According to Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower, the girls were riding the Rhino on a private ranch about 40 miles west of Cedar City in southwestern Utah near the Nevada and Arizona borders. The Rhino’s driver, a 9-year-old girl, hit the tree at a high rate of speed.

Gower told the Salt Lake Tribune that “the force of the wreck broke the bolts holding the seat.”

Gower identified the 5-year-old girl who was seriously injured as Avalon Carlisle. The girl suffered head trauma from the Rhino’s roll bar and was taken to Valley View Medical Center in Cedar City, where she was airlifted to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City. A hospital spokesperson told the Salt Lake Tribune on Monday that the girl was recovering and in good condition.

The other girls went to private homes following the crash and Sheriff’s deputies had to track them all down. Sheriff Gower told the Tribune that the four other girls were then taken to Cedar City for medical attention.

None of the girls was wearing a helmet.

On public land in Utah, it is illegal for anyone younger than 8 years old to drive an ATV. All drivers ages 8 to 16 must have a safety training certificate if operating on public lands.

However, Utah state law does not place any restrictions on the use of all-terrain vehicles on private property. Nonetheless, police are screening the case for possible negligence charges.

Investigators were told that the girls took the vehicle on their own without permission. Nevertheless, Gower told the Tribune that the girls’ parents or guardians could be held accountable.

“It was negligent and charges could be filed against whoever allowed it or allowed them to continue riding,”

Gower told the Tribune that the owner of the Rhino lives in Colorado City, Arizona and was not present when the crash occurred.

Ann Evans, the off-highway vehicle coordinator for the Utah Division of State Parks, told the Tribune that she sees a “disturbing trend” at some popular off-roading locations with mothers holding their babies in chest carriers while riding.

Babies and children are especially prone to receive traumatic head injuries on an ATV, either from the rough, jarring motion of the vehicle or by striking their heads on a hard surface in the event of a crash or rollover. Helmet companies do not make helmets for infants.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Five girls injured in Yamaha Rhino rollover

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

According to authorities, 18-year-old Taykra Murphy was driving an Arctic Cat Prowler with three children on board, ranging in age from 3 to 11 . Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge said that Murphy lost control of the vehicle just after 11:30 a.m. Sunday. The ATV flipped onto its side and ejected the three children. According to witnesses, the occupants of the ATV were seen wearing helmets prior to the accident.

Two trucks from the Hebron Volunteer Fire & Rescue were dispatched to the scene of the accident after a 911 call was made. Also responding were two deputies and an investigator from the Jones County Sheriff’s Department; Nancy Barnett, an investigator from the Jones County District Attorney’s Office, and two ambulances.

A 3-year-old boy was found dead at the scene. Investigators believe he was killed immediately in the rollover. The other children received minor injuries and were treated on the scene.

“It is truly disheartening when accidents such as this occur,” Sheriff Hodge said. “We extend our prayers and condolences to the family of the 3-year-old and all those involved in this accident.”

Mississippi continues to rank highest among states for its number of ATV injuries and fatalities. The state’s numerous farms and enormous swaths of rural terrain make off-road vehicles extremely popular modes of transportation for both work and pleasure. Yet Mississippi lawmakers have resisted passing laws that would govern the use of ATVs, despite the concerns of safety experts and others who have seen first-hand the horrific injuries a simple ATV rollover can cause.

Because of the ATV’s popularity and the lack of state laws, ATV-related deaths and injuries are three times higher than they are in just about every other part of the country.

According to state numbers, 29 people were killed and 1,500 seriously injured in ATV accidents in Mississippi last year alone.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover claims another child’s life in Mississippi

Bloomingdale police said that Mlynarczyk was rushed to Copley Medical Center in Aurora where he was pronounced dead later that evening. They did not specify the nature of Mlynarczyk’s injuries and the accident remains under investigation.

The fatal rollover stunned Mlynarczyk’s friends and family. According to Chicago’s Daily Herald, the man’s father, Marion Mlynarczyk said his son was an experienced driver of both three- and four-wheeled ATVs and dirt bikes.

“He just loves it, it’s like he was born with that (passion),” his father told the Daily Herald, which noted that “Even the main photo on his Facebook profile includes a photo of Mlynarczyk atop an ATV.”

Mlynarczyk was the youngest of five children. He graduated last year from Glenbard North High School and was studying to become a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning specialist.

“If you knew him, you would like him right away because he was such a positive person. Everybody liked him (because) he was always willing to help and always giving good advice,” his father said.

Mlynarczyk’s father said that his son “was looking forward to graduating and working as a Union Guy.”

“We are going to miss him tremendously and I don’t know how we are going to fill the gap he left. I look at his pictures and he is so full of life and hope, and now he’s gone,” his father told the Daily Herald.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover claims the life of 19-year-old Illinois student

An all-terrain vehicle crash claimed the life of a 16-year-old girl from the Chinquapin community in Duplin County, North Carolina last weekend. According to NBC affiliate WITN in Washington, North Carolina, the girl was identified as Raven Kennedy, a student at East Duplin High School.

Authorities investigating the accident said Kennedy was driving the ATV on private property when it rolled over after Kennedy attempted to turn onto a dirt road. Her passenger, 20-year-old Michael Pickett, was taken to Duplin General Hospital, where he was treated and released.

In South Carolina, a 13-year-old boy died when he was riding his ATV with friends. According to Florence County Coroner Bubba Matthews, the boy, who was identified as Benjamin Byers, lost control of the ATV and was crushed when the vehicle rolled over on top of him. Byers was rushed to Lake City Hospital where he was pronounced dead just before 3 p.m. on January 11.

Near White City, Oregon, three two teenage girls were treated for injuries at a local hospital when the ATV they and another friend, also a teenage girl, flipped. Reports say that the ATV’s driver lost control of the vehicle just as she attempted to cross Highway 140 in southern Oregon just outside White City.

One of the girls of the girls was ejected when the vehicle rolled over. The other girls were trapped under the vehicle after it rolled over multiple times. All three girls survived the crash.

In Nova Scotia, Canada, a teenager died when he was ejected from the vehicle after hitting some rocks in the road. 18-year-old Alexander MacPhee of Nine Mile River was riding his ATV with two friends when the accident occurred. Halifax Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that MacPhee was wearing a helmet but that it had come off when he the rock. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

In an effort to reduce the incidence of injury and death caused by ATV accidents, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced last October that it voted to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to address safety hazards associated with ATVs.

According to the CPSC, the agency’s preliminary evaluations found that ATVs may exhibit inadequate lateral stability, undesirable steering characteristics, and inadequate occupant protection during a rollover crash.

“The need for federal rulemaking on ROVs (recreational offroad vehicles) is the consequence of not having a voluntary standard that effectively safeguards consumers, said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum in a statement, adding that she believed her agency could play a vital role in making ATVs safer.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV accidents turned January into a tragic month for many teenagers

In Jackson County, Alabama, where at least one person was killed in an ATV accident last year, representatives of the Sheriff’s Department, Emergency Management Agency, the Scottsboro Fire Department, AirEvac, and other emergency services are in the planning stages of developing community education and training courses for ATV safety.

“ATV safety is very needed in our county,” Michael Sims, coordinator for the Jackson County Extension Office, told Jackson County’s Daily Sentinel. According to the Sentinel, Sims said that more adults and children need to be wearing helmets while riding and often they have too many have passengers riding on the vehicles.

In Pittsylvania County, Virginia, two Pittsylvania County volunteer fire departments are hosting an ATV Safety Awareness event this weekend to “provide tips on minimizing the dangers of riding an ATV,” the Danville News reports.

Proceeds from the event, which includes a yard sale and bake sale, will benefit the family of a local teen who was killed in an ATV accident in October. The money raised will help cover medical expenses and scholarships.

Tragically, in Pittsylvania County just last Friday, a 2-year-old boy fell off an ATV that his mother was driving and died. The mother and the boy’s sister were also injured when the ATV crashed. The tragedy occurred after the fire departments planned the Pittsylvania County awareness event. The timing of the incident underscores the need for more ATV safety events.

Regardless of the safety measures a driver takes, all-terrain vehicles are by their very nature dangerous vehicles that can maim or kill even the most experienced drivers and their passengers. When drivers disregard or don’t know the laws governing ATV operation (if their state has rules), or if they fail to take the most basic safety precautions, a fairly dangerous machine becomes a very deadly one.

Some ATVs, such as the Yamaha Rhino, contain design flaws that make them unreasonably dangerous. Yamaha designed the Rhino to fit in the bed of a standard pick-up truck, giving it a narrow stance that makes the vehicle prone to roll over, even when it is driven on a flat surface and at a low rate of speed. The Rhino’s propensity to roll over, combined with a lack of safety features that adequately protect passengers, has caused hundreds of serious injuries and dozens of deaths across the U.S.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Communities offer ATV safety events to mitigate off-roading dangers

Florence County coroner Bubba Matthews told WBTW that the boy likely lost control of the ATV while riding with friends. Byers was an active and athletic child who loved fishing, hunting, and playing ball. Most of all, he loved racing.

The boy’s mother, Tamara Johnson, described her son as “an awesome athlete.”

“He played county sports and school sports. He raced all over the United States. He was just an awesome kid,” Johnson told WBTW.

“He was my baby boy, my baby boy with the big smile. Everybody he met, he left an impression on,” she said.

Byers was featured on the news last month when he competed against the station’s news director in a go-kart race and won.

The boy’s death dealt a painful blow to the family, friends, school, and community that he left behind. Those who knew and loved Byers mourned his passing during funeral services held Wednesday after classes ended at Johnsonville Middle School, where he attended.

Byers’ family established a scholarship fund to preserve the boy’s memory in his community and to help others. All donations, which can be made to any Anderson Brothers Bank, will benefit a student athlete at Johnsonville Middle School.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover kills 13-year-old South Carolina boy

Mississippi remains one of the few states with almost no laws restricting the use of ATVs. As a result, the number of ATV-related injuries and deaths in Mississippi is three times higher than in most other parts of the country.

Tragically, in Mississippi, children are too often the victims of the dangerous vehicles, and there is a growing feeling that the state’s lack of legislation governing their use and safety represents a big part of the problem.

Two days before Christmas, in Warren County, Mississippi, an ATV accident claimed the life of 15-year-old Caitlin Lopez, who was driving a Yamaha Big Bear when “suddenly it flipped,” according to Jackson NBC affiliate WLBT. The accident injured 6-year-old twin sisters Kimberly and Kaylee Madison, who were passengers in the Yamaha when it rolled over.

“Knowing that they’re here and that they’re walking and talking and breathing. It is remarkable to me,” Selena Madison, the mother of the twins, told WLBT.

Last year, Coroner Gillentine-Green pronounced the deaths of 20-year-old Crystal Hooper and her 5-year-old cousin Natalie Aguilar, who were killed when the ATV they were on crashed. According to available reports, Hooper lost control of the ATV and ran into a trailer full of building supplies. Both Hooper and Aguilar sustained head injuries in the accident.

But will adding new legislation, such as requiring the use of helmets, help reduce the number of ATV-related injuries and fatalities? Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace says it will.

“I attribute at least some of this to Mississippi’s lack of legislation,” Pace told WLBT, referring to the recent spate of ATV crashes that claimed the lives of Mississippi teens and children.

But Sheriff Pace also believes that the vehicles are dangerous to start with, and that anyone riding them should be extremely cautious, no matter what the laws are.

“In 2009, we’ve lost two beautiful teenage girls to four wheeler accidents. And they’re just inherently dangerous vehicles,” Pace said.

Two Mississippi legislators, Gray Tollison (D) and Dannie Reed (R) are also calling for better legislation.

“We need to consider legislation this session to decrease the increasing number of ATV deaths and serious injuries, especially children. I believe that the passage of a law requiring the use of a helmet and required training for persons without a drivers license would go a long way to reduce the number of ATV deaths and serious injuries in Mississippi,” Tollison said in a statement.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV deaths prompt Mississippi to consider better ATV legislation

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

In July 2008, Gillentine-Green pronounced the deaths of 20-year-old Crystal Hooper and her 5-year-old cousin Natalie Aguilar after the ATV they were on crashed. According to available reports, Hooper lost control of the ATV and ran into a trailer full of building supplies. Both Hooper and Aguilar sustained head injuries in the accident.

