Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg Programs:

ATV Safety

Animal Safety

Back To School

Bicycle Safety

Buckle Up Program/Child Passenger Safety

Burn/Fire Prevention

Choking/Strangulation Prevention

Gun/Firearms Safety

Pedestrian Injury Prevention

Playground/Falls

Poisoning Prevention

Seasonal Safety

Sleep Safety

Sports Safety/Dehydration

Toy Safety

Water Safety/Drowning Prevention

ATV Quick Facts :

Deaths and Injuries

  • From 1999-2004, there were 157 ATV-related deaths in NC, of which 43 (27%) occurred in children less than 16.  Of these 43 deaths, 22 occurred in children less than12 years of age. The number of all such deaths increased from 18 in 1999 to 34 in 2004.
  • ATV-related injuries are six times more likely to result in hospitalization and 12 times more likely to result in death than bicycle-related injuries.
  • While just one such death occurred in children under the age of 12 in 1999, an average of four such deaths has occurred annually ever since in North Carolina.
  • The US Consumer Product Safety Commission ranked North Carolina 10th among the states in the frequency of ATV-related deaths, prior to the NC ATV Safety Law

How Injuries Occur

  • ATV-related injuries commonly occur due to rollovers, collisions with stationary objects and falls from the vehicles.
  • Head injuries account for a majority of ATV-related deaths, which usually are instantaneous. Serious nonfatal injuries include head and spinal trauma, abdominal injuries and multiple trauma.

Who Is at Risk

  • Males account for nearly 70 percent of ATV-related deaths among children under the age of 16.
  • Children under the age of 16 riding ATVs are four times more likely than ATV operators over 16 to experience an injury requiring emergency room treatment.

Safety Laws and Regulations

  • A recent study suggests that current legal and regulatory standards have a low probability of decreasing ATV-related deaths among children and that states should restrict the use of ATVs by children under the age of 16.
  • In 1988, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the manufacture of three-wheeled ATVs, required warning labels to be placed on ATVs and issued engine-size regulations for ATVs designed for use by children under the age of 16. 

Health Care Costs and Savings

  • The annual cost of all-terrain vehicle-related injuries among children ages 14 and under is more than $3.3 billion.
  • The annual cost of deaths from all-terrain vehicles (including wheeled ATVs, snowmobiles, and hovercraft on land) among children ages 14 and under is almost $5.7 million.
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