Alberta Health urges province to improve ATV safety regulations

Two child deaths and dozens of injuries have prompted a call for more rigorous ATV safety regulations.

Between April 1 and Aug. 4, 44 children were seen in Alberta’s two pediatric emergency departments due to ATV-related injuries. Thirteen of the children were injured seriously enough to require admission to hospital.

Two of those children died as a result of their injuries.

“These incidents are predictable and preventable,” said Dr. Richard Musto, Alberta Health Services lead medical officer for Calgary. “They’re not acts of God.”

AHS wants to see legislation requiring anyone under the age of 18 to wear a helmet while driving or riding an ATV, Musto said.

Other recommendations include certified training, mandatory helmets for all riders and passengers, and restricting children younger than 16 years of age from operating any size of all-terrain vehicle.

“We’re clear on our desire to increase safety and we look to the government to take under advisement all the literature that is there, and hope that they’ll bring in regulations that are consistent to the literature,” Musto said.

Between 2002 and 2013, 41 per cent of ATV rider deaths were due to head injuries, with 70 per cent of those victims not wearing a helmet.

Alberta’s current regulations say children under the age of 14 are not allowed to drive an off-highway vehicle on highways. They are also not allowed to drive an off-highway vehicle on public property unless supervised by someone over 18.

Musto said future ATV helmet legislation could mirror current rules for bicyclists, requiring children under the age of 18 to wear a helmet while riding.

Alberta Liberal Party Leader Dr. David Swann agrees with AHS’s recommendation regarding helmets, saying these types of injuries are “predictable and preventable.”

“We have legislation for helmets for motorcycles, why not ATVs?” said Swann, whose nephew was killed in an ATV accident in 2012.

Swann said he would like to see the province move ahead with mandatory helmet legislation for all riders and passengers on ATVs, noting limiting helmet legislation to children under 18 would not “go far enough.”

In a statement, Minister of Transportation Brian Mason said the NDP government is still committed to bringing forward changes to Alberta’s ATV safety regulations.

“The use of helmets for ATVs is a serious safety issue,” he said.

“We’ve lost too many young lives, and it’s important that government takes action.”