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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Injuries from ATVs rise across Canada

By: Larry Kusch

Posted: 07/29/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

THE number of Canadians seriously hurt due to collisions involving all-terrain vehicles continues to mount.

And that's got some people thinking the minimum age for driving ATVs should rise.

According to a study released Thursday, 3,386 Canadians required hospitalization in 2009 because of ATV-related injuries, compared with 3,193 the previous year. Nearly 450 of the injuries involved kids age 14 and under.

Pamela Fuselli, executive director of Safe Kids Canada, said her organization supports a recommendation from the Canadian Pediatric Society that children under 16 should not be allowed to operate the vehicles.

"Most of them are on adult-sized ATVs, so they're very powerful, and they're causing major injuries," she said in an interview from Toronto.

The ATV-related injury statistics were part of a larger study released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information on a range of wheel- and water-based sport and recreational activities.

Cycling continues to produce the most injuries among these activities, the study showed. In 2009-2010, 4,324 Canadians were hospitalized due to a cycling injury, with close to half getting hurt in June, July and August. That compares with 4,028 the previous year. The good news, though, is that the number of cyclists requiring hospitalization for head injuries has gone down in recent years, likely due to increased awareness about the importance of wearing a helmet.

Sales of ATVs have been on the rise in Manitoba in recent years, and the vehicles are now used increasingly for pleasure riding rather than by farmers and hunters.

Larry Redmond, of Safety Services Manitoba, (formerly the Manitoba Safety Council) said education is the answer to reducing ATV-related injuries. Injuries occur when too many riders pile onto a machine, riders fail to wear helmets or drive where they shouldn't, he said.

"Get them and get them educated," is Redmond's motto.

Safety Services and Manitoba Public Insurance delivered ATV safety courses for 6,000 school kids from Grade 7-12 last year, he said.

According to Manitoba law, ATV operators under 14 must be supervised by an adult. Helmet use is mandatory except when the ATV is operated for the purpose of farming, commercial fishing, hunting or trapping.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca

ATV injuries

145 -- number of ATV-related injuries requiring hospitalization in Manitoba in 2009. There were 136 in 2008 and 113 in 2001.

1,123 -- number of persons hospitalized in Manitoba since 2001.

3,386 -- number of ATV-related injuries requiring hospitalization in Canada in 2009, compared with 3,193 in 2008 and 2,577 in 2001.

311 -- number of serious ATV injuries in Canada in 2009 involving kids 10-14 years old.

477 -- number of serious ATV injuries in the country in 2009 involving kids 15-19 years old.

472 -- number of serious ATV injuries involving persons 20-24 years old.

-- Source: Canadian Institute for Health Information

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 29, 2011 B2

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