CPSC To Hold Public Hearing In Concord On All Terrain Vehicles Accidents

Commissioners from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission will conduct the third of five national public hearings on the risks of possible injuries associated with the operation of All Terrain Vehicles (ATV'S) Thursday, July 25, 1985 at 8:30 a.m. in The House Chamber of the State House in Concord, New Hampshire.

The purpose of the hearing is to obtain safety-related information on the popular vehicles to help decide what, if any, voluntary or regulatory action is required.

The Commission is aware of 161 deaths and over 128,400 injuries associated with the use of ATV's since 1982 to May 1, 1985. (The CPSC staff is currently updating its statistics). The most frequent accident reports involve loss of control, the rider being thrown from the vehicle, or the ATV flipping backward, forward or sideways.

According to the CPSC 24 percent of the injuries and deaths involving ATV's have occurred to children ages 5-12; and 45 percent to those under 16.

A number of consumer, user, state and government officials, manufacturers and dealer groups are expected to be heard at the Concord hearing.

This past April the Commission voted to commence a rulemaking proceeding on ATV's by issuing an ANPR (Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) the first such action in several years. In addition to the public hearing and publishing an ANPR the CPSC has also authorized a special task force to proceed on a six-step plan of action which is now underway.

It includes: conducting a hazard analysis; begin an engineering and human factors analysis of ATV's and their use; monitoring the development of voluntary standards for ATV's and other industry safety efforts; sharing information with user groups and state, local and federal officials; and monitoring the industry's education and training efforts.

ATV's are motorized three or four wheeled vehicles with soft ballon-like tires designed for off-road use on a variety of terrains such as fields, dunes, hill and gullies and over mud, sand, water and hard-packed snow.

Previous public hearings have been held in Jackson, Mississippi and Dallas, Texas. Additional hearings will be held in Milwaukee September 3, 1985 and Los Angeles, October 17, 1985. The Commission estimates, that by the end of 1985, 2.5 million ATV's will be in use in the U.S. As of January 1985, 1.8 million had been sold.