A comparison of State-specific All-Terrain Vehicle-related death rates, 1990-1999

This report provides a comprehensive state listing of sex- and age-specific ATV-related fatality rates, 1990-1999. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates an average of 267 ATV-related deaths per annum on average since 1995. This brief article makes a comparison between ATV-related death rates between states in the USA. It also makes a cross-comparison of state requirements in terms of safety legislation for ATV use and death rates. ATV safety requirements, in terms of legislation, can be viewed as three mutually exclusive groups: (1) helmet and other safety equipment requirements (21 states), (2) machine-related safety but no helmet requirements (23 states), and (3) no safety legislation (6 states). Data showed that states without safety legislation had a collective death rate twice that of the other 2 groups. It is concluded that states with some level of safety legislation, be it mandated helmet use or machine-related requirements, have substantially fewer deaths and lower fatality rates than do states that have no ATV safety laws.