ATV Accidents

Channel 4 in Jacksonville reports than an 18-year-old man died on Friday night, August 26, when he was thrown from an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and hit a metal gate. Florida Highway Patrol troopers report the crash happened on County Landfill Road in Palatka around 10 p.m. The young man was from Ocala and riding eastbound on the dirt road on a 2003 Honda four-wheeler. For some reason he was thrown into the closed metal gate and his stomach and chest were injured. He was taken to Putnam Community Medical Center but pronounced dead after 35 minutes, according to the FHP report.

Our condolences go out to this man’s friends and family for his sudden death. They are in our prayers.

Studies find that ATV accidents in Florida and across the nation are on the rise, and too often it is young people who are the unfortunate victims of these defectively designed vehicles. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, all-terrain vehicles are injuring about 4,500 young riders in the U.S. every year with an increasing number of spine injuries and amputations. They are defectively designed with a high center of gravity which gives them a tendency to tip over, even a low speeds. The Academy believes ATVs should not be ridden by anyone under the age of 16.

The popular three-wheeler ATVs stopped production in 1987 because of safety concerns but many are still in the marketplace and the American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested a ban on the sale of the three-wheelers. Suzuki introduced the four-wheelers in 1985, which are increasingly popular but still dangerous.

When researchers looked at emergency room visits in California for off-road vehicles from January 2005 to the end of 2007, they found 110 patients who were ten times more likely to need an amputation because the riders try to brace themselves during a fall. Multi-riders in the four wheelers led to ten times as many amputations as a single-rider, researchers from Loma Linda University Medical Center found.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there were 254,000 ATV-related injuries that required treatment either in a hospital or emergency room in 2000. The first month or riding, inexperienced ATV drivers have 13 times the average risk of injury, says the CPSC.

If you have been injured in an ATV accident, contact Farah & Farah to learn more about your legal options. Our personal injury attorneys in Palatka help clients who have been injured in a wide variety of motor vehicle accidents, including ATV crashes. Call our law offices today to learn how we can help you.

Sources: http://www.news4jax.com/news/28998115/detail.html, http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-08-27/story/ocala-man-18-dies-accident-four-wheeler-putnam-county, http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00265 and http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/105/6/1352.abstract

It’s been nearly one year since a beautiful 18-year-old teen who had just graduated high school was killed in a head-on collision with a pickup truck while she was riding a dirt bike on Wildwood Drive at South Winter Hawk Drive in St. Augustine. Everyone wondered what happened to the investigation into the pickup driver who hit her head-on. Several people had call in reports to law enforcement about a man who had been seen driving erratically before the crash with the girl. The teen was yards away from her home at the time of the collision. She was not wearing a helmet.

Now an arrest has been made. After nearly a year, the FHP arrested a 51-year-old man and charged him with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the crash. He will face a DUI manslaughter charge that can bring up to 15 years in state prison. After the July 8 crash, a blood test was taken on the driver and investigators found Xanax, cocaine and methadone in his system.

Our condolences again are extended to this family for the loss of this young lady who had a job a Publix and was known by everyone. She and a friend received some publicity when they turned in $2,000 they found in a bag at the store.

Last December, friends and family gathered near the FHP station in St. Augustine to say they were not happy with the slow investigation and no arrest. In many cases, the drug must be analyzed once then go to a second lab to confirm the analysis. Unfortunately, this takes time.

The family would be well-advised, if they have not already, to consult with an experienced Florida ATV accident lawyer to determine what response law enforcement had to the many calls that came into police about this out-of-control driver, observed on I-95, SR 207 and Wildwood Road. The municipality may share some of the blame in failing to respond to reports sooner to avert this tragic collision.

Source: http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2011-07-01/arrest-made-burchfield-death#.Tg_mAoKZTfo

Three adolescents were injured in a Honda ATV four-wheeler crash recently in St. Johns County. News4Jax reports that the two boys and a girl were riding the off-road vehicle in the 1700 block of Carter Road off CR 214 in St. Augustine when the 11-year-old, sitting in front of the 14-year-old driver, hit the brakes as they rounded a curve. The four-wheeler rolled and all three were thrown off the vehicle. The oldest boy told St. Johns County deputies that he took the vehicle from his father without asking, knowing he had been told not to ride the four-wheeler. The three were taken by ambulance to Flagler Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.

Four-wheel off-road vehicles are not allowed on the streets. As a result, the 14-year-old is facing three charges of careless driving, operating a motor vehicle without a license, and operating an all-terrain vehicle on a roadway, according to a news release by the St. Johns Sheriff’s office.

The St. Augustine personal injury attorneys at Farah & Farah wish a swift recovery for these young people. Children and ATV vehicles are an unfortunate combination that result in 70,000 emergency room visits and lead to the death of approximately 274 children every year. Children account for more than one-third of all ATV-related deaths. With a high center of gravity, a three-or four-wheeler is prone to tip. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends an ATV be operated only by those who are age 16 and older and that the operator always wear a helmet.

If you or a loved one have been injured by an ATV, contact an experienced personal injury lawyer. In many cases, these vehicles have been found to have a design defect and successful product liability cases have been filed against the manufacturer that have resulted in compensation for the injury or wrongful death.

A new federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) report on deadly accidents last year that involved all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) was recently released. An ATV is an off-road motorized vehicle with three or four low pressure tires, a straddle seat, and handlebars. Recreational off-highway vehicles (ROVs) have a bench or bucket seat and were not included in the report.

