Riding All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) could be considered a part of Southern Maryland culture.  On warm days kids can been seen mudding around in fields on four-wheelers or zipping down suburban streets on mini-bikes.

It’s winter now, but it won’t be long before spring warms up Southern Maryland and those new Christmas ATVs piloted by anxious and possibly reckless kids make way for the nearest hills and puddles.  Wearing a helmet would seem to be a minimum safety precaution for responsible guardians and ATV operators.

In Maryland ATVs fall into the category of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) and regulations are listed on the Maryland page of the atvsafety.gov website.  There are very few regulations at this time for ATVs in the state of Maryland.

Maryland Delegates Sue Kullen (Calvert County), Murray D. Levy (Charles County), James E. Proctor (Calvert & Prince George’s Counties), Paul S. Stull (Frederick County) and Richard B. Weldon, Jr. (Frederick & Washington Counties) are sponsoring a bill (HB 114) requiring individuals under the age of 16 to wear protective headgear while operating or riding on an ATV.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has been collecting data regarding ATV deaths from 1982 through 2005.  During that period an estimated total of 7,188 ATV-related fatalities occurred in the United States and Puerto Rico.   California and Pennsylvania topped the list with 297 and 274 respectively; while Maryland was way down the list, coming in 42nd with 29 deaths.  Children under the age of 16 accounted for 2,178 of the deaths in the report.

The numbers of injuries related to ATVs is quite alarming.  Of children younger than 16, in the year 2005 alone, there were 40,400 reported emergency-room-treated injuries.

When the CPSC first began collecting data it was more difficult to accumulate exact data as to the actual number of deaths.  The commission would collect newspaper clippings, coroner’s reports and various other means of gathering information.

In 1999 CPSC began collecting death certificates of all fatalities involving an ATV.  This has been made possible by the tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Edition (ICD-10) which now lists a specific code for the classification of an ATV-related death.

In 1988 the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA) formed a division devoted to ATV safety, education and awareness.  The site has information and advice to improve safety.

In 2005, North Carolina passed a landmark ATV safety bill which was sponsored by Senator William R. Purcell. The state went from being one of only six states in the nation to have no ATV laws in place, to enacting laws among the most comprehensive.

The SVIA worked very closely with the Child Fatality Task Force to help draft the legislation and advocate for its passage.

Some of the major provisions of the law include:
Prohibits parent or guardian from knowingly permitting a person:

·         Under age 8 to operate an ATV;
·         Under age 12 to operate an ATV of 70 cc or greater;
·         Under age 16 to operate an ATV over 90 cc;
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