Some say ATVs are safe; you just need to teach children how to ride them safely.
Not surprisingly, manufacturers say their machines are safe and stable; the problem, they argue, is the rider.
But what happens when safe riders get hurt?
The Oregonian hired an engineer to test the stability of four popular ATV models. The testing found that all four were dangerously prone to overturning. The newspaper also found that overturns were just as common among riders who appeared to follow basic safety warnings as among those who did not.
If safe riders are still being injured—and sometimes killed—what is causing the problem?
ATV design.
ATVs have a narrow track width and high ground clearance. Those characteristics allow them to travel over rough terrain and narrow trails, but they also contribute to rollover risk.
Even experienced and safety-conscious riders can be seriously injured or killed when an ATV's design limitations contribute to a loss of control or rollover.
Some say you can simply set speed limits on ATVs.
But speed limiters are built into youth models—not adult-sized ATVs.
And this matters because the overwhelming majority of child ATV fatalities occur on adult-sized vehicles. More than 95% of pediatric deaths and injuries have occurred on adult-sized vehicles.
—American Academy of Pediatrics
So if children are riding machines designed for adults, telling them simply to ride safely doesn't address the underlying problem.
A machine that is powerful and prone to overturning.
An ATV injury isn't always a matter of how safely a child rides. Sometimes, the machine itself is part of the problem.
Excerpt from The Illusion of ATV Safety