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

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