Atv Safety For Kids By Craig Amshel

ATV Safety for Kids by Dr

ATV Safety for Kids by Dr. Craig Amshel

How young is too you to operate an All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs)? This same question is before us again as the injury reports from this summer are still being tallied. Many families enjoy ATV's including my own but even I cringe when I see kids as young as 7 years old on 4 Wheelers.

And yes, the kids typically are equipped with the proper safety gear but impact injuries are still reported daily all across the country. Due to the increase in injuries involving minors under the age of 10 and ATV's the medical community as well as Law Makers are now considering raising the legal operating age to 16. Some would argue that the dangers of All Terrain Vehicles are the exact equivalent to cyclers in populated cities.

Regardless of what side of the argument you're on the reality is this, even ATV's that are design for kids under 12 years old can still reach speed in excess of 20 miles an hour, far faster than a bicycle.

Lois Lee, MD, MPH, who specializes in pediatric emergency medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, spoke out yesterday in support of a Massachusetts bill that would raise the legal age requirement to drive an ATV. Current laws mandate that a child as young as 10 can ride an ATV with adult supervision, but the new bill would increase the minimum ATV driving age to 14. Lois Lee, MD, director of Children's Injury Prevention Program and David Mooney, MD, MPH, director of the Trauma Program, support this bill. "The majority of the time the children are poorly trained, poorly supervised, and not strong enough to control these machines," Mooney says.

In the emergency department, Lee and Mooney have seen the devastating effects ATV accidents can have. Over the last five years, more than 75 children were admitted to Children's with life-changing injuries caused by ATV accidents.

"Recently, we cared for an 8-year-old whose groin was impaled by the handlebar when the ATV he was riding ran into a parked car," Lee says. "Another young boy ruptured his spleen when his ATV hit a tree trunk. Both children were injured while riding supervised by their fathers and wearing full protective gear."

by:Tyronne Jacques

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