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The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC)
recent report on ATV Safety shows a 5% decline
in the all-terrain vehicle (ATV) injury rate
from 2001 to 2002; 31% decline in the all-terrain
vehicle (ATV) injury rate from 1988 to 2002;
14% decline in the fatality rate for the period
of 1999 to 2001; 15% decline since 1997 in the
proportion of total ATV-related injuries that
involve children under 16.
The CPSC report states that its latest findings
are based on “New risk estimates (for injuries
and deaths) that make use of improved estimates
of the numbers of ATVs in use.” The CPSC prefaced
its report with the observation that, “This
year we made several changes to the report to
bring it more in line with the current ATV market
and to aid in its readability.”
More than 15 million Americans ride ATVs in
a safe and appropriate manner every year. ATVs
have become an essential tool for ranchers,
law enforcement, the armed forces, recreational
riders, handicap accessibility to remote locations,
and others according to the Specialty Vehicle
Institute of America (SVIA).
In the United States, sales of new ATVs have
increased steadily since 1991. Sales figures
for 2002 were 5.6% over those of 2001. Even
with this increasing popularity, the CPSC’s
data shows that the number of injuries is growing
at a lesser rate in proportion to the ATV population
itself -- in fact, the ATV injury rate actually
declined 5% from 2001 to 2002, the same year
the ATV industry saw over 5% growth in new unit
sales. (SVIA)
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