant environmental effects that have not been previously examined, given the explosive growth in recreational use of the national forests in the last decade since the previous round of forest plans were prepared."

The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition will prepare a more detailed analysis of this proposed rule in the near future.

Dunes Still the 'Most Illegal Place in the World'

While many Americans were enjoying Thanksgiving with turkey and stuffing, 170,000 all-terrain vehicle, dirt bike, and other off-road vehicle users descended on Algodones Dunes this Thanksgiving weekend. The Dunes have been the scene of environmental damage and serious safety issues in the past, and this year was no different. According to eyewitness accounts, off-road vehicles trespassed into endangered species habitat while many law enforcement officers were focussed on crowd control.

This area, one of the most spectacular dunes systems in the Unites States, was labeled by the New York Times as the "Most Illegal Place in the World," this past January. The Algodones Dunes can still keep the title after another weekend of dangerous activity.

According to one newspaper account, ten federal and local agencies assembled 150 enforcement officers to police the scene. This means that land management personnel were missing from their intended locations to referee the mayhem at the Dunes. What are the enforcement costs for attempting to manage these holiday weekends? Taxpayers shell out about $200,000 per holiday weekend to attempt to address this extraordinary law enforcement challenge according to the Arizona Republic. The newspaper also reported that the local hospital put itself in "disaster mode" to deal with the influx of emergency room patients.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency in charge of the Dunes, estimated about 700 citations was issued as well as 170 medical emergencies reported this past weekend.

The BLM is expected early next year to release a final decision that recommends reopening approximately 50,000 acres of endangered species habitat to off-road vehicle use. With failed measures to control crowds and prevent trespassing into environmentally sensitive areas, it defies logic that the agency would open even more of this area to off-road vehicles.

For More Information Contact:
Alix Rauschman, Communications Specialist
(202) 429-2672 phone
(202) 549-2860 cell
alix_rauschman@tws.org
www.naturaltrails.org

The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition includes conservation, recreation, hunting and other groups working to protect and restore all public lands and waters from the severe damage caused by snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, jet skis and all other off-road vehicles.