Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

II t,. NoW J.r OPIN\ON J A S"K 'lou, IN youg EXPERT AS J PP-OfEH'IDNAL 13V'fC.HER , UKEfZ., CANDLE>TI(.K !'1AKE(2.··· I, WI-lAr I~ 1"0 BE ~E ON THE {SS uE of A,v 5'AFErY?.' CPSC wraps-Up ATV safety hearings By John Ulrich and Paul Carruthers LOS ANGEL ES, CALIF., O CT. 17 The U ,S. Consumer Product Safety Comm issio n came to California to hold the last in a series of five hea rings into AT V safety a n d h eard a mixed bag of fac tual an d fabricated testimony from a lleged .. . . .. ff . I VICtimS, governme~t 0 la~ s, doctors: la wyers, engInee rs,.riders and ind us try represen ta tives. All fou r CPSC Com m issioners atten ded th e h earing , including Chairma n T erren ce Sca n lo n, Ca rol G . Dawso n , Saundra Bro wn Arms trong, and Stuart M. " Ban 'em " Sta tler. " O u r whole purpose is to h ear fir st han d, fro m peop le who ha ve a n i nteres t in ATVs, whethe r yo u th ink th ey a re dangerous an d , if so, wha t yo u think shou ld be done to make th em less so ," sa id C ha ir ma n Sca n lo n in o pe n ing th e h eari ng . " By wa y 01 back ground, recent proj ect ions indi cate tha t AT V-rela ted inj uries hav e risen from an es tima ted 8585 nationwide during a ll of 1982 to an estimated 78,000 fo r th e first n ine months of 1985. Mo reover, th e CPSC is a ware o f at least 324 dea ths re lated in o ne way or anoth er to th e use o f ATVs from January, 1982 to Septern ber 20, 1985. Regrettabl y, th ere h ave been 29 ATV-rela ted dea th s h ere in Ca liforn ia sincp 1989 JH.. \I~ HIH .' ...s, t • " U nq uestiona bly, the rapid growt? of ATV sa les acco unt for so me of th is increase in injuries and deaths; over h a lf a mi llion ATVs are expected to be so ld this year, bringing to more tha n two m illion th enumberof ATVs in u se," sa id Sca nlon. " Bu t, th ere is m ore to i t th an that. For in stance, 23% of those killed have been ch ild ren under 12 and 49% were ch ild ren u nde r 16. These figures suggest th at, co nt rary !o w ha.t some may be.lieve, a n ATV IS.n ot Ju st another tncy~l e th.at anyo ne ca n .ho p on a!1d n de with out th e be nefit of so me mstruction. " Speakin g of train in g , o u r stu dies t? da te have reve a led t~at ro ugh ly 1 .2 limes as many A~ Vs WI ll ?e so ld thi s year as people WIll be tra in ed by th e industry t? r ~de t~ em . T his , to m y wa y o f th in king , IS a real problem, especia lly since that ra tio doesn't ta ke into account that fact th at ATV ow ners o ften a llow o ther p eo pl e.I ikewise untrained , to rid e their ma ch in e. Something h as to be don e - and qu ickly - to close th e gap betw een th e 1>901 o f p,eofle needin g ATV .I1 . \111 ~l I .. 1.1 . ;ll tra ining an d the ATV train ing that is cu rre nt ly ava ila ble. There a re severa l ways to close th a t ga p - including training in th e purch ase price o f a n ATV is one - a nd I h ope th ose working o n th e vo luntary sta ndard will give th em th e m ost serious co nside ra tion. With out proper ATV tra ining, more peo p le will be killed and inj ured and more fami lies will su ffer need lessly. " Now for th e good new s," co n tinued Scan lon . " I a m happy to report tha t th e CPS C's ATV actio n pl an is well underw ay a nd go ing strong. Telephone checks o n ove r 300 recen t ATV-relat ed acci de nts ha ve a lready been completed . Engi neeri ng wo r k, testing ATVs ove r a va riety of terrai ns, h as begun a nd more tes ts are p la n ned. A detailed stu dy of the ca pabili ties of chi ld ren o f various ages in rela tion to ATV u sage was been co m pleted, an d record progress has been made w ith respect to a voluntary sta nda rd on ATVs. "A dra ft of this volu ntary standa rd, wh ich deals wi th age labeli ng, training a nd standa rd iza tion of co ntrols, has been su bmi tted to th e Ame rica n Na tiona l Standard s Institut e (ANS I)app ro ved ca n vass list for co m me nt. Once a ll th e co m ments a re i n, th e sta te will be set fo r forma l su bm issio n of th e standard to AN SI for ap p roval. If a ll goe s well , tha t would m ea n a vol untary sta nda rd co u ld be in p lace by early next yea r, qui te a co ntrast to th e 12-18 months th e p ro cess normally takes. H o w sig n ifica nt that is will depen d , as I suggested ea rl ier whe n discu ssin g training, o n th e fin a l wo rdi ng o f th at sta nda rd bu r, a t th e ver y least.i ts rapid evo l ution is good news. So too is the prom ise th a t la n g uage on performance charac teristics wi ll be added a t a la ter da te. s for th eRossibilit o f ot h er cor- I nnuu • r J I :. 