Pediatric and adolescent injury in all-terrain vehicles

ABSTRACT

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) remain a significant source of death and injury among youth. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the scope of the problem, the risk factors involved, crash-related outcomes and costs, and injury prevention strategies. There are currently more than 100 pediatric ATV-related fatalities each year and over 30,000 emergency department visits, with a potential annual cost for deaths and injuries approaching $1 billion. Major risk factors include lack of training, operating adult-size ATVs, riding as or carrying passengers, riding on the road, and not wearing a helmet. Extremity injuries are highly common, and the leading causes of death include brain injuries and multi-organ trauma. The latter increasingly involves being crushed by or pinned under the ATV. Reducing ATV-related deaths and injuries will require multiple strategies that integrate approaches from education, engineering, and evidence-based safety laws and their enforcement.

KEYWORDS:

• All-terrain vehicle
• crash
• injury prevention
• review
• youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Support for writing of this review was provided by the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Iowa