September 3, 2002

NATIONAL NEWS

ATV Safety Report
The Consumer Federation of America, Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, Bluewater Network and doctors recently released a report calling for new national and state rules to stop the increasing number of ATV-related injuries and fatalities. The report, entitled "All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Safety Crisis: America's Children at Risk," found that the ATV industry's self-regulatory approach to safety, with minimal government oversight, fails to protect consumers - particularly children.

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) have been on the market for over 30 years. As injuries and deaths rose past 100,000 annually in the mid-to-late1980s, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) - the federal agency that has jurisdiction over consumer products - forced the ATV industry to cease production of highly-dangerous three-wheel ATVs. However, they were replaced with four-wheel ATVs that have proven to be just as hazardous. The four-wheel ATVs are responsible for the safety crisis that exists today:

· Between 1993 and 2001, the number of injuries caused by ATVs more than doubled to 111,700.
· Risk of injury for riders of four-wheel ATVs is nearly as great today as it was when "three-wheelers" were banned in 1988.

The impacts on children under 16 are even more disturbing:

· Between 1993 and 2001, the number of ATV-related injuries suffered by children under 16 increased 94% to 34,800.
· Between 1982 and 2001, 1,714 children under age 16, including 799 under the age of 12, were killed in ATV accidents.

The report includes a series of recommendations, many of which have been developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and other health care professionals, that will better protect children, and every rider of an ATV:

1. No child under 16 should be allowed to operate ATVs under any circumstances;
2. Every state should adopt model legislation developed by the AAP concerning licensing, training, and other aspects of ATV safety; and
3. The CSPC should ban the use of adult-size ATVs by children under the age of 16 and require manufacturers to provide refunds for all three-wheel ATVs and adult-size four-wheel ATVs purchased for use by children under 16.

The Consumer Federation of America and eight other medical, consumer, and conservation groups also filed a petition with CPSC, calling the agency to take aggressive steps to protect children from the dangers posed by ATVs and to require manufacturers to refund consumers for adult-size ATVs bought for use by children under 16.

See the report and petition online at: http://www.naturaltrails.org/resources/atv_safety_crisis/index.html

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.