11 rective measure, right now it is sim p ly too ea rly to sa y wha t steps m ight , or might n ot , be a p p ro p ria te," sa id Scanl on. " For instan ce, we cert ai n ly do not have th e data at th is point to justify a ban of ATV sa les or a recall of th o se ATVs a lrea dy in use . Bu t, on th e o the r ha nd, if th e resu lts of our studies indica te tha t the rem ed ies proposed in th e vo l unta ry stan dard are inadequate, then addi tio na l steps may be n ecessa ry. In an y eve n t, we expect th at th e res u lts of o ur inves tigations wi ll enable us to develo p a prel imin ary ATV injury analysis wit h in th e nex t six m onths a nd to ha ve fin al recommendations rea dy by Septem ber 30t h o f next yea r." Co m m issioner Da wson sai d she believed in th e least possib le amou nt of govern ment intervention in peop le's lives and th at more research was needed before th e CPSC took any ac tion regarding AT Vs. Com miss io ne r Ar ms trong sa id " . . . I bel ieve th at o ur ap proach , which includes testing , in formation co llectio n, a nd analys is is a responsive an d a responsibl e one which sho u ld p rovide ans we rs to many of o ur quest ions a nd co nc erns a bo u t ATVs .. . th e Co m m ission must o bta in more i n forma tion to de term i ne wh a t, if any, risks of injury are posed by all -terrain vehicles and the man ner in whi ch they are opera ted , and as appropria te, wha t actions are necessary. " St atl er, kn ow n as a cha m p ion of injured ATV crash ers and for ringing denun ciations of ATV manufacturers a nd ATVs themsel ves, wa s subdued but p ersistent in his a ttack on th e vehicl es, pressing for design ch anges to make ATVs "sa fer" and repeated ly rej ectin g testimony indica ting tha t rider ed uca tio n and common sense we re the keys to redu cing ATV-relat ed injuries. " T he q uestion is, wha t are th e m anufacturers doi n g to improve th e saf ety 'o f the vehicle, the sta bili ty of the veh icle, th e handl in g of th e vehicle, the performance o f th e vehicle. Beca use if th ey'r e no t, we'r e goi ng to see th at to ta l esca la te ," sa id Sta tler in hi s o pe n in g sta teme nt, refer rin g to th e m ost recent C PS C estimates o f injuries. " It is our fun ction to elimina te or a lleviate u nr easo nable risk of injury," Statler co ntin ue d. " No ne o f us, in cl uding m yself, ha ve u rged a ban o f th ese vehicles. I have, al one, urged th at the manufacturers recall th e vehicle u n til they are sa tis fied th ey have a safer veh icle. And th a t is m y p osition despi te wha t yo u may h ave read in the media or in the trade press. " I would ho pe that we ca n get beyond th e stage o f test im ony we've seen fro m th e dealers an d m anufacturers th at th e vehicle is in no wa y responsib le an d th at th e user is ignora nt," Sta tler sai d, rejecting testimony before even h earin g fro m wi tnesses. Witnesses a t th e hearing were divided into panels. The first panel incl uded govern me n t agency represen tatives . Lee Chauvet, Deputy Director of the Cal ifornia Dep artment o f Parks and Recrea tio n , a nd M ike Bish o p , Chairm an of th e Ca li fornia Orr-Highwa y Motor Vehicl e Recrea tio n Co m mi ssion, both testified th a t rider ed ucation a nd th e use of sa fe ty eq ui p men t were th e best methods to red uce ATVrela ted injuries. Seni or Assistant Atto rn ey Gen era l H ershel Elki ns compl ained th at advert ising fo r ATVs p ortra yed th em as bei n g ha rmless toys a nd ad voca ted d esign cha nges to en sure that a ll the co ntrols were with in easy rea ch ; El kins d idn 't exp lain w h ich co ntrols were not withi n easy reach . Do nna Dea ton of the U.S . Forest Service sa id th at 90% o f AT V accidents involvi ng ad u lts in the An-

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