Mississippi remains one of the few states with almost no laws pertaining to the use of ATVs. As a result, the number of ATV-related injuries and deaths in Mississippi is three times higher than in most other parts of the country.

ATV deaths have been creeping upward in the state since 1981, but the numbers suddenly spiked in 2005. From then until 2007, the last statistically current year in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s data, 65 ATV-related deaths occurred, representing more than 25 percent of all the state’s ATV-related deaths since 1981.

According to state numbers, 29 people were killed and 1,500 seriously injured in ATV accidents in Mississippi last year alone.

A bill that would have encouraged ATV safety died in Mississippi’s last legislative session, but Republican State Representative Dannie Reed plans to reintroduce a similar bill in the upcoming session. The legislation would require all ATV drivers to wear helmets while driving on public land. Drivers also would have to meet the minimum age requirement for the vehicle and the number of passengers would be restricted. Ignoring the safety laws would cost $100 per violation.

“Mississippi has lost more people on ATVs than the state has lost soldiers to the Iraq war,” Reed told the Clarion-Ledger.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Mississippi coroner supports legislation governing ATV safety

Because more than 500 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts throughout the U.S., a “bellwether” approach is being taken to manage the caseload. A group of plaintiffs will be selected to represent all of the other plaintiffs in the case. Bellwether trials are occasionally formed when large numbers of plaintiffs file suit and proceed on the same theory or claim. The verdict from these trials will be extrapolated to the other plaintiffs’ cases, and will indicate the trends in all remaining cases. The multidistrict litigation (MDL) could also lead to a settlement.

Nearly all Rhino lawsuits filed against Yamaha claim that the vehicles have design flaws and lack key safety features, both of which make the vehicles unstable, prone to roll over, and unusually dangerous. The Rhino’s narrow frame and track width and its high center of gravity have played a role in hundreds of rollovers and crashes since the vehicle’s debut in 2003. Most plaintiffs claim that the vehicles were being operated appropriately and responsibly when the accidents occurred, often on level ground and at low speed.

The first of the MDL trials is scheduled to start on October 18, 2010 and will involve a case brought by a Kentucky woman. Subsequent cases are scheduled to be heard on November 15, November 29, December 13, and January 10, 2011.

Yamaha issued a safety recall of all Rhino vehicles last spring and ordered its dealerships to stop selling all Rhino models until a series of safety upgrades could be completed on each new vehicle.

On August 27, a Texas jury cleared Yamaha in a case brought by the parents of Forrest “Eddie” Ray, a 13-year-old boy who was killed when the Rhino he was driving flipped. Although seen as a landmark trial and victory for Yamaha, the boy’s father testified that his son had been driving a modified Rhino and was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Federal Yamaha Rhino cases set for multidistrict litigation next year

While details of the accident haven’t been released, it has been reported that Tate suffered a broken jaw and facial lacerations. Tate’s face bore the brunt of the accident, but fortunately he was protected from head injuries because he wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

A high school center fielder from Cartersville, Georgia, Tate signed with the Padres on August 17 and received a $6.5 million bonus, the largest signing bonus in franchise history. He is 18 years old.

Tate, who has not played a game with the Padres yet, had been in recovery and rehabilitation after having surgery on a sports-related hernia in October. Following his ATV accident, surgeons reportedly inserted steel plate in Tate’s mouth and wired his jaw shut.

Despite all of his injuries, the Padres say that Tate will be ready for spring training. The team is likely to have had some practice in thinking positively, since 8 of their 10 top draft picks, including Tate, have suffered from injuries or had personal problems soon after the draft.

The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission estimates 150,900 ATV-related injuries treated in emergency rooms nationwide will be recorded for the statistical year 2007 – nearly double the number of injuries reported 10 years ago. Despite occasional drops in the number of reported ATV-related injures and deaths from year to year, the overall trend since 1988 has been upward.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Top MLB draft pick Tate injured in ATV crash

According to BRP, an electrical short circuit may occur, causing the vehicle to suddenly steer left on its own and in some situations a total loss of control can occur.

The CPSC urges owners of the recalled ATVs to stop using the vehicles and contact any Can-Am dealer to schedule a free repair. BRP is mailing a direct notice to all known owners of the vehicles. Consumers may contact BRP directly by calling toll-free (888) 638-5397 between 8 a.m. and 6. p.m. Eastern Monday through Friday, or by visiting the company’s website.

BRP says that customers who wish to use their ATVs before the repairs can be made should disable the DPS by removing its electrical fuse. Instructions on how to remove the DPS fuse are included in the recall letter BRP mailed to consumers. Consumers may also take their vehicles to an authorized dealer to have the fuse removed until permanent repairs are made.

The ATVs were manufactured in Mexico and sold by authorized Can-Am dealers across the country from August 2009 through November 2009. Average retail price for the vehicles was between $6,800 and $13,500.

Specific models included in the recall are listed in the table below:

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › 2,400 ATVs recalled over potential for steering loss

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

The accident occurred at West Florida Motocross Park in the northern section of Walton County. The racing park normally holds up to 6 ATV races a year, drawing participants and spectators from across the South, the park’s co-owner Krystal King told the Walton Sun.

According to King, Pierce was the first fatality at the park since she and her husband purchased it about a year ago.

Witnesses said that Pierce’s ATV went airborne after topping a hill on the course, propelling the boy forward over the handlebars. After Pierce hit the ground, the vehicle crashed on top of him, splitting his helmet in half. Emergency medical workers flew the boy to North Okaloosa Medical Center in Crestview, Florida, where he died just after 1:30 p.m.

WMBB in nearby Panama City said that the accident “leaves some parents with questions about ATVs,” especially in the holiday season when many children receive ATVs as Christmas gifts.

State laws may govern what ATVs children may legally ride and where there they can ride them. After that, staying safe is mostly a matter of following safety procedures.

King told the Walton Sun that all drivers at West Florida Motocross Park must wear helmets, boots, long-sleeve shirts, and long pants. Chest protectors, knee pads, and neck braces are optional gear that many people choose to wear.

“Even with the gear it can be very dangerous,” King told the Walton Sun.

The past few days have been particularly deadly for children driving or riding on ATVs. Last weekend, ATV accidents and rollovers claimed the lives of a 5-year-old in South Carolina, a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, and a 3-year-old boy central Wisconsin.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Mississippi teen dies in Florida ATV accident

The boy was off-roading with his father, each of them driving separate vehicles, when the accident occurred. Authorities said that Quarles fell off of his ATV and landed in a ditch, but did not elaborate on the cause of the accident.

Reports indicate that the boy and his father followed the usual precautions. Quarles was wearing a helmet, he was driving an age-appropriate “small four wheeler,” and was operating the ATV under adult supervision. Still, though, the safety measures were not enough to prevent the boy’s death.

Quarles was rushed to Self Regional Medical Center in Greenwood but was pronounced dead in the emergency room, according to the Index Journal. Autopsy reports revealed that the boy died from blunt force trauma to the chest area, which caused cardiac arrest. Legally required toxicology tests were still being processed as part of the autopsy, but doctors did not expect abnormal results from them.

Students, teachers, and school administration mourned Quarles’ death on Monday. Ware Shoals Primary School principal Frank Cason told the Index Journal that Monday morning was difficult for Quarles’ classmates and others who knew him.

“He was a nice young man,” Cason said. “He was well-mannered and the kids liked him a lot. He was the kind of kid you would want in your class. It has been a sad, sad morning,” Carson told the paper.

The boy’s mother Ashley Quarles told Spartanburg’s News Channel 7 that Erik “was just the sweetest little boy and if you ever met him, you’d remember him. He was a good ‘ole country boy. His dream was to be a bull rider.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › despite safety precautions, ATV accident kills south carolina 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

Australia prohibits manufacturers from calling their vehicles ATVs when there is no proof the vehicles can handle all types of terrain. Most of the four-wheeled open vehicles that drivers straddle like bicycles are classified as quads.

As in the United States and Canada, ATV sales have risen dramatically in Australia during the last couple of years. A report in Australia’s Farm Weekly says that nearly 15,000 quads were sold just to the country’s agricultural sector in 2008 alone.

In examining records of 107 quad deaths, ACAHS found that men are more likely to die in accidents involving the vehicles. Emily Herde, ACAHS data centre research manager, said that there is “a propensity for quad bikes to roll over and cause serious injury to riders.”

“There are 50 cases within the register that relate to the rollover of a quad bike. Of these, two were front rollovers, eight were side rollovers, nine were rear rollovers and the remaining 31 were unspecified,” Herne said.

According to Farm Weekly, “Solving the problem is proving to be very difficult, with some safety mechanisms like the U and T-shaped rollover protection systems proven to do more harm than good by Dynamic Research Inc in the U.S.”

The ACAHS reminded farmers “not to treat quad bikes as all terrain vehicles, with the industry having to change the name of the bikes from ATV to quad bikes because of proof that they cannot handle all terrains,” the Farm Weekly report said.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV accidents killing Australian farmers at an alarming rate

Seven game wardens and other authorities from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department and the Ellsworth Fire Department launched a search of Seymour’s hunting grounds that evening. A state trooper spotted Seymour’s truck parked on a rural road in the town of Ellsworth, allowing the search party to narrow its search in the broad region.

Game wardens discovered Seymour pinned underneath his ATV just before midnight. He was found dead at the scene, the victim of a rollover accident.

According to the Daily News, the Maine Warden Service said that Seymour had been riding on a steep trail with a granite edge when he apparently lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll over on top of him.

Alcohol was not believed to be a factor, according to the Daily News report. Seymour was not wearing a helmet, but reports do not say whether he died as a result of head injuries.

Like other states with large swaths of wilderness and several rural communities, Maine has seen a dramatic upswing in the number of ATV related deaths and injuries in recent years. The rise in the number of ATV accidents reflects a national trend that has prompted the U.S. Consumer Safety Products Commission to initiate the process of regulating all-terrain vehicles. The CPSC has stated that ATV manufacturers have failed to hold themselves to adequate safety standards, therefore creating the need for government regulation.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Maine hunter dies in ATV rollover

According to the boy’s older brother, Garret left to take out the trash and drove the ATV around a barn located about 75 yards from the family’s home. The brother went to look for Garrett after he failed to return for about half an hour. After the boy found his brother pinned underneath the overturned Polaris, he ran back to the house to tell his father what had happened.

When first responders arrived at the farm about 1 p.m., they found that the boy’s father, Christopher Malone, had lifted the ATV off of his son and was performing CPR on him.

Medics airlifted the boy to Christus St. Michael Hospital in Texarkana, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The staggering number of children who die each year in ATV-related accidents is one of the reasons propelling major changes in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s governance of off-road vehicles. Earlier this month, the CPSC announced that it had found a draft of safety standards proposed by the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA) “did not adequately address the deaths and injuries associated with ROV rollovers and collisions.”

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenebaum, a staunch child safety advocate, urged all ATV drivers and passengers “to strap on a helmet, use the seat belt, know the terrain, and never allow anyone under 16 to drive these vehicles.”

According to Concerned Families for ATV Safety, more than 40,000 children are seriously injured and killed in ATV accidents every year.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover kills Arkansas boy

The recalled vehicles were sold by authorized dealers across the country from June 2007 through July 2009 and retailed for about $10,000. Bad Boy Enterprises has received 32 reports of unintended acceleration involving the vehicles since their appearance in the market.

According to the CPSC report, some of the incidents resulted in injuries such as “a fractured toe, rotator cuff injuries and sore muscles.” The agency advises all consumers to stop using the vehicles immediately and contact their Bad Boy Buggy dealer for a free repair.

Models included in the recall have serial numbers between 85004828 and 95010404, which are printed on a sticker in the driver’s side cubby. The Bad Boy Buggy Classic ATV is the only model included in the recall. The all-electric vehicles have an open, side-by-side design that requires occupants to sit on a bench.

Bad Boy Enterprises can be reached toll-free at (866) 678-6701 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Monday through Friday. The company’s website is http://www.badboyenterprises.com/.

