ATV Incidents Stay Steady Short Term; Decline Longer Term

CPSC estimated there were 653 ATV deaths in 2013, according to data it made available at the end of December. Most of them, 638, involved four-wheel units. The year was the most recent for which CPSC deems data to be complete.

Meanwhile, the report (bit.ly/2ClS9Jl) explained that CPSC knew of 14,653 deaths as of the end of 2016 and counting from 1982. Youth younger than 16 represented about 22% of the deaths over those decades: 3,232. Additionally, children under 12 were the victims in 1,411 of the incidents, which was 44% of the latter number.

As for injuries, youth under 16 were about 25% of the estimated 101,200 incidents in 2016. That number is an increase from 2015's estimated 97,200. However, CPSC said that rise was not statistically significant. Interestingly, there was a drop for the 16-24 age group (24,200 to 23,200), but that too was not statistically significant.

Looking at longer trends, there was a significant decline in injuries during 2007 to 2016 (150,900 to 101,200). CPSC noted that this trend followed a significant rise during 2001 to 2007 (110,100 to 150,900).

Other 2016 injury highlights from the report included:

• Dispositions: Treated and released 86,700 (86%), treated and transferred/admitted 13,000 (13%), other 1,500 (1%).

 

• Diagnoses: Fracture 28,200 (28%), contusion/abrasion 22,700 (22%), other 18,000 (18%), sprain/strain 12,200 (12%), laceration 11,500 (11%), internal 8,600 (9%).

 

• Body Parts: Arm 29,500 (29%), head/neck 27,400 (27%), leg 22,200 (22%), torso 20,500 (20%), other 1,600 (2%).

 

• States: Top numbers of deaths in 1982-2013 are Texas (735), California (677), West Virginia (673), Pennsylvania (665), and Kentucky (604. Top numbers for 2014-2016 (count still ongoing) are West Virginia (80), Texas and Pennsylvania (both 70), Florida (60), and Tennessee (50).