ATV use up, rate of injuries and fatalities down: report
Although the use of four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles has nearly tripled over the past decade, the rate of injuries and deaths associated with them has not kept pace, according to a new report (.pdf file) from the Government Accountability Office.
In 2007, 816 fatalities were associated with ATVs, a 53 percent increase from the 534 ATV-related fatalities in 1999. Yet because of increased use of the vehicles, the risk of death during that time period dropped to 1.1 deaths per 10,000 ATVs in use from 1.4 deaths per 10,000 ATVs.
Similarly, the number of injuries related to ATVs that required emergency care increased to 134,900 in 2008 from 81,800 injuries in 1999 -- a 65 percent increase. Yet the risk of injury dropped 33 percent, to 129.7 per 10,000 ATVs in use from 193 injuries.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission maintains a Website on ATV safety.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)