Last week, the CPSC announced that it voted to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) to confront the safety issues commonly associated with recreational off-road vehicles (ROVs).

According to the CPSC, “the ANPR invites written comments from the public regarding the risks of injury associated with ROVs and ways in which these risks could be addressed. Following publication of the ANPR, the public will have 60 days to provide comments to the Commission. Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov.”

CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum issued a brief statement on October 21, in which she said “the need for federal rulemaking on ROVs” comes from “not having a voluntary standard that effectively safeguards consumers.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Bad Boy ATVs recalled after reports of unintended acceleration

The boy lost control of the ATV, which the report described as an adult-size machine with a 660-cubic-centimeter engine. He was reportedly thrown from the vehicle and the ATV rolled on top of him, lacerating his legs. Emergency workers rushed the boy to Petrolia Hospital. He was later transferred to London Health Sciences Hospital, where he was underwent surgery for his injuries.

The injured boy was accompanied by another 11-year-old boy who was riding a dirt bike when the accident occurred. Both boys were wearing helmets. The boy on the dirt bike was not injured, according to the report.

The accident came just two weeks after another Ontario boy was killed in an ATV accident just a few miles away in Lambton Shores. In that incident, 7-year-old Kaedon Brown died when the ATV he was riding rolled over onto him.

Although some restrictions governing ATV use by children already exist in Ontario, the OMA says the present laws are inadequate. The association advises that no children under 14 years old should be permitted to drive an ATV of any size within Ontario.

Children 14 to 16, the OMA proposes, should be allowed to drive only low power ATVs incapable of exceeding 30 km/hour. The OMA says the rules should apply to ATV use on both public land and private property throughout Ontario.

Alluding to advertising tactics that portray off-roading as a safe and acceptable form of recreation for children, 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 …”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Ontario boy severely injured in ATV rollover

“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.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Ontario Medical Association wants children banned from ATVs

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

Fayette County Sheriff’s officers and the Northeast Iowa Medical Transport arrived at the scene, where they found Rios had died of unspecified injuries.

Rios was a resident of West Union, a small town in northeastern corner of the state. The Daily Register described him as “an experienced outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing and ATV riding.” He leaves behind his wife Tina, his daughter Destiny, and three stepchildren.

At least 107 people died in Iowa last year in ATV rollovers and other accidents. 2009’s ATV death toll is expected to be significantly higher as the number of offroading injuries and fatalities escalates alongside their popularity. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which monitors ATV statistics in every state, Iowa had reported 112 ATV-related deaths in the entire period spanning 1982 to 2007.

ATVs are not only popular forms of recreation for outdoor enthusiasts; they are also used widely on American farms for traversing crops and other wide tracts of land and for hauling animals and equipment. Although some ATVs can reach speeds of up to 60 mph, some, such as the Yamaha Rhino, are criticized for their instability, even at low rates of speed and on flat surfaces.

When all safety precautions are followed, ATVs are still highly susceptible to accidents and should be handled with extreme caution.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rollover kills experienced ATV driver in Iowa

“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

According to the WKYC report, the four boys were riding the ATV in a wooded area near the Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin Reservation when the accident occurred. Police in the nearby Solon community received a call reporting the accident around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday the 19th. When emergency workers arrived, they found student Dan Murphy, who had been driving, had died at the scene.

Daniel Loyke, also a sophomore at St. Ignatius, received serious injuries to his head and leg. He was airlifted by Life Flight to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. The other two boys were released to their parents at the scene, having received only minor injuries. All of the boys were members of their school’s rowing team.

A request for prayers appears on the St. Ignatius website. “Daniel Murphy will be remembered as a great friend, strong student, loving son and faithful brother. The Saint Ignatius High School Community is in shock and grieving tonight,” the statement reads.

“Known as ‘Murph’ by his friends and teachers, he was a quiet leader who showed his heart through his work ethic. He loved being a student at Ignatius; he was always seen in his Ignatius sportswear. Murph was an honor student.”

The family of Daniel Loyke also released a statement on Monday, published by WKYC.

“As you can only imagine, this is the most difficult time for our family. While we are grateful that our Danny only suffered relatively minor injuries, all of our thoughts and prayers go out to the Murphy family on their incredible loss.

We are grateful and overwhelmed by the support we have received from family, friends, and particularly from the Ignatius community.

We need to extend a special thank you to the Ignatius crew team and coach Matthew Previts for their ongoing support.

We also want to thank the Solon Fire Rescue personnel and the Metro LifeFlight, trauma, and surgery teams at MetroHealth for the wonderful care they have given Danny.”

WKYC reports that the students used the homecoming dance just after the accident on Saturday evening as an impromptu prayer service. Police continue to investigate the cause of the accident.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV accident claims the life of Ohio teen, seriously injures one other

“Tractors and all-terrain vehicles that can roll over. Machines with fast-moving parts that can tear off a limb. Animals that can gore, crush or bite. Chemicals that emit toxic fumes,” the article begins, underscoring the dangers that threaten Nebraska’s farmers every working day.

Dan Neenan, manager of the National Center for Agricultural Safety in Iowa, told the World-Herald that the number of agricultural injuries and fatalities could be drastically reduced if tractors were equipped with a rollover protection system and seat belts. Tractor rollovers have been the leading cause of death on Nebraska’s farms for many years.

As with tractors, rollovers are a serious problem with ATVs, especially those with narrow track widths and high centers of gravity, such as the Yamaha Rhino. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission continues to investigate reports of Rhino rollovers because so many of them appear to happen on level ground and at low speeds.

ATVs can become even more unstable when used for more utilitarian purposes, such as farming. Neenan told the World-Herald that “farmers also need to remember that attaching equipment to ATVs, such as sprayers or hay-bale racks, changes ATVs’ center of gravity and makes them unstable.”

The report notes that the number of deaths and injuries involving ATVs is increasing. In Nebraska, six people were killed in ATV accidents this year, and half of those were farming related.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollovers contribute to Nebraska farming injuries and deaths

Dr. Steven Socransky, medical director of Sudbury Regional’s Trauma Program, urged area residents to exercise every caution when riding on an ATV.

“People must recognize that ATVs are heavy, powerful machines that can be difficult to operate safely, particularly by children and young adolescents. They require strength, training, special skills and knowledge that must be learned over a period of time,” he said in a press release.

According to Sudbury Northern Life, “loss of control” is the most cited cause of ATV accidents. Driver error and negligence sometimes contribute to collisions and rollovers, as do ATV design and defects. The Yamaha Rhino, for instance, has claimed as much notoriety in the ATV world as it did fame for the abnormally high number of injuries and fatalities associated with it. Safety advocates and consumer groups assert that the Rhino’s narrow stance and lack of safety features, among other shortcomings, cause it to roll over unexpectedly on flat terrain and at low speeds. Earlier this year, the CPSC and Yamaha announced a recall of all Rhino models for a series of safety upgrades.

According to Sudbury Northern Life, the Canadian Institute of Health Information reports that “the number of ATV-related injuries severe enough to require hospitalization jumped 50 per cent in Canada between 1996 and 2001, with 36 per cent of hospitalizations occurring among children and youth.”

Moreover, “Stats Canada numbers show ATV and other off-road motor vehicles rank as the fourth most common cause of injury-related deaths among Canadian children and youth aged 5 to 19 years.”

According to Canadian government records, children are six times more likely to receive a significant injury riding an ATV than they are in a conventional motor vehicle.

The ever-growing popularity of ATVs in Canada, combined with the vehicles’ inherent dangers, amount to a serious threat to public safety in Canada. Pleas such as the one made by Sudbury Regional Hospital will likely become more common as growing numbers of people experience first hand the devastation and trauma the vehicles can cause.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV injuries skyrocketing in rural Canada

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Kentucky leads the nation in the number of ATV-related fatalities. Records compiled by the state and federal governments reveal a dramatic upward swing in the number of ATV deaths in recent years. For the 23-year period spanning 1982 to 2004, a total of 299 ATV deaths were reported statewide. However, in 2006 alone, 367 ATV deaths were reported in Kentucky, 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. Kentucky law requires all children 16 years old and under to wear helmets while on an ATV, at all times, regardless of whether the ATV is on public or private land. For adults, helmet use is optional. Unfortunately, many parents continue to disregard the helmet law and seat restraints, which effectively make a deadly machine even deadlier in the event of a collision or rollover.

Counties in Kentucky reporting the most deaths are Pike, Breathitt, Floyd, Harlan, Letcher, Clay, Leslie, Pulaski, Bell, Laurel, Perry, Trigg and Whitley.

Also topping the CPSC’s list of states with the most ATV deaths were California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. ATV accidents are almost always higher in rural areas, where off-roading can be a way of life, whether for farm work, recreation, rural transportation, or all three.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Kentucky leads the nation in number of ATV deaths

According to KSL, an NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, Olson hopped onto the back of a friend’s ATV last September and went for a ride. Her friend lost control of the vehicle, and in the accident, Olson, who was not wearing a helmet, struck her head.

Olson’s mother Kim Laird told KSL that emergency workers said her daughter had actually died at the scene. Olson spent nearly a month in a coma. Now, a year after the accident, she spends her days in rehab trying to relearn the basic, everyday functions that most people take for granted: walking, talking, eating, and even blinking, too.

“It injured the motor skills in the right side of her brain, that operates the opposite side of her body,” Laird explained to KSL. “I really do believe if she had a helmet on she would not be in the condition she’s in,” Laird said.

Olson warned other ATV and motorcycle riders to wear their helmets. “I’ve suffered enough. I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer as much as I have,” she told KSL.

Olson and her family hope for a full recovery from the debilitating effects of the traumatic brain injury. “I want to be … to get up, to go to my car and go to the mall and go shopping,” she told KSL.

The Utah Department of Health says that at the time of injury, only 29 percent of seriously injured Utahns under the age of 18 were wearing a helmet as state law requires. Utah law does not require people age 18 and older to wear helmets while operating or riding on an ATV.

For the full story and a video of Morgan Olson’s story, click here.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Utah teenager injured on ATV urges others to wear helmets

Friends of Ritter told the Gaston Gazette that he was always smiling, that he would never part with his ragged Old Navy cap, that he had an appetite for double cheeseburgers and was seldom seen without a Pepsi. He was someone we all know. To a 4-year-old girl named Lily, he was Dad.

Ritter was driving an ATV less than a mile from his home near High Shoals, N.C. on Tuesday, September 8. He attempted to pass another ATV driven by 20-year-old Jackson Depietro, resulting in a collision that caused both vehicles to wreck.

Ritter’s passenger, 15-year-old Michelle King, and Depietro received treatment at a local hospital and have since been released. Ritter was thrown from the vehicle and hit the ground, receiving a severe head injury. He was transported to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he died on Friday.

According to the NC Highway Patrol, none of the three were wearing helmets, required by state law unless the vehicle is being used for farming, hunting or trapping.

The Gaston Gazette reported that Ritter was a car racing enthusiast who would spend his free time at the local track and racing events. After he became a father, however, he gave up his favorite hobby to spend as much time as he could with his daughter. Rather than racing cars, Ritter became a spectator, and he would often take Lily to the speedway to watch the races.

“She loved to go out to the dirt track and watch races with him,” Ritter’s wife Hope told the Gaston Gazette.  “That was one of their hobbies.”

East Lincoln Motor Speedway, where Anthony was a regular, held a memorial for him during its weekend races. A video of the memorial can be viewed online at YouTube.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV collision claims the life of North Carolina racing enthusiast

Safety in any moving vehicle, be it a bicycle, boat, car, or ATV, begins with the driver. There are also some things passengers can do to protect themselves, such as using the seat restraints and wearing a helmet. But the fact remains that ATVs are exceptionally dangerous (many consumer and safety advocates argue they are excessively dangerous) forms of transportation in any circumstance.

On the night of August 8, 2009, 24-year-old Myles Virgil took 21-year-old Brenda Strizek, a native of Valparaiso, Nebraska, and two other passengers out for a ride in a Kawasaki ATV. While driving along a bike path, Virgil lost control of the vehicle. He and all three passengers were thrown from the vehicle as it rolled into a ditch. Strizek died at the scene.

