ATV Safety Precautions Vital

By the News-Register
Warmer weather and longer days bring a variety of good things to area residents. But they also are likely to increase the number of injuries and deaths involving all-terrain vehicles, experts have warned.

Already this year, four people have died in ATV accidents in West Virginia. The number does not seem particularly high, given the horrible toll that ATVs have taken during the past few years. Forty-five people died as a result of ATV accidents in the state last year.

Unfortunately, the comparatively low number of injuries and deaths for the first quarter of the year probably doesn’t mean that Mountain State ATV riders are being more careful. It is merely a matter of the weather, according to Dr. Jim Helmkamp, director of West Virginia University’s Injury Control Research Center. “We would expect increased riding with better weather,” he explained.

If you are an ATV rider, probably eager to take advantage of nice weather, we urge you to take every safety precaution in the book — and then some. An illustration of the need for caution was provided by the most recent ATV death, of a Monongalia County. The 37-year-old man who died was not wearing a helmet and was killed when he rode his ATV out onto a road in the path of an oncoming vehicle.

Many of the most serious ATV accidents occur on paved roads. Many of the fatalities are people who were not wearing helmets.

Common-sense safety precautions, such as wearing helmets, can save lives. So can other measures, such as not consuming alcoholic beverages before or while operating an ATV.

Finally, children and ATVs don’t mix. Too many injuries and deaths involving minors could have been prevented, had parents been stricter about safety.

Warmer weather means more ATVs being ridden throughout West Virginia. Sadly, it also will mean more injuries and deaths in ATV accidents. Please, we ask you: Don’t let yourself, your friends or your family members become victims.