The Georgia State Court jury awarded the plaintiff $371,002 to compensate for pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost wages, lost future wages, and loss of consortium. The case is one of dozens of other such cases filed against Yamaha in Gwinnett County, Georgia, where the company’s registered agent for the United States is located.

According to the complaint, the victim brought his Rhino to a stop and then began moving the vehicle forward as he turned the steering wheel right, “and the Rhino tipped onto the driver’s side, trapping his leg under the vehicle.” The weight of the vehicle crushed the plaintiff’s leg, shredding his skin while smashing and exposing his bone.

The case was considered a pivotal one in the legal community because it tested the viability of several other lawsuits filed against Yamaha in the same county. The jury’s verdict indicates that plaintiffs with cases involving similar or worse injuries will likely receive compensation, especially those cases filed in Gwinnett County.

The trial lasted two weeks and the jury deliberated for 10 hours before reaching its verdict. According to some reports, one of the jury’s biggest concerns was that Yamaha never tested its Rhinos for “occupant containment.” Had the company conducted such tests, it would have seen the problem, the jury believed. Almost all serious injuries on Yamaha Rhinos occur during rollovers when the limbs of the vehicle’s occupants protrude from the vehicle.

Drivers and passengers experience a higher rate of injury and death in Rhinos than in other recreational off-road vehicles (ROVs) and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Consumer and safety advocates assert Rhinos are dangerous because of their design flaws, including a narrow, top-heavy stance that makes the vehicle prone to roll over, even while when traveling across even surfaces at a low rate of speed.

Yamaha issued a statement after the verdict, saying that the company “is disappointed by the jury’s decision to find for the plaintiff in this case and will pursue all appropriate legal remedies, including possible appeal.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Plaintiff wins landmark case in Georgia for Yamaha Rhino injuries

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 Troy Police, Dacin was out riding ATVs with her flight instructor Saturday night when she hit a cement pad just before 1 a.m., causing the rollover. Dacin was ejected from the vehicle and hit her head. The ATV then landed on top of her.

Dacin was taken to Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, where doctors pronounced her dead just before 2 a.m. The Oakland County Meidcal Examiner’s Office said the official cause of death was head trauma. Dacin was not wearing a helmet when the accident occurred.

Dacin’s friend, Tracy Freeland, who graduated from Utica High School with her in 2006, said that Dacin liked to ride motorcycles and had considered joining the Air Force.

“She was a wild child. She just wanted to laugh and have fun,” Freeland told the Free Press. “She wanted to fly.”

Police are currently investigating whether alcohol played a factor in the ATV crash.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 816 ATV-related fatalities occurred in 2007, the agency’s most recent annual estimate. The federal government does not include side-by-side vehicles such as the Yamaha Rhino and certain Polaris models in its ATV estimates, so the fatalities linked to all off-road vehicles would be much higher.

The Free Press report says that Dacin was driving a quad, which the driver straddles – an ATV according to government classification.

The CPSC has reported a 53 percent increase in the number of ATV deaths from 1999 to 2007. The agency also estimates that about 135,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for injuries caused by an ATV crash, compared with 81,800 in 1999 – a 65 percent increase. One-fifth of all ATV deaths involved children.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover kills 22-year-old student pilot

The boy’s parents told authorities they did not know the boy had taken the ATV and that they began to search for him “within several minutes.” They found the boy just after 7 p.m. trapped in the water underneath the overturned vehicle. The parents administered CPR until emergency medical help arrived.

Maryland’s Office of the Chief medical Examiner has ruled the boy’s death to be an accidental drowning.

Authorities say the boy was found wearing a helmet. According to the parents, he was allowed to ride the Polaris ATV, but they told authorities the ATVs had been put away for the night.

The investigation remains open, though Police have stated that it appears no laws were broken.

Maryland law prohibits children under 12 years to operate ATVs on public land, but there are no restrictions for ATV use on private property in the state.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has evaluated the safety standards for ATVs as established by the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association and found that they do not “adequately address the deaths and injuries associated with ROV rollovers and collisions.” Inadequate lateral stability, undesirable steering characteristics, and insufficient occupant protection during rollover crashes are some of the characteristics that make the vehicles so dangerous, the CPSC says.

In a statement last October about the dangers of ATVs, Inez Tenenbaum urged parents to keep their children off of ATVs.

“I urge all riders and passengers to strap on a helmet, use the seat belt, know the terrain, and never allow anyone under 16 to drive these vehicles,” Tenenbaum said.

Polaris touts its line of child-oriented vehicles with the tagline: TOUGH ATVs FOR TOUGH KIDS

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Maryland boy drowns after ATV rollover

Investigators at the scene said that the crash was likely the result of the front left tire coming off of Case’s vehicle. The tire disengagement apparently caused Case to run the ATV headlong into a tree. Authorities said that the boy was not wearing a helmet.

Case was rushed to South Williamson Appalachian Regional Hospital in South Williamson, Kentucky, where emergency physician Brandon Haake pronounced him dead.

Case attended Belfry High School in Belfry, Kentucky. According to the school principal, who spoke with the Williamson Daily News, Case was well liked by his fellow students.

“The young man was a senior and well liked at the school. I don’t know anyone who didn’t like Andy,” Principal Rod Varney told the Daily News.

“Any time you lose a student it’s devastating to the school. It is a difficult time for everyone,” Varney told the Daily News. “Somebody lost a child, somebody lost a friend and then we all lost a student.”

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Kentucky leads the nation in the number of ATV-related fatalities. The CPSC says that 367 ATV-related deaths were reported in Kentucky in 2006 alone, and incomplete numbers for the following years show that ATV fatalities continue to escalate. Tragically, about one-third of all the reported ATV deaths in Kentucky are children.

Pennsylvania, California, West Virginia, and Texas are other states with an unusually high rate of deaths caused by ATV accidents.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Kentucky teen dies in Christmas day ATV crash

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

Medical workers from the nearby Thomasville and Basalt communities north of Aspen were dispatched to the scene. The team called upon a medical helicopter after discovering the extent of Shepherd’s injuries. Unable to land at the scene, the helicopter landed instead at the summit of Hagerman pass where it was met by the responding medical team who had transported Shepherd by ambulance. The helicopter flew Shepherd to Denver hospital.

Shepherd’s case underscores the importance of taking every safety precaution when riding an ATV, especially in remote wilderness areas that may be difficult for emergency workers to access. Solo drivers such as Shepherd who are seriously injured in an ATV rollover or collision may go unnoticed unless they are found by chance. Police reports say that Shepherd was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

ATV accidents have climbed dramatically in recent years. The numbers are especially high in states with large swaths of wilderness and rural areas, where ATVs are used for a number of utilitarian purposes in addition to being popular for recreational use. On average, ATV accidents are responsible for approximately 700 deaths and 135,000 injuries every year.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Colorado man receives life-threatening injuries in ATV crash