Doctors Want to Ban Children From Driving ATV’s

And I wholeheartedly agree. As much as I don’t agree with the government regulating every part of our parenting life, the number of accidents are growing rapidly as the popularity of these machines take off. And they ARE machines. Anyone who has ever driven a quad or ATV knows how incredibly heavy, bulky and powerful they are. They are meant to be workhorses, not toys. I say this with a grain of salt coming from an outdoors family who used them for hunting and fishing excursions; not to zip around and have a good time.The mere fact that ATV’s  can haul a game animal out of the deep woods can give you a little idea of how powerful these machines are, plus the weight of them in order to accomplish this feat. Then picture that power and weight crushing the chest of a 12 year old who flipped it onto themselves due to careless driving.

So knowing how powerful and fast these machines are, I agree that children under 14 should not be allowed to operate them, they are no less dangerous than a motorbike or a car, and you have to have a learners license for these. I also think that smaller machines with speed control are also a good idea. It’s very hard for a youth to get a realistic idea of speed and the damage that can happen.

I also know from experience since 2 family members have narrowly missed serious injury or death on two types of ATV’s : my dad almost was decapitated by a wire strung in the woods while driving a Rokon (2 wheeled powerful terrain bike) and my brother flipped our ATV.  Complete accidents with experienced drivers. I shudder to think of those who aren’t experienced or aware of the dangers riding these.’

I can’t go into specifics of course, but there is a reason why it’s doctors heading these discussions, what comes into the hospitals from these accidents are horrific. Absolutely horrifying as a parent, and I hate that I find out about them while working at the hospital, but I wish that people would realize how absolutely devastating these machines are to little human bodies. And I don’t have to deal with these poor children in person, I can’t imagine if I did.

I love  the idea of a competency course that is mentioned in the article:

But Andrew Lynk, chair of the advocacy committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society, said the rules would have been much more effective if they had set 16 as the age limit.

“Kids under 16 don’t have the strength or the ability or the judgment to operate the ATVs, even the smaller ones,” said Dr. Lynk, who is also chief of pediatrics at the Cape Breton District Health Authority.

Dr. Lynk said he likes Quebec’s legislation, which prohibits children under age 16 from operating ATVs unless they have completed a competency course on a youth model.

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