Children Should Stay Off Adult-Sized ATVs, Study Says

If an adult can comfortably fit on an all-terrain vehicle (ATV), a child should not be riding it, say researchers writing in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthapedic Surgeons.

ATVs are actually dangerous for any rider. The researchers say there are more than 150,000 ATV-related accidents in the U.S. each year. Though children make up only 15 percent of ATV riders, they account for 27 percent of ATC accidents and 28 percent of ATV deaths.

"Most accidents are rollovers, when the vehicle tips over and crushes the rider," said orthopaedic surgeon and lead author Jeffrey R. Sawyer, MD. "Children, because of their low weight and strength, are unable to correct the rollover and get crushed."

Risky riding

In addition to being unable to correct a rollover, children also may take more risks than older drivers.

"The incidence and severity of injuries has increased dramatically during the past 10 years, and most of these injuries are preventable," Sawyer said. "Unfortunately, there is a high prevalence of life-threatening injuries, such as head injuries, abdominal injuries, and thoracic injuries. In addition, there is a large public health cost that is not only in terms financial, but in productive life-years lost. In other words, this is a problem that affects young people with many productive years ahead of them."

The researcher say the rapid rise in ATV-related injuries is probably due to increased use and also to the production of larger, faster, and more powerful vehicles. These machines, the researchers say, should be operated only by adults.

Lower extremity fractures

The fact that rollovers are the most common cause of injury helps to explain why many children involved in ATV accidents suffer lower extremity fractures, because the leg is often pinned beneath the vehicle.

"Other injuries unique to ATV accidents include partial or complete foot amputations, usually secondary to the foot being caught in the chain, and clothesline-type injuries to the head and neck that occur when the rider strikes a clothesline or fence," according to the article.

Between 1982 and 2008, there were 9,633 reported ATV-related deaths, and 2,588 were in children younger than 16 years old. The number of reported ATV-related deaths per year increased from 29 deaths in 1982 to 221 in 1992 to 699 in 2007.