Off-Highway Vehicles

2023 Fatality Data: Another Devastating Year for Off-Highway Vehicle Riders and Occupants

Fatalities underscores deadly risk to children and on-road OHV users

 |  Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC – As 2023 wraps up, Consumer Federation of America (CFA) has documented 498 off-highway vehicle (OHV) fatalities last year.  Children 15 years and younger accounted for 19% of all deaths.  Children six years and under continue to make up a sizeable portion of the OHV fatalities, and multiple children as young as three years old were killed last year while riding an OHV.

“Year after year, CFA has found that the percentage of children dying in OHV-related incidents is alarming,” said Courtney Griffin, CFA’s Director of Consumer Product Safety.  “It is devastating to see toddlers included in this statistic.”

“All OHVs, even youth models, pose risks,” said Dr. Gary Smith, President of the Child Injury Prevention Alliance. “OHVs are fast, complex machines, and due to their design, they roll over easily. One wrong choice could lead to the emergency department or worse. Children younger than 16 years just aren’t ready for the demands of safe riding, so we encourage parents to find a different activity for their child.”

According to the 2023 fatality data, OHV fatalities disproportionately occur on-roads.  Last year, 67% of OHV deaths occurred on-road.  Even industry groups have opposed the use of OHVs, including All-Terrain Vehicles (ATV), on roads because the vehicles are not designed, manufactured, or intended for use on public streets, roads, or highways.  Unfortunately, roadway crashes are more likely to involve multiple fatalities, collisions, and head injuries. Victims in roadway crashes are less likely to wear protective gear, such as helmets, and were more likely to be carrying passengers, both things that are risk factors for ATV-related fatalities and injuries.

CFA has been working to minimize deaths and injuries from OHVs for decades by petitioning the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to ban adult-size ATVs for children, convening a coalition to prevent OHV road access, compiling fatality information in real time with that coalition, and urging the CPSC to collect annual Recreational Off Highway vehicle (ROV) data among other requests to take steps to reduce OHV deaths and injuries.

CFA urges consumers to take the following seven critical steps to reduce OHV deaths and injuries:

  • Never operate an OHV on a road.
  • Never permit children younger than 16-years-old to operate an adult-size OHV or any OHV that is too large or too powerful for them.
  • Always wear a helmet and other protective gear when riding an OHV.
  • When riding an OHV that contains seatbelts, always wear them.
  • Never allow more people on an OHV than it was designed to carry.
  • Never ride when under the influence.
  • Take a hands-on safety course.

Our partners at Prevent Child Injury have issued an important ATV safety toolkit aimed specifically at helping parents learn about the risks of children using ATVs. If consumers have experienced an incident or injury involving an OHV, reports can be submitted to the CPSC at www.cpsc.gov.

CFA makes all tracked OHV fatality data available on our website.