Off-Highway Vehicles

ATVs Are Not Toys: The Wrong Choice for Children this Holiday Season

Number of All-Terrain Vehicle Deaths and Injuries Decline But Still Too High

 |  Press Release

Washington, DC – According to data released by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, child deaths and serious injuries caused by all-terrain vehicles appear to have decreased in 2010.  Tragically, however, at least 55 children lost their lives and 28,300 were injured seriously enough to require treatment in a hospital emergency department.

“ATVs continue to cause hundreds of deaths and well over a hundred thousand injuries a year. While the latest data from the CPSC indicate that the numbers of deaths and injuries caused by ATVs declined in 2010 as compared to 2009, ATVs are not toys and we hope that no family suffers a tragic injury or death as a result of an ATV this holiday season or in this new year,” stated Rachel Weintraub, Director of Product Safety for Consumer Federation of America.  “We need a better understanding of why these numbers have declined so that these deaths and injuries can be reduced more significantly.”

“Simply put, ATVs are dangerous to children,” said Robert Block, MD, FAAP, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.  “Children are not developmentally capable of operating these heavy, complex machines.  The American Academy of Pediatrics warns all parents that no child under the age of 16 should drive or ride an ATV.”

The CPSC released its 2010 Annual Report of ATV-Related Deaths and Injuries on December 19, 2011.  Major findings include:

  • Estimates of serious injuries requiring emergency room treatment among people of all ages decreased from 131,900 in 2009 to 115,000 in 2010.
  • The overall increase of 4.5 percent between the estimated number of injuries in 2001 (110,100) and 2010 (115,000) is not statistically significant. However, trend analysis by CPSC indicates that for all ATVs, there is a statistically significant upward trend in emergency room visits for people of all ages during the years 2001 through 2010.
  • The estimated number of ATV-related fatalities for all ages decreased from 833 in 2008 to 781 in 2009. The agency notes, however, that the 2009 data is not considered complete.
  • In 2010, ATVs killed at least 55 children younger than 16, accounting for 17 percent of fatalities. Forty seven percent of children killed were younger than 12 years old.
  • Children under 16 suffered an estimated 28,300 serious injuries in 2010 – or 25 percent of all injuries. In 2009, serious injuries to children also made up 25 percent of all injuries.

It is important to note that there is always a lag with death reports making their way to the CPSC and therefore the 2009 statistics should not be considered complete.  For example, when child death statistics for the year 2006 were first reported in 2007, the number stood at 111; since that time, additional data collection has increased that number to 143.

In 2006, consumer groups filed a petition with the CPSC calling for the CPSC to ban the sale of adult-size ATVs for use by children.  While the agency under the leadership of Chairman Hal Stratton denied the petition, the CPSC began a rulemaking process to create new ATV safety standards.  CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum has directed staff to follow the mandate of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and promulgate new federal safety rules.  On August 12, 2011, Congress passed H.R. 2715 which amended the CPSIA and which directed the CPSC to complete the ATV rulemaking within a year of enactment.

Both Consumer Federation of America and AAP continue to call upon the agency to reject the manufacture of a transitional, “youth model” ATV for 14- to 16-year-olds capable of traveling at speeds up to 38 miles per hour.

The CPSC, industry, and many consumer advocates recommend that children ages 12 through 15 not ride ATVs with engines larger than 90 cc’s. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that no child under age 16 ride an ATV of any size.