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Ontario Medical Association wants children banned from ATVs
October 9th, 2009 by Kurt Niland
All-terrain vehicle accidents are common in Canada, where the vehicles have become a way of life for so many people living in the country’s vast stretches of rural land and wilderness. Unfortunately, Canada’s youngest citizens account for a significant percent of the injuries and deaths resulting from ATV rollovers and collisions – a grim statistic that has prompted the Ontario Medical Association (OMA) to push for new legislation that would help protect many Ontario children from being injured or killed on ATVs.
“As physicians, we are seeing far too many children with serious injuries caused by the use of ATVs,” said OMA president Dr. Suzanne Strasberg in a statement. “Ontario’s doctors firmly believe that there is nothing more important than protecting the health and safety of children in the province.”
Statistics show that in Ontario, like in other parts of the world where ATVs are popular, children ages 5 to 19 account for one-third of ATV injuries and fatalities. From 2005 to 2006, 5,584 Ontarians went to the emergency room with ATV related injuries. The number of people hospitalized with injuries sustain in ATV crashes continues to rise sharply year after year.
One reason the OMA says that children make up such a high percent of the injured is their “lack of physical and cognitive ability to operate ATVs.”
“Research demonstrates that ATVs require considerable muscle strength, as well as proficient cognitive, motor and coordination skills, and experience in making split-second judgments; generally these skills are underdeveloped or critically lacking in children,” the OMA report states.
Some restrictions governing ATV use by children already exist in Ontario, but the OMA believes the present laws are inadequate. The association proposes that no children under age 14 should be permitted to drive an ATV of any size within Ontario. Older children 14 to 16 years should be allowed to drive only low power ATVs that cannot exceed 30 km/hour. The OMA wants to see these rules go into effect on both public land and private property throughout Ontario.
The association also asks “that the ATV manufacturers respond to medical community concerns and voluntarily discontinue their marketing to children without waiting for legislative restrictions …”
To help protect against traumatic brain injury and death, the OMA wants government-approved helmets to be compulsory for ATV drivers of all ages.
The Ontario Safety League (OSL) backs the OMA’s proposal. “The risks and dangers that children face when they operate an ATV are overwhelming and can’t be ignored any longer,” said OSL President Brian Patterson. “That’s why the Ontario Safety League fully supports the OMA’s recommendations to strengthen existing ATV legislation and we hope to see swift implementation of these long overdue regulations.”