Virgil has since been arrested and charged with unintentionally causing Strizek’s death by illegally operating a motor vehicle. Is this a case in which the driver is solely to blame? Or might the ATV also be at fault?

The Journal Star writes, “In a risk-averse age in which kids ride in massive car seats and are ordered by their parents to put on helmets for a bicycle ride down the block, there are odd exceptions to the public’s apparent obsession with safety.

A glaring example is the all-terrain vehicle.”

ATVs are fast, heavy, and unregulated motor vehicles. Some, as the Journal Star notes, can reach speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour and many, such as the Yamaha Rhino, weigh more than a thousand pounds. These characteristics leave little room for error. One bad move on an ATV and you could lose an arm, a leg, or possibly your life.

“In rural Nebraska, ATV accidents have become the leading cause of agricultural fatalities,” the Journal Star writes. “From 2004 through 2007, one-third of ag fatalities involved ATVs, which are handy for many tasks on farms and ranches, as well as for recreation.”

The escalating number of ATV accidents and injuries prompted the University of Nebraska to conduct ATV training sessions throughout the state last year. The trend in Nebraska represents the larger trend nationwide. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, serious ATV-related injuries have increased for eight consecutive years. At least 542 ATV fatalities have been reported in the U.S.

Every year, scores of people hop aboard as passengers without any knowledge of ATV safety, only to find themselves the unwitting victims of a serious accident. Children easily fall into this category. One third of ATV injures and deaths involve kids age 16 and younger.

A government website that compiles data relating to ATV injuries and fatalities strongly recommends that ATV owners not allow passengers on most ATV makes and models.

“ATVs are designed for interactive riding – drivers must be able to shift their weight freely in all directions, depending on situation and terrain. Passengers can make it very difficult to control the ATV,” the website says.

Source:  Journal Star

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV fatality calls attention to offroading safety in Nebraska

Ralich’s 20-year-old son Steven discovered his father’s overturned ATV on the path near the field where he had been driving. Some time later he discovered his father laying unresponsive in the soybean rows. Emergency medical professionals from a LifeFlight helicopter attempted unsuccessfully to revive Ralich. They could not determine a time of death but estimate that Ralich likely died instantly from the multiple injuries he sustained in the accident.

According to the Chronicle-Telegram, the Lorrain County Sheriff’s Department is conducting an investigation and will forward the results to state safety officials. The County coroner, Paul Matus, told the paper that “there was some damage to the ATV from overturning, and there may have been some other issues with the machine.”

The accident is puzzling to authorities because Ralich was known a skilled and responsible driver, the terrain was flat where the accident occurred, and investigators believe that speed was not an issue.

The sheriff’s department is analyzing Ralich’s ATV for signs of mechanical failure, but they are also investigating whether Ralich may have hit an animal.

Besides his son Steven, Ralich leaves behind his wife Holly and their 23-year-old daughter Carla.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Ohio man’s death in atv rollover puzzles investigators

Jurors deliberated for about 2 hours before reaching their verdict.

During the trial, Mike Burleson, who works for System Engineering & Laboratories, testified on behalf of the plaintiffs. The engineering expert said that the Rhino’s narrow stance, high center of gravity, stiff suspension, and other characteristics amounted to problems with its lateral stability, meaning that it is prone to roll over even at speeds lower than 12 mph.

Many ATV enthusiasts applauded the jury’s decision, saying that it sets a precedent in Yamaha’s favor. But does it? Approximately 500 lawsuits have been brought against Yamaha by Rhino victims and their family members. The number of federal and state lawsuits continues to climb.

The case may not set a precedent for all Rhino lawsuits, but it may set a precedent for similar Rhino lawsuits – those that involve child drivers, especially if the children weren’t wearing safety helmets or seat belts. In such cases, Yamaha’s defense will undoubtedly have an easier time blaming operator error and perhaps the oversight of the parents.

Eddie Ray’s father, Johnny Ray, told the court that his son had years of experience riding ATVs and dirt bikes.

“If I’d thought it was dangerous, I’d have put a helmet on him,” he told the court. “I figured it was like a golf cart, the same thing I drove as a kid. Buckle up and it will keep you safe in there. I didn’t think I would be putting my son in danger,” Ray testified.

Eddie Ray’s tragic death will likely underscore how important it is for parents to take every possible precaution when allowing children to drive or ride in ATVs, especially ones known to have instability problems.

Basic physical restrictions should be followed, including wearing helmets and safety restraints, allowing minors to drive age-appropriate ATVs only, and staying off of paved roads. Additionally, some safety advocates recommend that parents also gauge their child’s intellectual and emotional maturity before allowing him or her to drive an ATV.

Even with all the safety measures taken, it’s still important for parents to realize that ATVs can still roll over, behave unpredictably or fail to keep occupants safe, even when driven responsibly.

For a guide to child safety and ATVs, click here.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Texas jury clears Yamaha in Rhino rollover case

“Parental supervision was present he had a helmet on and apparently he has ridden the ATV several times in the past,” Capt. Ron Luttrell of the Troy Police Department, told Fox 2 News of St. Louis, Ill. The boy’s father says that he suspects the throttle on the ATV jammed, causing his son to accelerate uncontrollably. The ATV hit a curb, throwing Austin into a tree, and then rolled into the side of a house where it burst into flames.

A neighbor performed CPR on Austin before an ambulance rushed him to a local hospital, but the boy succumbed to injuries he received in the accident. The Madison County Coroner’s Office says the cause of death was head and chest trauma.

Most consumer and safety advocates say that Chinese ATVs are poorly made and unsafe to drive. Austin was driving a SunL Cool Sport gas-powered four-wheeler at the time of the accident.

An attorney who has experience with cases involving Chinese ATVs told Fox 2 News that many consumers are attracted to the poorly made ATVs because of their low price and remain unaware about their risks.

“To hear about this child dying just breaks my heart because these Chinese made ATV’s are just accidents waiting to happen,” he told Fox 2 News.

According to the Fox report, Troy police who investigated the accident believe the parents took every precaution and that fault lays entirely on the manufacturer.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Illinois boy dies while riding Chinese-made ATV

Tyler Chase said that his wife Jennifer wanted to drive the family Rhino in November 2005. Tyler was a passenger as Jennifer drove with their 2-year-old son seated in the back. The family was traveling down a road in Rocky Point, Arizona, when Jennifer attempted to make a left turn and flipped the Rhino. The vehicle rolled over onto the driver’s side, causing Jennifer to hit her head on the roll cage. The impact killed Jennifer instantly.

Tyler suffered three skull fractures and a broken pelvis bone in the rollover, and he did not learn of his wife’s death until weeks after the accident when he regained consciousness.

“It was just overwhelming,” Tyler told KPHO. “I had lost a person that I loved.”

Tyler is raising his son, who is now 6 years old, on his own.

Tyler disagrees with Yamaha’s stance that all Rhino accidents are the result of driver error. “For Yamaha, I think they need to improve the vehicle,” Chase said. “I think they need to make it safer. Whatever they need to do to make it safer.”

The Consumer Products Safety Commission continues to closely monitor reports of injuries and death involving Yamaha Rhinos, especially rollovers that occur on flat surfaces and at low speed. In the U.S., the Rhino has been a factor in 59 deaths and 440 injuries.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › CBS Yamaha Rhino report prompts victim to recount rollover

According to the Herald-Tribune of Grande Prairie, Alberta, the accident occurred just south of the Tumbler Ridge district of northern British Columbia, about 60 miles from the victim’s home.

Witnesses say that Westad was driving up a steep incline when the rollover occurred. A passenger, also female, was thrown from the vehicle while Westad was pinned underneath the overturned ATV for an unspecified length of time. Fellow ATV drivers provided first aid and CPR to Westad until emergency workers arrived.

STARS ambulance personnel were unable to revive Westad, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say that Westad, who was 40 years old, likely died of blunt force trauma.

ATVs and off-roading are a way of life in Alberta, where rollovers and other accidents are common. From 2002 to 2009, 100 people in the Canadian province died from ATV-related injuries; 89 of that number were male. However, in 2006 alone, there were 623 ATV injuries serious enough to require hospital admission. According to records published by the Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research, ATV-related hospital admissions grew by 16 percent in a 4-year period from 2003 to 2006.

Just last month, a 6-year-old girl was killed near Stettler, Alberta when the ATV she was a passenger in rolled over. The girl was wearing a full-face helmet and seat belt when the accident occurred.

On July 18, the body of Christopher Zuberbier of Wagner, Alberta was found underneath his ATV in a rural area near Sawridge Creek.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Alberta woman killed in ATV rollover

An attorney for the plaintiffs told the jury that the company chose to put profits over people when it made the Rhino, a vehicle he described as a cross between a golf cart and an all-terrain vehicle.

“Yamaha knew for years it was a defective design and would roll over and kill people,” he told the courtroom. He also described the design flaws that many critics say make the vehicles unstable, namely their narrow track width, disproportionate height, and lack of a rear differential.

“It’s too small and too narrow and goes too fast to be safe,” he said.

Yamaha’s lawyers vigorously defended the Rhino, saying that they are safe when handled properly.

“Accidents and injuries occur because of the operator’s unsafe conduct,” one of Yamaha’s attorneys said in a sweeping statement that contradicted a body of evidence that shows Rhinos can easily roll over even when driven at low speeds and on flat terrain.

The Rhino’s propensity to roll over first came to light in July of 2002, when the vehicle was in its prototype stage and being test driven by Yamaha executives. That was when a Yamaha vice president injured his foot when the Rhino he was driving with a colleague rolled over. Company minutes obtained by CBS News showed that Keisuke “Casey” Yoshida, the President of Yamaha’s U.S. operations, requested an “update on instability of vehicle for future liability cases.”

Earlier this month, the Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a special advisory urging the owners of Rhinos and other all-terrain vehicles to exercise extreme caution while driving them this summer.

In March, the CPSC said it was investigating about 50 incidents involving the Yamaha Rhino, including 46 driver and passenger deaths. The announcement was made at the same time the agency issued a recall notice of all Yamaha models.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Jurors in first Rhino rollover case hear accusations against Yamaha

Forest “Eddie” Ray was killed on September 13, 2007 while operating a Yamaha Rhino near his home in Orange County, Texas, about 50 miles southeast of Houston. School was closed for the day as Hurricane Humberto approached the area, giving Ray some free time to enjoy the family ATV.

Reports say that Ray tried to maneuver the Rhino from grass onto a paved road when the rollover occurred. Ray sustained a fatal head injury when the vehicle rolled over onto him, crushing his head. His parents allege in the lawsuit that Yamaha made and marketed a product they knew to be defectively designed and prone to roll over. They also accuse Yamaha of skimping on costs by not installing vital safety features.

Earlier this year, Yamaha attorneys argued that the fine print on an agreement signed by the plaintiffs at their Yamaha dealership precluded the plantiffs’ right to take their grievances to trial. Court documents showed that the plaintiffs’ finance agreement from the dealership contained an arbitration clause.

The court denied Yamaha’s motion to force arbitration on June 30. An appeal was rejected on July 16. The trial opened on August 17 in the 163rd Judicial Court in Orange County, Texas before a jury of eight men and five women.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › First Yamaha Rhino lawsuit goes to trial

“As side-by-side recreational of-highway vehicles continue to gain in popularity, so does the number of reports to the [CPSC] of injuries and deaths involving these vehicles,” the reminder says, adding that roll cages and seat belts aren’t enough to prevent serious injuries or death from occurring in the event of a rollover or other accident.

“CPSC’s safety message is especially targeted at Yamaha Rhino drivers and passengers,” the advisory states.

The CPSC also took the opportunity to remind Rhino owners of the free safety upgrades and free helmet offer that Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. announced on March 31, 2009. The upgrades are offered on all Rhino models (450, 660, and 700) and are intended to reduce the Rhino’s propensity to roll over. Yamaha dealerships are not to sell new Rhinos without upgrading their inventory of vehicles first. Additionally, Rhino owners can get a $100 coupon for a new helmet by going to their dealership and watching a Rhino safety video.

“CPSC believes that in order to provide a safer ride, all Rhinos must have half-doors, additional passenger handholds, spacers on the rear wheels, and the rear anti-sway bar removed. Consumers should immediately stop using Rhino ROVs until the repairs are installed by a dealer,” the advisory states.

