The Consumer Product Safety Commission
took a formal step yesterday to do more to regulate the safety of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). The CPSC is going to accept public comment on the rules first, but it seems clear that it is going to act, because ATV use and fatalities are rising.
The Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, S.D.) reported:
The four-wheel, all-terrain vehicles, also known as quads or ATVs, have become common, particularly in rural areas where they double as gas-powered workhorses and off-road toys. An estimated 6.2 million are in use.
As ATV sales have grown, so have the numbers of deaths and injuries. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says 5,800 people died in ATV accidents from 1982 to 2003. Nearly a third of the incidents involved riders younger than 16 riding adult-size machines.
Among the CPSC's ideas is a ban on sales of full-sized ATVs to kids under 16 years old. The CPSC may also consider (PDF -- see pages 10 and 11):
(1) pre-sale training/certification requirements; (2) enhanced warning labels; (3) formal notification of safety rules by dealers to buyers; (4) the addition of a youth ATV model appropriate for 14-year olds; (5) written notification of child injury data at the time of sale; (6) separate standards for vehicles designed for two riders; and (7) performance safety standards.
Click here for a new detailed report on ATV injuries. You will see that ATV-related injuries are way up, especially among younger riders (see page 10). But overall, the accident rate is pretty flat from year to year. Injuries among 16-year-old and younger riders were up roughly 16 percent last year alone. Injuries for the under-16 demographic have increased 78 percent since 1998, the CPSC estimates.
For many of your readers/viewers/listeners, these four-wheelers are so popular than any attempt to regulate them may be a hot topic. But the CPSC said a recent audit showed about two out of five dealers checked did not comply with voluntary standards for not selling or recommending bigger ATVs to kids (click and go to page 19 of the PDF). Only 7 percent of riders have any formal training in how to handle the machines.
In a written statement issued Wednesday with the press release, CPSC Commissioner Thomas Moore said:
In recent years, there has been a very troubling and dramatic increase in the numbers of ATV-related injuries. For example:
- The 2004 estimated number of emergency-room-treated injuries for all ages -- 136,100 -- reflects an increase of about eight percent over the 2003 estimate of 125,500 and is an increase of 101 percent over the 1998 estimate of 67,800.
- Even more alarming to me is the 2004 estimated number of emergency-room-treated injuries for children under 16 -- 44,700 -- which is a 16 percent increase over the 2003 estimate of 38,600 and a 78 percent [increase] over the 1998 estimate of 25,100. [...]
The estimated number of four-wheel ATVs in use has grown by 3.8 million from 1998 to 2004 to nearly 7 million vehicles. This compares to the less than half a million in use when the Commission first addressed ATVs back in 1984. These numbers are staggering and, considering these increases, the necessity for further action by this federal government agency is now beyond compelling.
Commissioner Moore added:
I am particularly concerned with the deaths and injuries to children under 16. Most of these are occurring on adult-sized ATVs. I believe many parents look at these rather squatty-looking four-wheel vehicles and have no idea of the skill or strength it takes to ride them or of the consequences when a several hundred pound machine flies up in the air and lands on a child. In many of these situations, there is no safety gear available that can save the child from being crushed to death.
The CPSC says that from 2002-2004 (PDF), the states below led the country in reported ATV deaths. (Keep in mind, though the feds say that the data for those years is "incomplete... and should not be used for comparison among states." That might indicate that there could be more ATV-related deaths than are reported here. It might also be that when more complete data is compiled, the states could rank differently.) Still, there are a lot of deaths that we know about now.
|
Kentucky
|
106 |
West Virginia
|
93
|
Pennsylvania
|
84
|
North Carolina
|
77
|
Florida
|
72
|
Tennessee
|
58
|
Georgia
|
56
|
Ohio
|
52 |
Michigan
|
52
|
California
|
50
|
Texas
|
49
|
New York
|
49 |
Missouri
|
46
|
Other resources:
The ATV Safety Institute
A list of state requirements regarding ATV use (PDF)
From the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's National Ag Safety Database:
New Crime Stats
The Department of Justice is out with the newest crime-victim data (PDF). I thought this was interesting: About half of the men who are victims of violent crimes know the criminal, and half do not. But 60 percent of female victims know their assailant.
For women, rape was most likely to be committed by a friend or acquaintance. Robbery was the crime most likely to be committed by a stranger for both males and females. A third of aggravated assaults were committed by a friend or acquaintance for both males and females.
The report also says that in 2003:
- Most murder victims were male (78 percent).
- When the race of the murder victim was known, about half were white (49 percent), and about half were black (49 percent).
- About 3 percent of murder victims were of another race.
- When information on the murder victim/offender relationship was available, 78 percent of the offenders were known to the victim, while 22 percent were strangers to the victim.
- Firearms were used in the majority of murders (71 percent).
- Offenders were most often male (90 percent), and most often adults (92 percent).
- Homicide is generally intra-racial [same race].
- Arguments were the most often cited circumstance leading to murder (29 percent).
- Homicides occurred in connection with another felony (such as rape, robbery or arson) in 16 percent of incidents.
The Day Care Scare Revisited
Remember back in 2001 when a national study suggested that day care might be turning out a generation of aggressive kids? Seattle Weekly reported that a soon-to-be-released follow-up study suggests that we can calm down. The paper reported that the study says the differences between kids in day care and kids not in day care are pretty small.
Geese That Won't Leave
I got this interesting note and links from Al's Morning Meeting reader Kevin Flynn:
Have you seen or heard anything about migrating birds that have stopped migrating? Here in New Hampshire, it's a problem with Canada geese (and that's "Canada," not "Canadian," geese). Many are becoming "resident geese," meaning they've grown accustomed to humans and their lush surroundings and simply ignore their animal instincts and stay for the winter.
Is it a problem? Thirty-five years ago, there were a quarter-million geese in the U.S. Today there are three million. And they once they find a place to mate, they stay there for life honking and pooping and making more geese.
Here's a link to the story we did on WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.
And here's the link to the AP story as it ran in The Boston Globe.
Regular
Al's Morning Meeting readers know that I told you about a sort of spaying program for geese that some cities are using to control annoying populations.
School Cafeteria Goes Veggie
Al's Morning Meeting reader Anthony Cusumano dropped me a note, saying:
Here's an article from our local paper about a (private) school that went completely veggie with their cafeteria menu.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible.
this is probably the most comprehensive article i've seen on...
