Concerned Families for ATV Safety

- Read Our Stories
- Share Your Story

ABOUT US
Concerned Families for ATV Safety is a network of parents dedicated to reducing injuries and death among children driving powerful All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs). We offer support to victim’s families and provide families with information and resources to make informed decisions about their children and ATVs. Through public education we work to raise awareness of the need for adequate, common sense safety standards that keep children under 16 off ATVs, and for enforcement of ATV laws.

Concerned Families for ATV Safety has obtained copies of two documents that the ATV manufacturer, Yamaha has been fighting a court battle to keep secret. This document shows that Yamaha designed the Rhino to avoid regulation by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency (NHTSA). Yamaha's own documents show that it includes warnings against driving the Rhino on the road because this helps it avoid regulation by the NHTSA - not because they're concerned about the safety of Rhino riders. Finally, the second document shows that in 2000, Yamaha designed the Rhino with safety features such as a rear differential, passenger hand-hold and a full doors - but never included them in the final vehicle.

Please distribute these documents to anyone who might be interested, including your Senators and Congressmen. Please click here to find contact information for your Senators and here for your Congressman.

Cick here for a video on the dangers children face when riding ATVs.

The Consumer Product and Safety Commission released its new data on deaths and injuries related to ATV's. You can see the data here.

[6.11.09]
All Terrain Vehicles Are 'Not a Toy' Says Michigan Accident Attorney Terry Cochran
Expert Click

Misguided parents, wanting their children to have a good time, will buy an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) for family recreation only to have a loved one end up in the emergency room - possibly injured for life or worse.
The problem is that parents may view an ATV as a type of toy, a step-up for growing children who have outgrown Big Wheels.
But an ATV is not a toy, it's a powerful, motorized vehicle weighing up to 600 pounds and reaching speeds of more than 60 m.p.h. Even the best drivers often lose control and a collision or a rollover can happen quickly.
[ read more ]

[6.9.09]
It's time to reduce the West's ATV carnage
Salt Lake Tribune

At least 24 people have been killed in all-terrain-vehicle accidents in the West since mid-March, the onset of warm riding weather.

A 9-year-old girl in Arizona was among them. So were a 10-year-old boy in California, an off-duty sheriff's deputy in Utah, and 16-year-old girls in Wyoming and Arizona.

[ read more ]

[5.20.09]
Physicians warn that ATVs, kids can be a dangerous combination
Ft. Myers Florida Weekly

All-terrain vehicles and kids can be a dangerous mix, especially for those who tend to treat the ATVs like toys instead of high-powered vehicles.

The number of young patients being seen at the Lee Memorial Hospital Trauma Center with ATV-related injuries has steadily increased over the past few years. The patients range in age from age 2 to 18 and have a variety of injuries, including head trauma, lung contusions, mangled extremities, open bone fractures and associated soft tissue and visceral injuries.
[ read more ]