“While these repairs will improve the safety of these vehicles, the repairs alone are not enough,” the CPSC announcement added.

To mitigate the risk of a rollover or other accident, the CPSC recommended that Rhino drivers and passengers:

• wear their seat belt properly every time
• strap on their helmet every time
• follow on-product warnings
• never remove the half-doors
• never allow a child younger than 16 to drive
• never allow a child to be a passenger if he/she is unable to place both feet on the floorboard with his/her back against the seat
• only operate off-road—the Rhino is not designed for use on public roads or paved surfaces.

The CPSC also said that as of June 23, 2009, the agency received nearly 60 fatality reports involving Rhinos. “A number of very serious injuries have also been reported, including injuries to the head and neck, and incidents requiring surgical amputation of victims’ arms, legs, and fingers. Many of these cases appear to have involved rollovers at relatively low speeds and on level terrain,” the CPSC said.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › CPSC reminds Rhino riders to exercise caution this summer

Ike Miyachi, a Yamaha vice president in charge of developing the Rhino, was riding in a prototype driven by Keisuke “Casey” Yoshida, the President of Yamaha’s U.S. operations, when the vehicle rolled over after descending a hill, injuring Miyachi’s foot.

According to company minutes obtained by CBS, Yoshida raised the safety issue during a meeting weeks after the initial rollover. “Casey wants update on instability of vehicle for future liability cases,” Yoshida noted.

Despite early signs that the Rhino had dangerous flaws, Yamaha took the vehicles to market in the fall of 2003. Unlike anything else on the ATV market at the time, the Rhinos became an instant hit. Now, almost six years after the Rhino’s debut, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says that at least 59 people have been killed in Rhino rollovers. Thousands more people have been injured with bone fractures, loss of limbs, and head injuries. More than 440 wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits against Yamaha are pending in U.S. courts. Many others have been settled out of court.

Most of the complaints cited in Rhino lawsuits relate to the vehicle’s fundamental design flaws: its narrow track width, high center of gravity, and lack of a rear differential, which make the Rhino unstable and exceptionally prone to roll over.

Some complaints allege that the vehicle’s restraint system is flawed. Seat belts can fail, leading occupants to become ejected or partially ejected from the vehicles. Still other complaints involve the lack of doors or bars that would prevent occupants from intentionally or reflexively sticking their arms or legs out of the vehicle during a rollover.

As the number of ATV rollover deaths and injuries rises with the number of vehicles sold, many safety experts say that merely warning consumers about dangerous flaws is no longer enough. Instead, they say, Yamaha and other manufacturers need to step up and create safer vehicles.

At the same time, the CPSC finally seems to be toughening its stance after years of being too lenient on manufacturers, starting back when ATVs first appeared in the mid 1980s. In 1987, the CPSC sued Yamaha and four other companies for creating and distributing an “imminently hazardous consumer product.”

Then, in an effort to reduce rollovers, the CPSC wanted to impose stability standards on ATV manufacturers. But the manufacturers fought back and won, simply promising to not make future vehicles any more dangerous than they already were.

Warnings, instead of real safety features, became the industry standard and effectively passed all liability to the consumer. According to the CBS report, “warnings about all manner of possible driver errors strengthened the industry’s hand in liability cases. The companies suddenly had a “buffet of defenses” against almost any claim.”

CBS raised the issue of ATV safety to Carrol Pollack-Nelson, formerly a CPSC psychologist and now a safety adviser to corporations. Pollack-Nelson said that the strict reliance on warnings to prevent accidents isn’t working. “You have a product that’s inherently got some pretty serious dangers,” and people use it “the way they think it’s intended to be used,” she said. “They’re not trying to drive their granny to the store … It goes fast, it goes over bumps, it goes over open terrain. Why else would they have bought the thing?”

According to the CPSC, ATV injuries serious enough to require emergency room treatment almost tripled from 52,800 in 1997 to 150,900 in 2007. The number of deaths exceeded 500 in 2001, topped 650 in 2003, and surpassed 800 in 2005. ATV deaths and injuries continue to climb despite efforts by Yamaha and other manufacturers to toughen the warnings.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › CBS casts spotlight on Yamaha Rhino flaws, instability

Emergency personnel located Zuberbier after receiving a call from an unidentified individual. The workers lifted the ATV off of the man, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. RCMP said that the accident appeared to have happened several hours before it was actually reported. No witnesses have come forward.

Mysteriously, police spotted a band of four or five off-road vehicles driving on Highway 2 less than a mile from the scene of the accident. According to the Edmonton Journal, an officer attempted to approach the group, but it sped off. Police decided not to pursue. Driving ATVs on public roads is illegal in Alberta. Investigators have not been able to determine if Zuberbier was part of the group that police tried to approach.

In rural Alberta, where ATVs and offoading are a way of life, rollovers and other accidents are common. From 2002 to 2009, 100 people died from ATV-related injuries, 89 of which were male. However, in 2006 alone, there were 623 ATV injuries serious enough to require hospital admission. According to records published by the Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research, ATV-related hospital admissions grew by 16 percent in a 4-year period from 2003 to 2006.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover claims the life of Alberta man

Dunnam was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities say she likely died instantly. Her cousin was sent to Thomas Hospital in Fairhope with minor injuries and released the same day.

Dunnam was a student at Fairhope Middle School. She left behind her parents, Bill and Beverly Dunnam, her brother Brandon, who graduated from Fairhope Middle in 2007, and a community of family, neighbors, teachers, and friends who mourn her absence.

Fairhope Middle principle Deandra Lamar Powe told the Mobile Press-Register that Dunnam loved playing sports and being outside. She could always be seen in the neighborhood riding her skateboard and running around with friends.

“She was a born athlete,” Powe told the Press-Register. “And she was so much more than that. She was a child who came forward and said ‘Can I help?’ She helped with so many things at our school.”

Powe also said that Dunnam, an honor-roll student, was one of many applicants chosen to assist in the front office of Fairhope Middle because she was so responsible and mature for her age.

“A loss like this is one of those things that you can’t understand, and you just know God has a better place for her,” Powe told BaldwinCountyNow.com.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › 13-year old Alabama girl dies in Polaris ATV rollover

According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Patrick Webb, both girls were wearing full-face helmets and were buckled in with seatbelts at the time of the accident. The girl who was driving was not injured and was able to run home for help, the Edmonton Journal said. RCMP authorities seized the ATV and deceased girl’s helmet. Autopsy tests haven’t been completed.

According to Sgt. Webb, the girls were traveling in a Polaris Ranger RZR, an offroad vehicle that is equipped with a roll cage.

Len Wagner, traffic safety coordinator for the Alberta Centre for Injury Control, told the Edmonton Journal that ATVs are “a way of life” in rural Alberta. Aside from a law prohibiting the driving of an ATV on public roads, the province of Alberta doesn’t have legislation that restricts ATV use on private property. Because children of any age can legally operate an ATV, many people, including parents, may interpret the lack of regulations to mean the vehicles are safe.

“She (the victim) wasn’t big, so did the seatbelt not work on (a person) her size? Did the helmet not work? We’ve got a lot of questions,” Webb told the Edmonton Journal.

Stettler County Council Joe Gendre, whose cousin died from injuries received in an ATV rollover, told the Journal that ATV rules are taken lightly by many people. He said the county designated an officer to patrol the lake district on an ATV because helmet, seatbelt, and registration laws are so often ignored.

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

The boy’s parents filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Yamaha and its subsidiaries on November 5, 2007, alleging that the Rhino’s poor design and inadequate safety features directly contributed to their son’s death. The Rhino is notorious for its narrow track width and wheels, which, combined with its high center of gravity, make the vehicle unstable and prone to roll over.

Engineers gave the Rhino a narrow gait so that it would fit in the back of a standard pickup truck. That convenience feature, however, has translated into a safety hazard that has caused dozens of deaths and hundreds of serious injuries since the Rhino was first introduced in the U.S. in 2003. According to the CPSC, many Rhino rollovers “appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain.” The plaintiffs’ son died from the fatal injuries he received when the Rhino he was in rolled over.

Yamaha had hoped the fine print on an agreement signed by the plaintiffs when they bought the Rhino at a dealership would prevent the case from going to trial.

Court documents show that the plaintiff’s finance agreement from the dealership contained an arbitration clause.

However, because the company did not file a motion to compel arbitration until June 1, the plaintiffs successfully argued that Yamaha had waived its right to arbitration and therefore invoked the judicial process.

The court denied Yamaha’s motion to force arbitration on June 30. An appeal was rejected on July 16. The trial is currently scheduled to begin on August 17 of this year in the 163rd Judicial Court in Orange County, Texas.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Yamaha loses fight to force arbitration in Texas lawsuit

According to police, the victim, Brandon McKinstry, was driving the ATV to the top of an embankment when the accident occurred. It appeared the ground gave way, causing the ATV to roll over and land on top of the boy, who was thrown from the vehicle when it tipped. Police say the victim was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

Officials said that the boy was riding the ATV solo. A medic pronounced him dead at the scene.

The rollover occurred at River’s Edge Campground and ATV Park in Canaan, New Hampshire. The 350-acre privately owned park provides 26 Recreational Vehicle sites and more than 25 miles of trails for dirt bikes and off-road vehicles.

“Have a child? Maybe there (sic) first time on a machine, let them try out the kiddy track designed for young ones. Check us out, you will not be disappointed,” the park’s website says.

River’s Edge Campground is owned and operated by the McKinstry family. According to New Hampshire station WMUR, the victim lived on the campground with his family.

Although the boy may have had experience driving ATVs, no amount of practice could truly protect him in a rollover. Scores of people of all ages die every year in ATV rollover accidents. Many of the victims are crushed under the weight of the vehicles in rollover accidents.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › New Hampshire boy dies in ATV rollover accident

The tragedy has sparked outrage from Central America to St. Charles, Missouri, where Brooke lived with her family. At the center of the storm sits the tour company and the guide who led the ATV expedition. According to Jennifer Scalise, the tour guide took the group up the side of a steep incline known as Flamingo Hill. She said that the guide was traveling at a fast speed and the group was having a hard time keeping up with him.

“When she made the turn she lost control or didn’t know it was there. She went straight off the cliff. When I came up to the turn her friend who was riding by her was screaming and off her ATV and I was only a second behind her,” Jennifer told KSDK of St. Louis. She also said there were no signs warning of the cliff or guardrails.

“All I kept screaming was ‘Why? Why did the tour guide take us up here? Why?’ We had been on beaches and it was so different,” Jennifer told KSDK.

Besides the high rate of speed at which the guide was traveling, there were a number of other ATV safety violations on that tour. People under 16 years old are not allowed to ride ATVs in Costa Rica, the group was not supposed to be driving on a public road, and the tour guide was underage.

Coasta Rican authorities continue to investigate the accident and may press criminal charges against the owner of the company.

Jennifer launched a website, http://www.brookescalisefoundation.com/, as a way of keeping her friends, family, and public connected to her daughter’s story and spirit.

“Brooke was an amazing child that was a light in so many people’s lives. Brooke lived life to its fullest,” Jennifer told KSDK.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › American girl dies in Costa Rican ATV accident

Janelle Grant’s husband, Barry, said that his wife and son were part of a group of off-roaders venturing to Bible Point State Historic Site in Northeastern Maine. Barry Grant said he and a friend visiting from New York, another woman, and two other children were among the three other ATVs going to Bible Point, just south of Island Falls.

Barry Grant told the Bangor Daily News that the road they were following, an old logging trail that they were familiar with, had washed out unexpectedly in the middle and caught the drivers off-guard.

“We came right up over a hill and it was right in the middle of the road,” he told the Daily News, adding that the washout was difficult to avoid. Mr. Grant managed to stop and pulled over hoping that his wife, who was following in another ATV, would see him pulled over and also stop.

Instead, Janelle’s ATV hit the washout and rolled over. The victims were taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor by a LifeFlight helicopter.

