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FEDERAL SAFETY STAFF SIDES
WITH ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE ASSOCIATION ON PROPER
ATV SIZES FOR CHILDREN
 The All-Terrain Vehicle Association has
earned a major victory in its effort 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 Consumer Product Safety
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 fewer.
In late May, the CPSC staff made
recommendations to the full board to improve ATV
safety nationwide, 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.
"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 three-member board will review the staff
recommendations in a public hearing at its
Bethesda, Maryland, offices on June 15. It's
part of an initiative to write new federal
safety rules related to ATVs.
Besides suggesting changes in the CPSC's age
guidelines, the staff recommends that all ATV
buyers be given free safety training and
information, and that smaller machines for use
by riders under 16 should have automatic
transmissions and speed limiters. ATVs for
children ages
6 to 11 would have speed limits of 10 mph, while
machines for children
12 to 15 would be limited to 15 mph.
The staff also recommends that ATVs sold in
the United States should conform to uniform
mechanical requirements for such things as
brakes, suspension, controls and lighting.
This proposed rule-making is the result of a
petition submitted to the CPSC by the Consumer
Federation of America and other groups that
called for the CPSC to ban the sale of full-size
ATVs for use by children under the age of 16.
That potential ban has been opposed by Morris
and American Motorcyclist Association/ATVA
Legislative Affairs Specialist Royce Wood, who
testified in a commission hearing on the issue.
Rather than a blanket ban on the sale of ATVs
for use by kids, the ATVA supports a more
thoughtful approach that includes greater
parental involvement.
"We believe that proper training, the use of
safety gear, parental supervision, and allowing
children to ride right-size vehicles would do
much to reduce ATV-related injuries and deaths
involving children under 16," Morris has
repeatedly said.
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