November 18, 2003

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Holds Field Hearing on ATV Safety - One week after releasing a new report documenting a record-breaking number of serious injuries caused by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), the Chairman of the Commission held a field hearing on November 6 in Albuquerque, NM on this issue. More than 30 witnesses, including the Director of Natural Trails and Waters, ATV industry representatives, local ATV dealers and doctors, testified. Following a pattern established in previous hearings, the industry, including the trade group representing the major manufacturers, called for elimination of minimum age standards designed to protect children younger than 16 from the dangers posed by ATVs made specifically for adults. As industry proposes to put some children on bigger and faster ATVs, the most recent CPSC report on injuries shows that children under 16 suffered more than 37,000 serious injuries in 2002 - more than any other age group.

Emergency room doctors and pediatricians spoke in stark terms about the seriously injured children they treat every day. The head of Trauma Services for Children's Medical Center of Dallas explained that one-third of all children admitted to his facility for ATV-related injuries are treated in the intensive care unit. He added that 50 percent of injured children leave the hospital with a long-term or permanent disability. Doctors also made clear that ATV-related injuries are more severe than those suffered while riding bikes or playing most sports. The industry has attempted to downplay the problem by arguing that fewer children are injured annually on ATVs than while riding bikes or playing common sports.

CPSC Chairman Hal Stratton indicated that the Commission "might" hold another field hearing. He added that Commission staff are analyzing the problem and developing recommendations for Commissioners in response to a petition from Consumer Federation of America, American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical and conservation groups, which requests that CPSC issue a national safety standard barring the sale of adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16. This petition was submitted in August 2002.

View CPSC Report on ATV Injuries and Deaths in 2002

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Challenges Absurdity of Expanding Off-road Vehicle Use to Address Resource Damage - In an editorial on November 12, the Post-Dispatch challenged efforts by the U.S. Forest Service to expand routes available for off-road vehicles in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri to supposedly reduce illegal use that is damaging the land and disturbing wildlife and other visitors. The editorial states: "The notion behind this half-baked scheme is that by opening new trails, illegal ATV use would be reduced. To keep people from using trails made by people illegally riding ATVs in the forest, we're going to let people ride ATVs on some of those (formally illegal) trails. Got that? It's like solving the problem of speeding in school zones by getting rid of the speed limit." To make matters worse, the Forest Service is proposing to expand use without first assessing the wide range of damaging impacts caused by ATVs and dirt bikes. According to the paper, the Service maintains that this a temporary policy, which will remain in place while additional studies are performed. The editorial questions how many more studies are necessary to document impacts visible to any casual observer. It also highlights the long-term ramifications of this "temporary" policy: "So, right now, this new plan is just an experiment. In three years, it would be a fait accompli."

The situation on the Mark Twain National Forest is emblematic of a system-wide problem. Illegal travel by off-road vehicles is rampant across National Forests and the Service has too few law enforcement officers and other personnel on the ground to effectively manage burgeoning use. When the Service decides to "restrict" off-road vehicles to designated roads and routes, there is a tendency to include illegal tracks in the officially sanctioned system. In addition to rewarding illegal use, the Service rarely performs vigorous analysis to evaluate the impacts of these tracks on soils, plants, riparian areas, wildlife habitat or other uses of National Forests. Such analysis is absolutely critical in order to make sound decisions about where it is most appropriate to authorize use of dirt bikes, ATVs and other off-road vehicles. In the Twain and elsewhere, the Forest Service isn't managing this form of recreation - it is defaulting to whatever exists on the ground.

View editorial

Contact:
Scott Kovarovics, Director
Natural Trails and Waters Coalition
(202) 429-2696
scott_kovarovics@tws.org

The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition includes conservation, recreation 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.