Maine Warden Service Sgt. Tom Ward said that the accident is under investigation. A spokeswoman for Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife told the Daily News that recent heavy rain had washed out the road, which is seldom used.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Mother and son recovering after ATV rollover in Maine

Following the advice of his doctors, Bullock’s parents moved him to the Children’s Center in Bethany, Oklahoma, a non-profit pediatric hospital. Bullock would spend the next two years of his life at the center, relearning the most basic functions of living – walking, talking, eating. The hospital staff persisted in treating Bullock, even though he showed no signs of improvement for 6 months.

Suddenly, the spark of life that people recognized as Bullock, the boy they remembered, began to emerge. Rehab workers had engaged Bullock in a slew of therapeutic exercises with little to no result, but musical therapy proved different.

According to Tami Crawford, a recreational therapist at the Children’s Center, following the patient’s leads and customizing therapy sessions is essential to recovery.

“It’s all about thinking outside the box – working with the patients themselves about what they want and can actually do,” she told The Oklahoman.

Bullock enthusiastically participated in his musical therapy sessions and began singing before he recovered his ability to talk.

Megan Long, a music therapist who worked with Bullock, said that music rehabilitates the whole brain. “Music is a full-brain function. If you have brain damage in one part of the brain, we can still use music to retrain that other side of the brain because music appears all over the place,” she told The Oklahoman.

“If the language portion of your brain is damaged you may lose the language but with music, you could still sing,” Long explained.

Bullock moved back home after living at the Children’s Center for two years, but he was determined to give back to the hospital that helped him so much. Now an Eagle Scout and a junior in high school, Bullock works on improving playgrounds at the Children’s Center and elsewhere – civic duties that give him a vast amount of joy. He also completed a two-mile Walk to Cure Diabetes course with his parents.

The injuries Bullock received in the ATV accident years ago still continue to shape his life – his left arm is numb and rigid and he has problems walking — but the young man is determined they won’t hold him back.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Boy’s recovery from ATV accident injuries considered a miracle

The rollover occurred deep in the woods near the town of Chatom in the southwestern corner of Alabama. According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, rescuers had to travel to the scene on 4 wheelers to reach the men before bringing them out of the woods.

Justin Threadgill was pronounced dead while being transported to the University of South Alabama Medical Center in Mobile. His brother, 32-year-old Jeremy Threadgill, was taken to U.S.A. Medical Center at the University of South Alabama, where he was treated for minor injuries and released.

ATV deaths and injuries have skyrocketed in recent years alongside the vehicles’ spike in popularity. The alarming number of injuries and fatalities caused by ATV rollovers and other accidents prompted the federal government to establish a website devoted to ATV safety and awareness.

According to ATVSafety.Gov, there have been 202 reported ATV-related deaths in Alabama from 1982 to 2006. Nationally, approximately 1,000 people are killed and 150,900 people are treated in the ER every year because of ATV related injuries. The number of ATV deaths and injuries has nearly tripled since 1990.

Source: Man Dies in ATV Rollover

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › ATV rollover claims the life of Alabama man

The Rohloff twins were residents of Schaghticoke, New York, a community about 30 miles northeast of Knox, the town where 13-year-old James Wyatt Spencer lost his life in a Yamaha Rhino rollover incident on May 20.

The crash occurred near the twins’ home on a frequently used ATV path through some hilly farmland near the victims’ home. The Rohloff twins lived with their parents, Brian and Deanna Rohloff. Brian Rohloff, a successful developer, is well known throughout the area.

The Mayor of nearby Mechanicville, Anthony Sylvester, told Albany’s Times Union that the tragedy hit home. “This is every parent’s worst nightmare. And to lose two kids art once like that. Just horrible,” he said. According to the Times Union, Mayor Sylvester knew Brian Rohloff from the work he did in the city.

Classmates of the twins at Hoosic Valley High School described them as “nice kids” who were known to be ATV enthusiasts.

ATV manufacturers normally recommend that the vehicles be driven by adults only. Nonetheless, many ATV owners, young drivers and parents included, remain unaware of the vehicles’ dangers until it’s too late.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Twin brothers killed in ATV collision

Van Beveren, a resident of Holland, Mich., was thrown from the vehicle when the Rhino struck the tree. According to a report in the Grand Haven Tribune, Dietrich called some residents of a nearby house, who rushed to the scene before calling 911. Emergency responders had trouble spotting the scene of the accident at first because it was located nearly a mile off the main road in an apple orchard.

The emergency workers transported van Beveren to a landing zone and then airlifted her to Spectrum Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids. On June 26, the morning following the accident, doctors said van Beveren was in critical condition with multiple, unspecified injuries.

The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department is still investigating the crash.

Yamaha Motor Corporation vigorously defends the safety of its Rhino UTVs, which have become the subject of numerous lawsuits involving Rhino drivers and passengers who are seriously injured or killed. The manufacturer announced a repair program on March 31 and suspended all Rhino sales until the vehicles were equipped with a series of safety upgrades. Although Yamaha says that the repair program is not a recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urged Rhino owners to avoid using their UTVs until the upgrades could be made.

Approximately 120,000 Yamaha Rhinos have been sold in the U.S. since they debuted here in fall 2003. Many Rhino enthusiasts say the vehicles are perfectly safe to drive and accidents are strictly the driver’s fault. However, critics of the UTV say that the vehicles’ numerous design flaws, such as narrow track width, narrow wheels, and high center of gravity, make them highly unstable and more prone to roll over than other all terrain vehicles.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Michigan woman in critical condition after Rhino accident

Wyatt, who was an only child, was eager to take the Rhino out for a spin on the day the local Yamaha dealership delivered the vehicle to the family farm. Wyatt spent the better part of the day on May 28 test driving the brand-new Rhino with a school friend. Then, in the late afternoon, the rollover occurred in a field about 500 yards from Wyatt’s house.

Wyatt suffered severe head trauma in the rollover and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving by ambulance to an ER in Albany. Wyatt’s friend was not injured in the accident.

According to his parents, Wyatt had lots of experience driving ATVs and dirt bikes on the farm. Jim Spencer said the dealer that sold him the Rhino never mentioned the massive recall of all Rhino UTVs issued jointly by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission and Yamaha Motor Corporation on March 31, 2009.

“It broke my heart,” Mr. Spencer told Albany, New York’s NEWS10. “If I found out what I found out after, I would have never bought this machine,” he said.

The dealership maintains that Mr. Spencer knew the vehicle had to be retrofitted with safety upgrades and thus the recall was implied.

Investigators and lawyers for both Yamaha and the Spencers met in Knox last week to inspect the vehicle and the scene of the accident.

“I don’t want to see anybody else get killed,” Jim Spencer told NEWS10.

“Whatever other investigation needs to be done in this field, I am all for it.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Parents of Rhino rollover victim may sue Yamaha

According to the lawsuit, the rollover occurred on “relatively flat terrain.” The vehicle tipped over on the passenger side where the plaintiff was seated.

Like many other lawsuits pending against Yamaha in the Unites States, the suit filed in Texarkana claims that the Rhino “was placed in the stream of commerce in a defective condition, unreasonably dangerous to the users thereof, and not fit for its intended use and reasonably foreseeable purposes.”

The suit also claims that warnings and operating instructions for the Rhino were negligently inadequate.

The plaintiff seeks damages for health care expenses, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, physical disability and impairment, disfigurement, lost wages, loss of wage earning capacity, loss of consortium, loss of household services, pre- and post-judgment interest.

46 deaths and hundreds of injuries in the U.S. have been attributed to the Yamaha Rhino’s defective design and performance. The unusually high number of deaths and injuries linked to Yamaha’s signature UTV prompted the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission to recall the vehicles last March. Owners may take their Rhinos to their local dealership to have a series of safety improvements installed. No new vehicles are to be sold until the same upgrades have been completed.

More than 200 product liability lawsuits have been filed in U.S. courts by Rhino victims and their families.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Texas woman seeks damages for injuries sustained in Rhino rollover

The boy’s parents, James and Bonnie Spencer, needed a UTV for farming chores. They bought a Rhino 450 from their local Yamaha dealership on May 20. Having heard about the Rhino’s propensity to roll over, the Spencers had their dealership make the recommended safety upgrades, including installing spacers on the rear of the vehicle to give it added stability. The Spencers received their Rhino last Thursday after the proper work had been performed, according to a report by the Times Union.

Wyatt, as the boy was called by family and friends, was anxious to test drive the new Rhino. Having grown up on a farm, he had a lot of experience driving four wheelers and dirt bikes. So when the Rhino was delivered, he and a friend were eager to give it a spin.

The boys rode the Rhino around for most of the afternoon, took a break, and then decided to ride one more time in the early evening, around 5 p.m.

The Rhino rolled when it hit a patch of wet grass about 500 yards from the Spencers’ home. The vehicle, weighing more than half a ton, landed on top of Wyatt. His friend, 14-year-old Brian Pitts, was able to push the vehicle off of his friend. He then ran home and called 911.

Paramedics rushed Wyatt to an ER in Albany, where he was pronounced dead from severe head trauma. Wyatt was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. It is not known whether the Spencers received a free helmet from Yamaha as part of the recommended safety recall.

Most of the Rhino-related deaths – about 50 in the U.S. so far – were caused as a result of injuries sustained in a rollover. According to the Times Union, a certified mechanic will inspect the Spencers’ vehicle to make sure the safety upgrades were installed properly.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rhino rollover claims life of 13-year-old boy

The rollover occurred on Monday evening when Camarillo apparently lost control of the Rhino. According to the local coroner’s investigator, Camarillo was thrown from the vehicle. He was not wearing a safety belt. Investigators do not yet know what caused the driver to lose control of the UTV and roll over.

The Desert Sun reports that aside from Camarillo and the passenger who was airlifted in critical condition, four others received injuries as a result of the rollover. All were transported to area hospitals.

The accident occurred nearly two months after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Yamaha Motor Corporation issued a safety recall of all Rhino models (450, 660, and 700). The CPSC announced the recall after investigating 50 Rhino accidents. Although many of the reports investigated by the CPSC involved unbelted passengers, the agency found that several of the accidents appeared to result from design flaws that critics claim make the UTVs unstable.

120,000 Rhinos have been sold since the vehicles first appeared on the U.S. market in the fall of 2003. Since then, Rhinos have been blamed on nearly 50 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Consumers have filed approximately 200 lawsuits against Yamaha in U.S. courts, alleging the Rhinos to be dangerously unstable, even when driven on flat terrain and at low rates of speed.

The CPSC has advised all Rhino owners to stop using the vehicles until a local dealer has made the appropriate safety upgrades to the vehicles. Additionally, Yamaha has instructed its dealerships to stop selling Rhinos until the improvements are made. Yamaha is also giving free helmets to Rhino owners who schedule their vehicles for the safety upgrades.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rhino rollover kills California man, injures 5 others

The CPSC’s investigation of Rhino accidents found that an unreasonably high number of rollover-related deaths and injuries occurred while the vehicles were driven at low speeds and on flat terrain. Since 2003, when the Rhino first debuted on the U.S. market, it has been blamed for 46 deaths and hundreds of injuries, many of which are serious and life-altering. Consumers have filed some 200 lawsuits in U.S. courts.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Rhinos are not just popular recreational vehicles in Australia. Farmers, Surf Life Saving patrols (a national association of lifeguards), and Rural Fire Brigades also use them in their daily tasks.

Surf Life Saving Australia told the Daily telegraph that Yamaha assured them that “there are no safety concerns with the Rhino” and that it’s not offering the repair program in Australia because “when the user guidelines are followed, the Rhino is a safe and extremely capable side-by-side vehicle.”

The SLSA also told the Daily Telegraph that it implements driver training programs developed specifically for the Rhino. However, Yamaha told the association that “typical use” of the vehicles in the U.S. differed significantly from the SLSA’s use, and that “safety issues are not replicated here.”

So, in other words, Americans are irresponsible (if not reckless) Rhino drivers, the CPSC’s concerns are unfounded, and there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with the Rhino’s design, even though more people are killed or maimed while using them than any other UTV?

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Yamaha Australia offers no Rhino safety recall

Both lawsuits allege that Yamaha Rhinos have fundamental design flaws such as a high center of gravity, narrow track width, and narrow wheels, which make the vehicles highly unstable. The problematic design, combined with a lack of safety features that would help contain passengers and their limbs inside the vehicle, make riding in a Rhino exceptionally dangerous.