By the end of December 2009, the CPSC had reports of 10,281 ATV-related deaths that occurred between 1982 and 2009. In 2009, there were 376 reported deaths, and in 2008 there were 616, a slight reduction from the peak year for fatalities in 2006, when there were 833 deaths. In Florida, the report says there were 361 deaths related to ATVs from 1982 to 2006. There were an additional 86 deaths from 2007 to 2009 totaling 447, making Florida the state sixth in line with the highest number of fatalities behind California, Pennsylvania, Texas, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

What is not shocking but is heartbreaking is that 26 percent of the 10,281 total ATV fatalities occurred in children younger than age 16, and 11 percent, about 1,140 deaths, occurred to those younger than 12 years of age. A parents group called Concerned Families for ATV Safety recommends following guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, who say all children should be kept off ATVs if they are under the age of 16.

The Florida personal injury lawyers at Farah & Farah say losing a child is not worth the risk of having an ATV, which are dangerous even if you are an adult. If you have been injured in an ATV accident in Florida as a result of a defective machine or dangerous road conditions, you may be eligible for compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

We blog all too frequently about children who are hurt or killed in off-highway vehicles or ATVs.

Now the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is looking into the design of a handful of brands associated with more than 30 fatalities. The Yamaha Motor Company’s Rhino is one of those brands.

The Wall Street Journal named Yamaha as one the focus of the deaths, though the company would not confirm that. Yamaha does not agree with the WSJ’s fatality tally.

An off-road vehicle is different from an ATV in that they are larger and have two side-by-side seats and a protective roll cage, which is not required of ATVs.

Besides the Rhino, there is the Polaris’s Razor, Honda Big Red, Kawasaki Heavy Industries Mule and Arctic Cat’s Prowler. Read the rest »

This week a couple of teens riding an all-terrain vehicle in Baker County, smashed into a tree after losing control of the ATV on a dirt road.

They were both in serious condition; neither of them wore a helmet according to the Florida Highway Patrol. 17-year-old Michael Jewel of Sanderson was driving. The passenger was Thomas Harvey, 17, of Glen St. Mary.

Riders and passengers of ATVs frequently suffer spinal cord injuries as they dive over the handlebars.

Parents seem sharply divided on the issue of ATVs. Some believe their kids can handle the freedom; others ban them, or insist on matching a child to the machine with supervision. Others don’t believe 17-year-old boys can be taught anything.

ATV accidents killed at least 555 people in 2006 at least 100 children among them, according to government safety officials. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) estimates another 146,000 people were treated in emergency rooms for ATV-injuries that year, more than a quarter of them children.

In Florida, at least 71 kids under the age of 16 died from 1982 to 2002. More recent statistics are not complete. Florida riders under the age of 16 are required to wear a helmet and eye protection.

An ATV is a vehicle that travels on four low-pressure tires, with a seat and handlebars. It’s designed to handle mountain terrain, and other environments off-street.

There is no cage around the rider who sits and rides like a motorcycle. The speed can go up to 80 mph or higher depending on the engine. ATVs are associated with trespassing, land defacement, erosion and noise and dust pollution. Engines range from 49 cc to 1,000.

ATVs are supposed to carry a label from the manufacturer telling consumers that machines greater than 90 cc should not be attempted by riders under the age of 12. This is a recommendation only.

The industry says ATVs have never been shown to be an unsafe product, but there is little to keep a child safe during a rollover when they are thrown from the vehicle. Then there is the issue that many youngsters ride adult-size ATVs which are too big for them.

Dealers are not supposed to sell ATVs to parents who will allow children to ride them, but that is an unverifiable system.

A couple of years ago, national pediatrician and consumer groups called on the commission to ban the sale of adult size ATVs for children under 16 because the machines were too big and fast for the young drivers. The agency decided not to change its policy when its director of compliance, a former lawyer for the ATV industry said the system of voluntary compliance was working.

Many at the CPSC have quit in disgust when, facing a shrinking budget, they try to regulate industries that appear to be calling the shots. One woman in a poison prevention expert said “there is only so much that a few people there can do.”

Many inside say the prevailing attitude is that business can regulate itself. But we’ve all seen lately what happens when industries are in charge of regulating themselves. We hope these young men fully recover- our best to them and their families. #

Students at Bartram Trail High School in St. Johns County in north Florida are mourning a senior who was killed this week in a motocross track accident in Flagler County, Florida.

Bennet “Ben” Gordon Geiger Jr. was just 17 years old. He had been riding motocross for two years, experienced at jumping the motorcycle tracks. He was on a practice ride at the Pax Trax Motocross in Bunnell Tuesday when his motorcycle flipped on top of him after a jump.

Geiger also helped the school maintain athletic fields. Ben was just a great kid, and a dedicated and involved student, says his principal.

Big John Scott who had Ben in his Bible study and in his high school class, said online that Ben was “Quite possibly the funniest kid I ever met. Your friends are just ruined today.”

“Riding dirtbikes must have been his biggest love, I remember him talking about it all the time. At least he died doing what he loved best. “Only the good die young,” says Nina Alvarez online.

Read the rest »

They look like small two-seater jeeps. The Yamaha Rhino are the latest fun vehicle blamed for serious injuries called by rollovers.

In March, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a voluntary recall of 2008 Rhino Side-by-Side vehicles because of a risk of brake failure that affects about 7,800 vehicles.  

But brakes are not their only problem.

In a rollover in the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), victims are suffering devastating and debilitating injuries such as the loss of the lower limbs and serious head injuries.

Read the rest »