Young boy critical after six-year-old crashes ATV

LONDON, ONT. — It was a recipe for disaster: Five children under the age of 10, without helmets or safety gear, riding on an adult-sized all-terrain vehicle driven by a six-year-old girl.

A nine-year-old boy was clinging to life Tuesday after he was thrown from the 500cc machine during a family gathering at a rural home in Elgin County the night before, police said.

Police are investigating how the children — the youngest was two — came to be aboard the vehicle Monday night while adults were on the other side of a home in Malahide Township.

“We’ve got five children — a six-year-old operating a very large ATV, with a two-yearold, a four-year-old and two nine-year-olds,” Elgin OPP Const. Troy Carlson said Tuesday. “Were they being supervised? How did they come about operating the ATV?”

Investigators are trying to determine if adults knew the children were on the ATV and who owns the vehicle, he said.

“You’ve got a six-year-old girl, that obviously had no intention of doing this. We are talking about a 500-cc machine, and that would be a handful for a lot of adults,” he said. “Having a two-yearold on there?”

The little girl was trying to turn a corner when she accidentally pressed the throttle, “lost control and collided with two pine trees,” police said.

The nine-year-old struck a tree and became trapped between the ATV and one of the trees. He was freed by adults who heard the collision.

The boy was flown by air ambulance to hospital, where he was on life support and listed in critical condition Tuesday.

The crash came less than a week after Ontario changed the rules to allow more offroading vehicles and all-terrain vehicles to use the shoulder of public roads while mandating all riders wear a helmet and use a seatbelt or foot rests.

Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act doesn’t apply because the crash happened on private property, police said.

In a news release, OPP Insp. Brad Fishleigh said the case was a “great cause for concern” for investigators.

“This is a very tragic example of the dangers of ATVs.

“ATVs are powerful vehicles, not toys for children. ATVs must be operated by trained and skilled operators,” he said. “The lack of safety gear (helmets) and the fact that there were five children on board ranging from ages two to nine is a great cause for concern.”