Kill the Bill !

Here's a link to the latest legislative effort to hurt our sport: http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/186/st02pdf/st02251.pdf

Maybe the proponents of this legislation are unaware that this could very well harm more children than it could help.

•   By preventing parents from buying an appropriate sized machine for their kids and preventing them from learning with their children in a nationally recognized ATV Safety Training course, it is inevitable that some kids are going to be tempted to sneak a ride on an adult machine. This is a recipe for tragedy.

•   Failure and refusal to permit the establishment of legal riding areas, designed, supervised and maintained for a safe and rewarding experience can leave only illegal,  unsafe, unmaintained and unsupervised places  to ride and learn. This is another significant ingredient of the recipe for tragedy being considered. 

•   A safety course certified, 16 year old,  on a 90cc ATV  ???   Its not clear how these limits were arrived at but it definitely didn't come from reading any of the, approximately 500 pages, of reports on the subject published by the U S Consumer Product Safety Commission.  After almost a decade of intensive analysis, the US CPSC has concluded that:

  • It is dangerous to put a large youth on a tiny machine.

  • Engine size is not an effective measure for ensuring operator safety but engineered, mechanical limits on maximum speed provide a reliable means to keep a vehicle within the ability of the typical youth in his age bracket and also within the ability of an adult to maintain direct supervision.

  • In compliance with guidelines registered with the CPSC by the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America and standards measured by the National Institute of Standards, The ATV manufacturers produce ATV's suitable for children as young as the 6 to 9 year old age bracket. (These machines are not capable of moving faster than an average adult can run. It would be nice if bicycling were that safe!)

•   Data collected nationally suggests that many more children are killed or seriously injured from incidents involving the riding of animals (horses?) than riding ATV's and  the most dangerous form of youth recreation is bicycling. Why then isn't a child abuse report mandated when a young teenager is allowed to ride a ten speed on a public way without proper safety gear and direct supervision?  (God forbid that someone would allow their young child on a pony ride at the church bazaar ! Take that parent's automobile license away!)

There are several more things seriously wrong with this proposed law and it has very little to do with Child Safety.

Stay tuned: