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YOUTH ATV INJURIES ALARM DOCTORS
WPR News - Youth ATV injuries alarm doctors
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Monday May 14, 2012
by Shamane Mills
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The children's hospital in Madison is reminding parents and kids about all terrain vehicle safety. Over the course of two months, five children were taken to the emergency room because of injuries occurring while riding ATVs.
In 2011, American Family children's hospital saw 13 kids in the ER for all terrain vehicle accidents. In just two months of this year, five children have need treatment; including a 9 year old boy from Lafayette County who died. Emergency room pediatrician Joshua Ross it's important to remember these are motorized vehicles that young people may not always be able to control well, "Kids are physically smaller and have immature judgment and motor skills making the opportunity for accidents even greater than you'd have with adults."
All ATV accidents have to be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. In 2011 there were 3 fatalities involving teens: the youngest was a 12 year old. Gary Eddy is the ATV safety administrator at the DNR. He says restrictions on children depend on where ATV's are being used. In public areas, kids over 12 can operate small ATVs on their own after attending a certified safety class. There is no similar requirement on private land, "A child at any age can operate any size ATV on private property --with a parent's permission--and they are not required to wear helmets or have any safety gear or anything like that so really loose on private property and that's where we tend to see some of our problems occur."
Eddy says there were 300,000 ATV registrations in Wisconsin this year.
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