We’ve written frequently about the need to reduce hazards posed by all terrain vehicles (ATVs), which continue to cause death and injury, all too often among children and teens.

The most recent figures available from the Consumer Product Safety Commission show that emergency rooms treated 135,000 ATV injuries in 2008, while ATV-related deaths have averaged 800 for the past two years.

In fact, an unrelenting procession of injured ATV riders—some as young as four years old—prompted emergency room physicians in California to begin speaking out about the dangers posed by ATVs and to push for better safety standards.  A compelling account of their uphill battle is provided in a story just posted by www.FairWarning.org,  a new nonprofit online publication led by award-winning investigative journalist Myron Levin, formerly of the Los Angeles Times.

The story points out that industry has opposed expanding federal regulations governing ATVs, arguing that rider safety issues should be left to the states. Yet 21 states have no helmet regulations, only four states bar the use of adult ATVs by kids and several states have no safety regulations at all. 

Elena Lopez-Gusman, executive director of the California group of emergency physicians whose advocacy efforts are described in the story, succinctly summed up the dilemma:  “The sentiment among the ATV riders is that they ought to be able to determine independently what is safe for them and what is safe for their children.  Our organization believes that there are some health and safety guidelines to prevent injuries and it is the role of government to set some criteria for those, particularly when we’re talking about children, because our folks are the ones that see the direct consequences to peoples’ health and life and limb.”

—Andrea Rock