Canadian pediatric society is asking for better regulation and security measures to protect children traveling in all -terrain vehicles, including all -terrain vehicles and side by side.
The company said that children and adolescents represent approximately one third of the deaths of off -road vehicles.
In a statement published on Monday, he said that federal, provincial and territorial governments should regulate the use of off -road vehicles in the same way that they make cars. These regulations should require children to be at least 16 years old to drive vehicles and 12 years to be passengers, society said.
They should also make the use of holidays certified by the government mandatory, since children and adolescents who do not use one are more likely to suffer serious head or neck injuries.
The company said that off -road vehicles are specifically designed to be used on land paths and forest areas and that they should never be driving on hard surface roads.
Off -road vehicles include all -terrain vehicles (ATV) and side by side (SXSS), comprising utitary land (UTV) and recreational vehicles outside the way.
The investigation suggests that being under 16 is a risk factor to lose control of an off -road vehicle, because the necessary development and cognitive skills may not be completely trained, the statement said.
A 13 -year -old Saskatoon boy is among three people killed in fatal accidents separated from ATV in Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the weekend of June 10.
“Stay alert and respond properly to sudden changes in the field implies ‘active conduction’, which requires precise hand-alkal coordination, physical strength, balance, spatial awareness and constant attention,” said pediatric society.
“These development skills and cognitive maturity to link actions with the consequences, specifically, the implications of insecure behaviors for self and others and relationships between distance, speed and braking, tend to develop in most of adolescents between 14 and 16 years of age.
Pediatric society asked the industry to stop marketing and sell off -road vehicles to adolescents under 16 years of age “until they have been implemented, tested, standardized and proven that they are effective in all Canadian environments.”
Risks of serious injuries and death
The provinces and territories must implement training courses and a driving licensing system graduates for off -road vehicles, he said.
Pediatricians and primary care suppliers also have a role to play, he said, by educating families about “significant risks of serious injuries and death”, even if the off -road vehicle is a “youth model.”
The group said that the main causes of death and disability in the pediatric accidents of ATV include traumatic brain lesions, spinal cord injury and trauma related to the multiple system, which directly correlates with the increase in the size of the vehicle.
Pediatric society acknowledged that off -road vehicles are widely used in remote areas, in farms and indigenous hunting and fishing. In these cases, pediatric care providers should help families reduce the risk for young people emphasizing the need to avoid paved roads, wear a helmet at all times and only travel as passengers in vehicles designed to transport more than one person.
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