A recent Institute for Highway Safety (IHS) report on all-terrain vehicle (ATV) fatalities levels a strong challenge to the motorsports industry and consumer products safety advocates: What is the tipping point that will spur action to reduce the mortality/morbidity numbers that are troubling for families, legislators, insurers, and the powersports industry?
Between 2007 and 2011, 90 percent of the ATV drivers killed on public roads were male; 87 percent of them rode helmet-free; and 43 percent had blood-alcohol levels greater than 0.08 percent. That combustible mixture resulted in 1,701 deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). Indeed, 90 percent of the ATV fatalities in the FARS database were males aged 16 years and older.
Beyond the fatalities, hundreds of thousands of riders visited trauma centers for their injuries in that interval. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports 132,000 emergency room visits in 2009 attributable to all-terrain vehicles; 25 percent involved children younger than 16.
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