Yamaha warns consumers that Rhinos are susceptible to roll over if driven aggressively and on uneven ground. Most lawsuits, however, are filed by victims and their families who allege that the vehicles turned over on flat ground and at a low speed. Yamaha also advised drivers to keep their limbs inside the vehicle in the event of a rollover, yet Rhinos lack the necessary features to make doing so possible.

Both of the West Virginia complaints assert that injuries caused by the Rhino accidents led to medical expenses and lost wages in addition to permanent physical impairment, pain, mental anguish, and a loss in quality of life.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) responded to all of the complaints against Rhino by launching an investigation last year. The agency found that the vehicles to be unreasonably dangerous and urged consumers to avoid driving their Rhinos until the appropriate safety upgrades were made by a local dealer.

The CPSC and Yamaha jointly announced the “voluntary repair program,” effectively a recall, on March 31. Safety critics applaud Yamaha’s willingness to add safety features to all vehicles sold since 2003, but say that the company still needs to address the Rhino’s fundamental safety flaws.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rhino’s fundamental design flaws form basis of more lawsuits

The family of Wyatt Bauer of Rimbey, Alberta seeks $400 million CA (about $316 million US). The boy was killed while vacationing with his family in 2007. He received multiple injuries in the rollover, including severe head trauma.

Because the Rhino has a propensity to roll over during normal, safe operation, Yamaha and the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) jointly announced a “voluntary repair program” (effectively a recall), which allows owners of all Rhino models to take their ATVs to their dealership for a series of safety repairs and upgrades. Additionally, Yamaha Motor Co. has told all of its dealers to cease selling new Rhinos until they perform the same safety upgrades to their showroom vehicles.

The safety repairs include the installation of doors, hand grips, and a rear wheel spacer and the removal of the rear anti-sway bar. Several people throughout the US and Canada have been severely maimed or killed while riding in Rhinos because the vehicles have a fundamental design flaw. A narrow track width and a high center of gravity make the vehicles prone to roll over during normal operation. Rhinos also lack some key safety features that would help keep persons contained in the vehicle during a rollover.

The Canadian class action also includes allegations made by a Canadian man whose foot was trapped and crushed under the weight of his Rhino when it rolled over. If his Rhino had been equipped with safety doors, his leg likely could have remained inside the vehicle. Instead, the man’s leg was crushed under the Rhino’s unpadded roll cage, causing injuries that required multiple surgeries.

Acting CPSC chairman Nancy Nord said the Rhino recall was “a critical step toward increasing family safety. “I personally have been so concerned about the number of deaths and injuries associated with these vehicles that I directed staff to step up their investigative efforts,” she said in a statement.

Sources: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aS0pYstKqSYg

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Canadian-Class-Action-prnews-14815334.html?.v=4

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Death of boy in Rhino rollover prompts Canadian class action suit

The dealer told the couple that it would call them back when it had time to perform the safety repairs. Yamaha designed the new safety enhancements to prevent and minimize injury during a rollover. Rhinos are notoriously narrow and unstable vehicles, and every year people become maimed or killed when their Rhinos roll over because there is little, if anything, to prevent one’s head, arms, and legs from protruding during a rollover.

Which is just what happened to the West Virginia couple while they were waiting for a call from their Rhino dealership. In October 2007, the male was driving the Rhino. When the vehicle started to topple, the driver reacted by sticking his leg out to prevent a full-scale rollover. Although his reaction was a natural one, it did not prevent the Rhino from rolling over and crushing the driver’s leg. He now suffers from severe and permanent injuries.

Last month Yamaha and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a “voluntary repair program” which effectively recalled all Rhino 450, 660, and 700 models for safety upgrades. Yamaha Motor Corp. agreed to install passenger doors, hand grips, and rear wheel spacers on Rhinos already sold. Additionally, the manufacturer plans to remove the rear anti-sway bar on the vehicles, which will give them more stability.

Yamaha headquarters also told its dealerships to discontinue Rhino sales until all safety upgrades were made. While so many repairs are being performed on showroom Rhinos for sale, many dealerships have little time to perform recall repairs.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › West Virginia couple sues Yamaha dealership

The Sands lost their 10-year-old daughter Ellie when the Rhino she was a passenger in rolled over, crushing her head between the ground and the vehicle’s unpadded roll cage. The accident occurred when the driver, traveling at 15 mph on flat terrain, attempted to make a right turn. Ellie suffered a massive brain injury and died the following day.

Since Ellie’s death, the Sands have courageously turned their grief into a positive effort to call attention to the dangers of the Yamaha Rhino. They forged alliances with families of other victims who were killed or injured in Rhino rollovers and they flooded the CPSC with testimonies. Then, after months of investigations, the CPSC announced what is effectively a recall of the Rhinos.

The CPSC has advised all Rhino owners to immediately stop driving their UTVs until Yamaha makes a series of repairs and improvements to the vehicles, free of charge, at a Yamaha dealership. Yamaha Motor Co. has advised all its dealerships to discontinue selling additional Rhino 450, 660, and 700 models until those same modifications have been performed. The modifications are intended to give the Rhino more stability and reduce the chances of being maimed or killed in a rollover.

John and Tammy Sand can now share a sense of accomplishment, and they are pleased that the CPSC pushed Yamaha to take a step in the right direction.

“It made us feel good,” Sands told the Middletown Journal. “I don’t want to take credit for this, but it’s a fight we took up for Ellie.”

Resources: Ellie’s Mission Page; Yamaha Motor Co.; CPSC; Middletown Journal

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Parents of Yamaha Rhino victim happy about ‘recall’

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced just last week that owners of Yamaha Rhino 450, 660, and 700 models could take the vehicles to their dealership for free safety repairs and upgrades. Although Yamaha clearly denies on its website that this is not a recall but a “voluntary repair program,” the CPSC believes the vehicles are a substantial risk and advises the public to avoid operating Rhinos until the proper improvements have been made. Yamaha has also told its dealers to refrain from selling Rhinos until the repairs have been made.

Yamaha Rhinos have been under investigation by the CPSC for months. The commission analyzed more than 50 Rhino accidents that involved 46 driver and passenger deaths. Two-thirds of the accidents resulted in a rollover.

Yamaha’s complimentary “repair campaign” addresses some of the issues that make the Rhino so unstable. It will modify the rear wheels with spacers, giving the vehicle a wider track. It will also remove the rear anti-sway bar, which Yamaha expects will reduce the chance of a rollover and improve the vehicle’s stability and handling.

Because hundreds more people have been seriously maimed in Rhino rollovers, Yamaha is also installing half doors and handholds. Those improvements are intended to reduce the number of people who suffer from crushed or amputated arms and legs. Additionally, Yamaha is offering owners free helmets when they update their Rhinos.

Despite the improvements, critics of the vehicle say that they still don’t adequately address the vehicles’ design flaws. Maneuvers that can be performed safely on other ATVs are still unreasonably dangerous when done on a Rhino.

The Canadian lawsuit was filed in Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Dec. 12, 2008 and served to Yamaha last week.

Source: Bloomberg.com

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rhino lawsuit moves forward as Yamaha launches repair campaign

The recall involves all Rhino 450, 660 and 700 model vehicles. According to an official news release, the CPSC staff has investigated more than 50 incidents involving 46 driver and passenger deaths related to the Rhino. They report more than two-thirds of the cases involved rollovers, and many appear to involve turns at relatively low speed and on level terrain.

Beasley Allen attorney and Product Liability section head Cole Portis has reviewed over 75 Yamaha Rhino rollover claims in the past two years. He says,”We are concerned that this recall, while a good first step, does not address the inherent design flaws that make the Yamaha Rhino so susceptible to low-speed rollovers. However, I remain hopeful that this government recall will serve as a wake-up call and that Yamaha will re-evaluate their practice of putting profits over people. ”

The recall originally only included the 450 and 660 models, but within a day of the announcement the CPSC added the 700 model as well. The recall includes about 120,000 of the 450 and 660 models and 25,000 of the 700 models.

Yamaha will suspend sales of the vehicles until they are repaired, and consumers are urged to stop riding the vehicles until repairs are made.

Yamaha’s recommended repair includes the installation of a spacer on the rear wheels and removal of the rear anti-sway bar to help reduce the chance of rollover and improve vehicle handling. The repair also includes installation of half doors and additional passenger hand-holds, which Yamaha already recommended after earlier reports of rollover injuries.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › CPSC, Yamaha recall Rhino vehicles

Earlier this week we featured J.T. Crow, a 9-year-old boy who died when the Yamaha Rhino he was a passenger in rolled onto its side, throwing him from the ATV and pinning him underneath its unpadded roll cage. Since the accident, which occurred in June 2007, J.T.’s mother, Heidi Crow, embarked on a mission to “help save others from a tragic fate like J.T.’s.”

ACCORDING TO THE PRESS RELEASE: One result of Ms. Crow’s work is the “Citizen Report on UTV Vehicle Hazards,” a compilation of information, statistics, and evidence underscoring the dangers of the Yamaha Rhino and other utility terrain vehicles (UTVs). Ms. Crow collaborated with family members of other Rhino victims, the Trauma Foundation, and the Center for Auto Safety in publishing the report, which is dedicated to the memory of J.T.

“The Yamaha Rhino and some of the other sport-based UTVs have a much greater propensity to roll over than any passenger vehicle or truck on the road,” the report states in its opening. “There are, however, no governmental minimum safety performance standards currently applicable to these vehicles,” the report says.

The authors believe that “such standards are vitally important to prevent occupants from being seriously injured during rollover. Yamaha Rhinos lacking adequate occupant protection have injured, maimed or killed literally hundreds of consumers.”

The report was released to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA), and key members of Congress.

“Utility Terrain Vehicles have fallen within a regulatory crevice. These vehicles were introduced to the market and have been sold to consumers without having to meet government safety and performance standards. It is imperative that federal and/or state safety agencies step forward to protect consumers from the growing number of fatalities and severe injuries,” said Ms. Crow in releasing the report.

The report focuses on the safety defects of the Rhino that make it one of the most dangerous UTVs in the world. It also identifies 38 people who lost their lives in Rhino accidents.

“A national tragedy is occurring. Scores of adults, teenagers, and children have been left permanently disabled after their hands, arms, feet, and legs have been crushed in Yamaha Rhino rollovers, and many innocent children have been killed,” Ms. Crow said.

“We call upon Yamaha and other UTV manufacturers to incorporate key safety features necessary to protect occupants from accidents, injuries, and deaths.”

The report calls for many improvements to the Rhino, including better occupant containment methods so that passengers remain inside the vehicle during a rollover; supplementary safety restraints such as partial doors, padded roll cages, and netting; effective seat belt restraint systems that comply with US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; improved stability and handling; and other safety upgrades.

The entire report can be viewed here.

SOURCE: http://www.yamaharhinorolloverandrecall.com/news_articles/2009/20090227-press.htm

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Families devastated by Rhino rollovers release safety report

Those words were written by Heidi Crow, whose 9-year-old son Jeremy Todd “J.T.” perished on June 22, 2007 when the new Yamaha Rhino 450 he was a passenger in rolled over. J.T.’s older sister Madison was driving the Rhino on at their grandparents’ property when it tipped over suddenly while traveling at a low speed.

The Rhino rolled over on its side just a quarter of a turn, but it was enough to throw J.T. from the vehicle even though he was properly belted. The boy suffered massive head and neck injuries when the Rhino’s unpadded steel roll cage pinned him to the ground, underneath a thousand pounds of weight.

Emergency personnel rushed J.T. to a hospital in Jasper, Texas where he was pronounced dead.

“The seat belt system failed to restrain him. Nor was the Rhino equipped with doors and safety netting that could have kept J.T. inside the Rhino and saved his life,” writes Heidi Crow.

In August 2007, just weeks after J.T.’s death, Yamaha began issuing safety doors and hand grips for its Rhinos as a means of reducing the number of people who are seriously injured in Rhino rollovers. The announcement, which was made in the form of a “special offer,” told Rhino owners that Yamaha would retro-fit doors and handholds free of charge.

