According to a press release from the Hubbard County, Minnesota, Sheriff’s office, Tabaka lost control of the vehicle, which caused it to leave the road and strike a tree. The accident was reported about 6 p.m. in Steamboat River Township.

Emergency workers declared Christopherson, a resident of Benedict, Minn., dead at the scene of the accident. Tabaka was taken to North Country Regional Hospital with a broken collarbone and fractured vertebra. The hospital listed him in good condition.

Authorities continue to investigate possible causes of the accident. Both Christopherson and Tabaka were wearing helmets, but ATV collisions and rollovers often result in body trauma despite protective head gear. The Honda TRX is a quad style vehicle, requiring the driver and passenger to straddle the frame. Because the vehicles lack roll bars, seat belts, and other protective features to contain the riders, quad collisions are exceptionally dangerous.

According to a recently published report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), there were an estimated 816 ATV-related fatalities in 2007, the agency’s most recent estimate. In 2008, an estimated 134,900 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries sustained in ATV accidents. However, these numbers do not include Yamaha Rhinos and other side-by-side style vehicles, which the federal government now classifies with golf carts as recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs).

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV crash kills Minnesota woman, injures another

According to officers from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the boy was wearing a helmet, but it was not enough to protect him from serious injury. Reports say that the boy was thrown from the vehicle and landed about 3 feet away from the ATV. He was rushed to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, where he later died as a result of massive head injuries.

ATV accidents such as this have prompted the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission to push for more regulation and ATV safety awareness, especially when children are concerned. The CPSC is currently drafting new ATV safety rules that will become mandatory for all ATVs manufactured in or shipped to the United States.

The vehicles have flown under the regulatory radar since the early 1980s, when they debuted on the U.S. market. Sales have crept steadily upward since their introduction, but have exploded in the last 2 years. An alarming rate of serious injury and death has accompanied the skyrocketing ATV sales.

To help mitigate the problem, the CPSC is also cracking down on the import of defective Chinese-made ATVs. The agency recently seized a shipment of Chinese ATVs at the port of Houston because they did not meet U.S. safety specifications.

Sadly, China has emerged as a leader in the production of cheap ATVs for children, making more than 83 percent of the vehicles sold children ages 6 to 16 years. Often, these vehicles, which can sell for as little as $250, lack even the most basic safety features, such as front brakes.

The CPSC estimates that more than 100 children are killed every year in ATV accidents and 40,000 sustain injuries serious enough to require hospitalization.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover kills 6-year-old Oklahoma boy

Authorities said that Lyle was wearing a helmet at the time but that she suffered from internal injuries. She was rushed to Johnson City Medical Center Hospital, where she died from her injuries shortly after arriving. The Washington County Sheriff’s CRASH team is investigating the cause of the crash.

In North Carolina, authorities in the town of Hope Mills, just southwest of Fayetteville, responded to a report of an ATV crash just before 6:00 Sunday night. According to the Hope Mills Police Dept. report, the accident occurred in a wooded area within the city limits.

Authorities identified the victim of the crash was 21-year-old Heather Nicole Campbell, who had just celebrated her birthday 3 days prior to the accident.

According to reports, Campbell was driving the ATV through a wooded area off of Legion Road when she hit a tree. The ATV rolled over into a ravine, ejecting Campbell, and then landed on top of her. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Source: Fayetteville Observer

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Weekend ATV accidents claim the lives of 2 young women

Reports say that 15-year-old Danny Tyler Corn was the driver of the Honda TRX300 ATV. 14-year-old Tyler Noles was a passenger. Corn was driving the ATV west along Holland Chattoogaville Road and had crossed Georgia Highway 114 onto Johnson Cemetery Road, where he lost control of the vehicle.

According to the Rome, Georgia, State Patrol, the ATV sideswiped a parked car, hit a mailbox, and then crashed into a tree head-on. Both boys were ejected from the vehicle.

The crash occurred at approximately 7:15 pm. A nearby resident said he heard a loud bang when it happened.

Responding officers called for a medical airlift. According to Chattooga County’s Summerville News, Corn was pronounced dead at the helicopter’s landing zone and was not airlifted. Noles was flown to Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga, where he was admitted with serious injuries and remains in stable condition.

Georgia is one of the few states that has no laws governing ATV operation or safety. The only existing rules require off-road vehicles to be equipped with brakes and a muffler and that drivers obtain permission before using the vehicles on private property.

Because ATV manufacturers have done little to enhance the safety features of their vehicles, the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission announced last month that it would begin the process of regulating ATVs.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV crash kills one Georgia teen, seriously injures another

Reports say that Rivers was driving on a path near South Chestnut Street and East Franklin Avenue in the Beulah community southeast of downtown Foley when he struck a wire that had been strung across the path. London sustained serious neck injuries when she hit the wire and was pronounced dead at the scene. Rivers also received serious neck injuries and was taken to South Baldwin Hospital for treatment. The older girl suffered no injuries and was released to family.

Authorities say the accident took place about 6:15. The incident is under investigation and no arrests have been made. Some reports say that the wire was strung between 2 posts, one on each side of the trail, bearing “no trespassing” signs.

London would have celebrated her fourth birthday next week.

According to government records, children represent 40% of all ATV-related injuries and deaths. More than 50 children are admitted to Alabama Children’s hospitals every year with injuries they received in an ATV rollover or other accident. The most common injuries associated with ATV accidents involve the head, face, and spine; traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries and paralysis, and fractures are some of the serious injuries children typically receive in ATV crashes.

ATV injuries and deaths have escalated sharply in the last couple of years as off-road vehicles become increasingly popular.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › 3-year-old Alabama girl dies when ATV strikes a wire

“They were climbing a hill, fairly steep, and lost traction,” Berry told the Tribune. “As the vehicle began to roll backward, the 4-wheeler tipped over and fell on her,” he said.

Officers from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and state conservation officers were the first to arrive at the scene, where they found the girl unconscious. They performed CPR on the victim until the ambulance emergency medical workers arrived.

The girl was transported to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, but doctors were unable to revive her. She was pronounced dead at 5:56 p.m., about an hour and a half after the rollover was first reported.

Officer Berry told the Tribune that the number of ATV accidents and fatalities has jumped over the summer, but that he couldn’t say what was responsible for the increase.

The number of ATV-related injuries and deaths  has grown steadily in the last 10 years all over North America, but the problem has increased dramatically in the last couple of years especially.

“Proportionately, ATVs have grown in popularity, and the more people that own them the more accidents we’re going to have,” Officer Berry told the Tribune. “This summer we have had a lot of them, it seems. It’s just been a bad year for them,” he told the paper.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover kills six-year-old Indiana girl