Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a new report called “All-Terrain Vehicles: How They Are Used, Crashes, and Sales of Adult-Sized Vehicles for Children’s Use.” The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is responsible for monitoring ATV safety and federal rulemaking affecting the manufacturing, sale and use of the vehicles, requires GAO to report on the various uses and advantages of ATVs and the nature, frequency and costs associated with ATV crashes.

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A 22-year-old student helicopter pilot was killed early Sunday morning when the all-terrain vehicle she was driving rolled over. Reports say that Aura Corina Dacin, who friends described as a free spirit, “wild child” and thrill seeker, was driving the ATV at Oakland-Troy Airport in Troy, Michigan, when the rollover occurred. 

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A four-year-old boy was found dead last Saturday night in a creek bed after the all-terrain vehicle he was driving flipped, pinning him underneath. According to initial reports, the boy was last seen playing outside with a group of children on his parents’ property in Frederick County, Maryland, before he wandered off on his own and got on the Polaris Predator 50cc ATV, a model designed for children. 

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A bill that would have encouraged ATV safety by setting age and passenger limits and requiring passengers to wear helmets died in Mississippi’s last legislative session. Now another child is dead and two others injured following an ATV accident in the Hebron Community, located about halfway between Jackson and Hattiesburg in the south-central portion of state.

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The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission announced a recall of about 8,500 Polaris all-terrain vehicles for defects that may pose a crash hazard. According to the CPSC, Polaris Industries of Medina, Minn., has received 19 reports of incidents involving the recalled 2009 and 2010 model-year ATVs.

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A Mississippi coroner has become a strong advocate of tougher laws governing the operation of all-terrain vehicles because of the horrific injuries she has seen on the job. Carolyn Gillentine-Green, the Coroner of Lee County, Mississippi, told Jackson’s Clarion-Ledger that she supported any measures that would improve ATV safety in her state. “I’m a proponent for anything to make it safer,” Gillentine-Green told the paper.

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Dion Seymour Jr., a 57-year-old resident of Orrington, Maine, died last month when the all-terrain vehicle he was driving in a remote area rolled over on top of him. According to the Bangor Daily News, Seymour, an avid outdoorsman, left his home at 9 am to go hunting in his favorite hunting area near Bald Mountain in eastern Maine. When Seymour did not return by 9 pm that evening, his wife called authorities to report him missing.

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Another child has been killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident in Alabama. According to Mobile and Pensacola area press reports, 3-year old girl London Johnson was riding on an ATV with her grandfather, Arthur Lee Rivers, 43, and Isces Johnson, 5 years old, Monday evening when the accident occurred.

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An all-terrain vehicle accident claimed the life of 15-year-old high school student from University Heights, Ohio, a community east of Cleveland. A report by NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland said that Dan Murphy was riding on an ATV with 3 other students from St. Ignatius High School, A preparatory school in Cleveland run by the Jesuits.

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According to the Utah Department of Health, “during the summer months (May through August), more children and young adults were hospitalized for ATV injures (339) than were hospitalized for all forms of intentional injury (assault, gunshot, stabbing, etc. [224]).” One of those young adults, 19-year-old Morgan Olson, wants to use her own example to promote the importance of wearing a helmet when driving on or riding an all-terrain vehicle.

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