But Yamaha still hasn’t addressed the causes for all the rollovers, which include the ATV’s high center of gravity, narrow track width and wheels, and other design flaws.

According to his mother, “J.T. was a very smart and beautiful boy. He excelled at academics and sports, but most special was his compassion for others and gift for making people feel important.”

While J.T.’s life was cut short, his family lives on to spread the word about the dangers of Yamaha Rhinos. Heidi Crow believes it is now her responsibility to “help save others from a tragic fate like J.T.’s.”

“His memory will go on, and his story will be told as long as it needs to be told to save lives,”she  says on a website devoted to his memory.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Family of boy killed in Rhino rollover establishes memorial fund

According to an article in the DeSoto Times-Tribune, the sixth grade class at Lewisburg sponsored the planting of a red maple in front of the school, and they decided to dedicate the new tree to the memory of their classmate Lauren. A plaque bearing Lauren’s name sits beside the tree. The red maple was donated by Quality Landscaping and Garden Center of Olive Branch, Miss.

“Everytime you see it, you can think of her,” said Kelly Wallhood, whose children also attend Lewisburg Middle-High, to the gathered crowd. “You can watch it grow and remember your friend.”

The girl’s father, Trae Dilworth, told the Times-Tribune that he will stop by to see the tree frequently.

“It’s just a living memory of Lauren that will hopefully be here for years to come,” he told the paper.

Lauren’s father was also moved by the kindness of the community in remembering his daughter, especially because she and her family were new in town.

“To have only lived here a short period of time, it’s amazing that such caring people thought so much about Lauren,” Dilworth told the Times-Tribune. “This says a lot about the community.”

Lauren and her friend Emily Bates, also 11 years old, were both in the Rhino when the rollover occurred. Both girls were pinned underneath the vehicle. Dilworth died at the scene and Bates died later at the emergency room.

Dilworth’s science and social studies teacher, Tabitha Green, said that Lauren made a quick and lasting impression on those who knew her, if even for a brief time.

“I never met a girl who was so happy,” Green told the Times-Tribune. “We love Lauren and miss her.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Community remembers girl killed in Yamaha Rhino rollover

The woman filed her lawsuit in January in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. According to a report in the Southeast Texas Record, her suit, like the other suits filed against Yamaha throughout the county, alleges that the “Rhino is excessively prone to tip over even at low speeds, on flat or slight grade terrain, and while conducting safe turns.”

The suit suggests that Yamaha manufactures the Rhino knowing that the ATV’s instability and lack of safety features makes it a dangerous ride for passengers. She argues that the ATV not only has a narrow track width and high center of gravity, but that its heavy, unpadded roll cage can harm passengers rather than them during a rollover incident.

The Southeast Texas Record points out that Yamaha sent letters to Yamaha owners in 2007 which instructed them to keep their arms and legs inside the vehicle in the event of a rollover. What Yamaha doesn’t explain in the letter is how passengers and their children can recall these words of advice in the middle of a terrifying rollover. Nor does it describe how passengers can defy the laws of physics during an accident, preventing limbs from exiting the ATV as it tips or tumbles.

The suit seeks damages for medical expenses, lost wages, loss of earning capacity, and pain and mental anguish. It also seeks punitive damages of an unspecified amount, alleging that Yamaha acted “in a malicious, wanton, willful, fraudulent and reckless manner evincing such an entire want of care as to raise the presumption of a conscious indifference to the consequences.”

More than 100,000 Rhinos have been sold since Yamaha started selling them in 2003.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Texas woman sues Yamaha for daughter injured in Rhino rollover

Heading back to his family’s campsite, Johnson turned the Rhino when it suddenly flipped. At some point during the accident Bithell’s left leg protruded from the vehicle. The half-ton vehicle flipped over onto the driver’s side, shattering the lower half of Bithell’s leg.

Bithell has undergone three surgeries and skin grafts since the rollover occurred on February 18, 2007. Despite the medical procedures, however, Bithell’s leg remains severely disfigured and he continues to experience pain on a daily basis.

While Bithell’s injuries remind him that one’s life can change dramatically in a flash, they are also an unfortunate memento of how exceedingly dangerous Yamaha Rhinos can be, even when riders take the proper precautions to prevent injuries. Bithell was wearing a seatbelt when the Rhino tipped, yet the vehicle’s frame failed to contain Bithell’s leg. Instead, the bare roll cage ripped through his skin and muscle and shattered his leg.

The Rhino’s design does not take into consideration that the limbs of the riders easily protrude from the vehicle in a rollover. Hundreds of injuries similar to Bithell’s and at least 36 deaths resulting from Yamaha Rhino accidents have been reported nationwide.

The Rhino’s inherent danger and instability come from a number of poor elements in the vehicles design. Rhinos possess a high center of gravity. The top heavy ATVs also have a steering geometry that performs poorly with the vehicle’s narrow track width and small wheels, making them prone to turn over even when traveling at low speeds and on flat terrain.

Bithell’s suit was filed in an Orange County court. The Yamaha Motor Corporation headquarters are located in the Orange County city of Cypress.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › California man injured in Rhino rollover sues Yamaha

Friends and family located his body in Adelanto after they searched the area for 45 minutes. Arapetyan was thrown out of his ATV after driving on a rough trail. His body became intertwined with the left front side of the ATV and was then dragged across the trail.

Arapetyan was driving at an unknown speed with no helmet and no seatbelt. At this time, alcohol and drugs are not considered to be a factor.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Rhino rollover accident kills Victorville man

The Mitchells’ daughter was a passenger in the Rhino ATV when it rolled over onto the passenger side. The June 2005 accident occurred while the ATV was being driven soundly, leading the Mitchells to allege that the Yamaha Rhino is dangerously unstable and defective. Like many people throughout the country, the Mitchells suggest the accident would not have occurred if Yamaha had set higher standards for Rhino safety.

While Yamaha stands by the safety of its Rhino, critics claim that the ATV is exceptionally dangerous because of its high center of gravity, narrow track width, narrow wheels and tires, and side-by-side seating.

The Mitchells’ daughter suffered severe injuries to her knee, arm, foot, and ankle in the rollover. She required emergency surgery and surgeons ultimately had to amputate four of the toes on her right foot.

“No more children or adults should suffer serious injuries for simply riding in the Rhino,” said Teresa Mitchell in report from the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch.

“In a split second, these dangerous vehicles can change a life forever,” she said.

The Mitchells believe that their lawsuit against Yamaha will help prompt Yamaha “to acknowledge its legal responsibility to injured riders and make the Rhino a safe vehicle.”

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Parents of Tenn. girl injured in Rhino rollover sue Yamaha

October 28, 2008, will mark the anniversary of this young girl’s death, which was lost on a Yamaha Rhino; her body could not withstand the 1,100-pound weight of the ATV, which rolled over and crushed her.

One can tell Ellie loved life by the smile on her face in each photo of this video. One can’t help but fall in love with this beautiful little girl as she is watched bowling, swimming, dancing, spending time with her family, and just enjoying life.

Yamaha Rhinos aren’t just killing adults; many claim the lives of innocent children. A Yamaha Rhino stripped Ellie Sand of her promising future. Why are people still driving Yamaha Rhinos?

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › father’s slide show for daugher killed in Rhino rollover

An air ambulance rushed her to the hospital and for 24 hours machines held her at the brink of life. But the weight of the 1,100-pound Rhino was just too much for her. Ellie died last October.

Since that tragic day, the Sand family has tried to make sense of what happened to their beautiful daughter. Their Web site is a way to warn other families of the dangers of Yamaha Rhinos before more people are killed.

The Web site touches on safety concerns, court cases, customer complaints, and independent testing of Yamaha Rhinos. It also includes a Rhino rollover movie and Yamaha marketing video. Perhaps the most startling page is the Rhino Victims page, which shows the glowing faces of the children and adults killed while riding this dangerous vehicle. J.T. Crow was 9; Lan McCloud was 8; Andrew Bahl was only 3.

In May, we reported that these Rhinos killed more than 500 people in 2006. Nearly 1 in 5 was a child. Can someone please explain why these horrid vehicles are still being sold?

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Family dedicates Web site to daughter killed in Rhino rollover

The Ledger Dispatch reports the driver, who was from Livermore, received “major injuries” to his neck and face, and was airlifted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center for treatment. The passenger, a resident of Galt, endured injuries to her neck and right arm and also was airlifted for treatment, to Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael.

According to the news agency, the accident occurred Aug. 30 at close to 2:30 p.m., when the driver steered into a sharp left turn and the vehicle rolled over. Neither the driver nor the passenger were wearing seatbelts or helmets at the time of the accident, the report states.

The Ledger Dispath noted the Yamaha Rhino has been linked to rollovers since its introduction in 2003, and cites a report from U.S. Recall News, saying riders and passengers have suffered “debilitating fractures” when pinned under the weight of the vehicle. The two teens injured in the Saturday accident were in a 2007 model Yamaha Rhino.

In August 2007, the Yamaha Motor Corporation sent a safety bulletin to Rhino owners advising that the vehicle could be returned to Yamaha dealers for installation of new safety equipment – doors and passenger handholds, to improve the vehicle’s safety following numerous reports of rollover accidents and injuries.

The 2007 Yamaha Rhino owner’s manual was updated to include the new doors and handholds, and Rhino owners were provided a supplemental guide about the new safety features, and a label for the Rhino dashboard outlining the risk of vehicle rollover. Doors and passenger handholds were made standard features in the 2008 model of the Yamaha Rhino.

It is unclear from the Ledger Dispatch report whether the Yamaha Rhino involved in the weekend’s rollover accident had doors or handholds.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Labor Day weekend Rhino rollover

According to reports on local television station NBC15, the rollover occured on private property in the area of Lancaster, Wis., on Sunday morning. The report says the Rhino rolled over, pinning young Andrew. The boy was transported to the hospital by local emergency response personnel and then life-flighted to Madison, Wis., where he passed away. His father suffered a broken leg in the accident.

The family, no doubt, suffers a broken heart.

Sadly, this is just the latest in a series of tragic events associated with the Yamaha Rhino, which is suspected of design flaws that make the vehicle fundamentally unstable. While the details of the Wisconsin accident have not been released, information on the company’s web site, www.yamaha-motor.com and in the Yamaha Rhino Owner’s Manual acknowledges that “abrupt maneuvers or aggressive driving have caused rollovers – even on flat, open areas.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this family.

Please, please use extreme caution if you own and operate a vehicle of this nature, and do not allow very young children to ride with you. Parents are certainly going to be careful when navigating a Rhino with a child aboard, but experience has shown that even the most cautious operator can find himself in the midst of sudden tragedy when an unstable vehicle rolls over and helpless passengers are thrown.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › child killed in Rhino rollover

Fortunately, the girls were not hurt, but Uncle D ended up with a compound fracture in his arm and shoulder, with bones breaking the skin and a lot of blood loss. A family friend, the father of one of the girls thrown clear in the accident, is an EMT, and was able to free Uncle D from under the Rhino, where he had been pinned, and stabilize him until he could be transported to the emergency room. He underwent surgery, where he had rods and pins inserted to hold the bones, and a week’s stay in the hospital.

What should have been a weekend full of family fun, barbecue and camping turned into a near tragedy and serious injury. Too many people are still unaware of the dangers of ATVs, and, in particular, the Yamaha Rhino, which is believed to have a design defect that makes it more liable than most to roll over, even on flat ground.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › Family 4th marred by rollover

Ryan was only 10 years old at the time of the accident, which occurred about 14 months ago. Albert is still recovering from his injuries, which included a broken tibia, fractures, broken bones and infection. He is on crutches and has undergone several operations. The full story is in the Press Republican, which serves northeastern New York.

This incident has a relatively happy outcome, in that Ryan was able to save his father, but it adds to a growing list of serious injuries and deaths resulting from accidents involving the Yamaha Rhino. The Rhino has been in production since 2003, and since that time there have been numerous instances of rollovers, which have led to allegations of a fundamental design defect in the ATV that causes it to be unstable and easy to roll.

SOURCE: Yamaha Rhino Rollover › New York boy saves father in rollover