Concern over ATV injuries among kids

Doctors say children under 16 shouldn’t operate or be passengers on  ATV’s

Story by Korey Cherneski

EDMONTON – Cierra ("CJ") Gordon knows first-hand how powerful All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) can be. She has scars to show for her knowledge.

The 12-year-old Lacombe girl spent two weeks in the intensive care unit at Edmonton's Stollery Children's Hospital last year with multiple organ lacerations and other complications after she rolled the ATV she was driving.

"I'm glad I was wearing a helmet but that wasn’t enough," says CJ, whose family was on their summer holiday at the time.

"I just wasn't strong enough to control it and I slid off."

CJ is just one of hundreds of Albertans who are injured every year on ATVs. These include many youth not old enough to get their driver's license.

Alberta Health Services (AHS) physicians and staff at the Stollery are concerned over the severity of traumatic injuries related to ATV usage and recommend children under 16 years do not drive or be passengers on the powerful motor vehicles.

Over the past month, the Stollery treated four children with severe ATV injuries in the emergency department and two of these patients died from their injuries. Last year, the Stollery treated approximately 105 young patients who were injured on off-road vehicles, including ATVs.

"The number one cause of sport and recreation-related major injuries is ATVs, and a startling amount of these injuries are in youth and children," says Dr. Daniel Garros, a pediatric intensivist with the Stollery.

There were 100 ATV-related deaths in the province from 2002 to 2008, with 18 of those fatalities occurring to children under 16 years of age, according to the most recent provincial statistics. Half of all fatalities are caused by the ATV rolling and flipping, which can easily occur when drivers overcorrect steering at high speeds.

"We agree with the Canadian Pediatric Society's recommendation that children under the age of 16 shouldn’t have access to ATVs because of the type of injuries they can sustain and the danger ATVs present," says Dr. Bill Sevcik, emergency physician with the Stollery Children's Hospital.

"This isn't a matter of how large, mature, or responsible your child or teenager may be. There is a combination of cognitive skills, including experience, mental and physical maturity, and judgment that children and youth just don’t have yet. These machines aren’t designed to be handled by someone other than an adult."

In 2008, there were 781 ATV-related hospital admissions and 5,834 emergency department visits. Most ATV-related deaths in the province are among males between the ages of 20 and 34.

"When you look at the ease of how ATV injuries can lead to death, it shows a great need to get out to the public and raise awareness about the dangers of these vehicles, and hopefully educate parents on safer choices for their children. We don't want to see a continual rise in these types of preventable injuries," says Dr. Garros.