PICKERINGTON, Ohio -- The All-Terrain Vehicle Association (ATVA) is praising the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission's rejection of a request by anti-ATV groups to ban the sale of full-size ATVs for use by children under 16.
On July 12, the three-member commission formally rejected a petition for the ban filed by Consumer Federation of America, Bluewater Network, and the Natural Trails and Waters Coalition. The ATVA had opposed the petition.
The commission also voted to accept proposals from its staff on new safety rules for ATVs. Those proposed rules will now go out for public comment.
"This is great news," said ATVA Director Doug Morris. "The recommendation to the CPSC board by its ATV Safety Review team validates what we've been saying all along: that the guidelines must be changed so that as many kids as possible can get ATV safety training. And that will go a long way to reduce youth injuries."
The decisions by the safety panel constitute a major victory for the ATVA in its efforts to convince federal safety experts that young riders should be allowed to ride ATVs that are the proper size for the child's body size.
In testimony to the commission over the past several years, the ATVA argued that current CPSC age guidelines limiting children under 16 to small ATVs prevented or discouraged youth from getting ATV-riding training.
That's because free training is offered by manufacturers to buyers of new ATVs, but only for family members who are of the "proper" age for the purchased ATV. In other words, if you buy an adult-size 300cc ATV, only those 16 and older are eligible for training. A child can be 5-foot-10, 180 pounds and be just weeks shy of 16 years old, but can't take the free training because children under 16 are limited to ATVs with engine displacements of 90cc or less.
In late May, the CPSC staff made recommendations to the full board to improve ATV safety nationwide, which are the proposed rules the panel accepted, including rewriting the restrictive age guidelines "so that children under the age of 16 can ride and be trained on ATVs which are more likely to fit them physically and which conform to their developmental capabilities."
The staff report notes that formal training may reduce an ATV rider's
risk of injury by half.
The All-Terrain Vehicle Association (ATVA) is dedicated to increasing members' enjoyment of riding and owning ATVs by serving as a source of authoritative information about where and how to ride, products, events, and racing, and by protecting and promoting the rights of all ATV riders. The ATVA is part of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), the world's most powerful voice for motorcyclists. For more information, visit the ATVA website at
www.ATVAonline.com,
or call 1-866 ATVA-JOIN.
