On the path to safer ATVs

Four years ago, consumer groups petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban the sale of adult-size all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to children under 16.

In July, the commission finally acted on the petition; it rejected it, saying a ban was unenforceable. Still, the agency said it is concerned about the mounting number of ATV deaths and injuries—more than 700 people are estimated to have died on ATVs in 2005 alone. So the CPSC announced a number of steps it was considering to improve ATV safety, including banning 3-wheel ATVs, making the current voluntary safety standards mandatory for 4-wheel models and requiring retailers to offer free training to all ATV purchasers and immediate family members.

It will be a while before the commission acts on these proposals, which Consumers Union (the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports) believes are inadequate; more on that later. 

In the meantime, the commission has stepped up its educational efforts, teaming up with NASCAR racing legend Richard Petty to promote ATV safety.  It may seem like an odd — even extreme — combination, given Petty's career in the fast lane, but that may be precisely the point. After all, the campaign's slogan is "Take knowledge to the extreme."

The campaign, including a new Web site, was announced at a press conference on Sept. 21 where Petty, wearing his trademark sunglasses and cowboy hat, noted, "my business was not the safest business in the world." Still, he added, he took a lot of precautions — and so should ATV riders. You can't expect to jump in a racecar without training; the same is true of ATVs, Petty said. And just as you don't take shortcuts on safety gear on the race course, you shouldn't do so when you ride ATVs.  "You got one head," Petty said. "Don't buy a cheap helmet."

"Protective gear and proper training could make the difference between the ride of your life and the ride that ends your life," said CPSC acting chairman Nancy Nord, citing a list of sobering statistics: Use of 4-wheel ATVs has climbed from less than 400,000 to more than 6.9 million over the past two decades. With that increase has come a rise in injuries and deaths. From 1982 through 2004, there were nearly 6,500 deaths; more than 11 percent of those occurred in 2003.

"The Web site alone will not make the difference but it is the starting place for information, key information for improved ATV safety," Nord said.

Consumers Union certainly agrees with that. It also believes far more needs to be done to reduce ATV deaths and injuries, particularly among children under 16 who accounted for nearly a third of the 125,000 people seriously injured in 2003 alone. Consumers Union thinks the CPSC should ban not just 3-wheel ATVs, but also all those designed for children as well as two-person vehicles. It also wants the agency to evaluate the dynamics of ATV crashes, develop comprehensive mandatory safety standards and require the vehicles to be redesigned to improve safety, especially to prevent rollovers.

Consumers Union believes Congress and the states also have to take action. States should ban ATV use on paved roads, implement educational and training campaigns, create and enforce licensing requirements and require appropriate protective gear, including helmets, to operate ATVs. Congress needs to step up and give states the funds to do all this.

"Recreation should not be life-threatening," said Janell Mayo Duncan, senior counsel for Consumers Union, in a statement.

—Marc Perton