Losing control

Zach Dover nearly died, his face crushed when the four-wheeled ATV he was riding flipped over in a ditch.

The all-terrain vehicle accident four years ago in his hometown of Matthews, Mo., cracked his skull and broke nearly every bone in his face. Airlifted to Southeast Missouri Hospital, the 12-year-old boy was in a coma for a week.

Doctors counted 156 fractures in the boy's face. His eyes were swollen shut. His nose was pushed up by his left ear.

"He literally looked like the Elephant Man," recalled his mother, Yvonne Williamson.

Doctors used family photos to aid them in reconstructing Zach's face.

Over the next two years, Zach underwent nine reconstructive surgeries.

Now 16, Zach no longer carries the outward scars from the accident, which occurred while riding a friend's full-sized ATV without a helmet. But inwardly he suffers from short-term memory loss.

The brain damage also destroyed his sense of humor, his mother said.

Physical and speech therapists worked with Zach.

Medical expenses piled up for the New Madrid County family, amounting to some $350,000. Insurance paid some of the costs, but the family still was saddled with major expenses.

Zach's ordeal underscores the risks of riding ATVs, his mother said.

Williamson said her son was lucky. ATV accidents have killed nearly 6,500 Americans over the past 23 years. More than 2,000 of them were children under 16 years of age, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says.

Last year, 470 people died in such accidents nationwide.

Alarmed, the commission in October said it would look to do more to regulate the safety of ATVs.

Some consumer groups want the commission to ban the sale of adult-sized, four-wheel ATVs for use by children under 16.

Other possible rules include presale training requirements, enhanced warning labels, formal notification of safety rules to buyers, written notification of child injury data at the time of sale and separate standards for ATVs designed for two riders.

Despite the horror stories, there currently is no national legislation to ensure that all riders have the proper training and safety gear.

Forty-two states, including Missouri, don't require a license to drive an ATV. Missouri and 34 other states don't require any safety training or testing to drive an ATV.

The all-terrain vehicles have become commonplace. In rural areas they double as gas-powered workhorses and off-road toys. Nearly 7 million ATVs are in use nationwide. An estimated 15 million Americans ride ATVs.

"The vast majority are riding safely and responsibly," said Mike Mount, a spokesman for the ATV Safety Institute in Irvine, Calif.

But to the Williamson family and others, that's little comfort.

Over the past 22 years, ATV accidents in Missouri have killed 179 people.

From 2002 through 2004, Missouri ranked 13th among the states in ATV deaths with a total of 46. Kentucky ranked first, with 106 deaths, the CPSC said.

Thousands more are seriously injured each year.

Last year alone, hospital emergency rooms treated more than 136,000 ATV-related injuries, up 8 percent over the previous year, the CPSC said.

ATV accidents in Missouri killed 13 people including a 12-year-old Jackson boy and injured 160 in 2004, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

In August this year, a 12-year-old Sedgewickville, Mo., boy died when the ATV he was riding overturned as he attempted to climb a steep embankment.

"It just breaks my heart," Yvonne Williamson said of such accidents.

She wishes states would outlaw young children from riding ATVs.

"Children under 16 should not ride them," she said. "They don't use common sense. It is a toy to them."

Williamson said it's illegal for preteens to drive cars and the same rule should apply to riding ATVs.

In Missouri, state law bars anyone under the age of 16 from operating an ATV unless accompanied by or under the direct supervision of a parent or guardian on state roadways.

But the restriction doesn't apply to children who ride ATVs on private property, said Sgt. Larry Plunkett, a patrol spokesman in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

It's illegal to operate ATVs on Missouri roads except for governmental, agricultural and industrial purposes during daylight hours. Handicapped people can operate ATVs as a means of travel on secondary roads for short distances only.

Most ATVs can travel anywhere from 30 to 60 mph, Plunkett said. "People underestimate how severely and how quickly they can be injured."

Williamson believes Missouri should consider requiring ATV riders to be licensed to help prevent accidents.

ATV riders should have to pass a driving test before being allowed to get on an all-terrain vehicle, she suggested.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has wrestled with ATV safety concerns for decades.

The commission filed a lawsuit in 1987 against five major ATV distributors. The lawsuit was settled in 1988. As part of the settlement, the companies agreed to quit selling three-wheel ATVs. The commission had argued that they overturned too easily.

Still, it's legal to ride three-wheel ATVs and many are still in use.

New four-wheel ATVs crowd the showroom at Robert Ford's World of Honda store in Cape Girardeau.

Ford said careless riders and not the vehicles are to blame for the accidents.

Many accidents occur on roads and the low-pressure tires aren't designed for highway driving, Ford said.

The industry requires ATV buyers to sign a 10-point checklist of do's and don'ts.

Buyers promise they won't operate an ATV without proper instruction, that they will wear helmets, and not allow children under 16 to operate an ATV without adult supervision.

But Ford said dealers and the industry have no way to enforce such rules.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123