Deaths, Injuries from ATV Accidents on the Rise

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November 28th, 2007

"Children ATV Accidents are Increasing"

The number of serious injuries and deaths due to ATV accidents is more than twice what it was ten years ago, according to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) statistics.

Among the most common injuries sustained by ATV riders are broken bones, brain injuries, hemorrhages, and skull fractures, a new study reports.

“Parents need to understand that ATVs are not toys. We tend to think short-term and believe that we’re giving children a toy or some kind of entertainment with an ATV. But, remember, a trip to the ER is in no way recreational,” said Dr. Chetan Shah, lead author of the study.

A Decade of Research

Shah and his colleagues at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock have been collecting data on children treated for ATV-related injuries at their hospital over the past decade.

During that time, the doctors treated 455 children between the ages of 6 months and 19 years old—318 boys and 137 girls, with an average age of about 11. The injuries included:

Six deaths
77 fractures to the skull
62 hemorrhages
53 brain injuries
12 spine fractures, 3 with damage to the spinal cord
32 lung injuries
11 amputations

Additionally, 159 children suffered fractures to their extremities, most frequently a leg bone.

Injuries Doubled

These statistics are from a single Arkansas hospital. CPSC statistics show that 467 people died from injuries caused by ATV accidents in 2005, up from 200 in 1995. Emergency room visits were also up—from 52,200 in 1995 to 136,700 in 2005.

“I think parents probably don’t have a real picture of the consequences and the injuries these machines can cause,” Shah said at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America on Monday.

(Source: HealthDay News)

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