Injuries to children lead to call for ban on under-16s using all-terrain vehicles
DOCTORS WORKING at the accident and emergency unit of Limerick's Mid Western Regional Hospital have called for legislation banning the recreational use of quad bikes by children under 16 years after having to deal with a number of children injured in accidents involving the vehicles.
Four children were taken by ambulance to the hospital on one day when they were injured while taking part in an organised racing event using the off-road vehicles.
All had been wearing protective clothing, including helmets, but still sustained injuries, some of them serious, after being thrown from the bikes.
One of the children, a five-year-old boy, was thrown from his quad bike at 35 miles per hour causing extensive bruising and abrasions to his body.
Another, a 13-year-old girl, was thrown over the handlebars of her quad bike travelling at 30 miles per hour. She sustained bruising to her hands, abrasions to her face and arms and there was clinical evidence of sprains to both wrists.
In another case a 14-year-old boy suffered a head injury with loss of consciousness after his quad bike flipped forward at 40 miles per hour. He also fractured a bone in his arm.
And in the fourth case, a nine-year-old girl suffered a mild head injury when she fell from a miniature motorbike while rounding a bend at speed.
Details of the cases are documented by Dr Justin Curran and Dr Colman O'Leary in the latest edition of the Irish Medical Journal where they point out that at present there is no legislation regulating the recreational use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), including quad bikes, by children.
They state that children under 12 years of age lack the physical size and strength, cognitive abilities, motor skills and perception to safely operate even the smaller ATV models.
The doctors said there had been many cases of children being killed or seriously injured while using ATVs.
"The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission collects data on ATV-related death and trauma. Between 1982 and 2005 there have been 7,188 reports of ATV-related deaths.
"30 per cent (2,178) of victims were under 16 and 13 per cent (917) were under 12 years," they said. "It is estimated that there is one death for every 10,000 four-wheeled ATV in use," they added.
They found that in jurisdictions where laws on use of ATVs were more rigorous, mortality seemed to be reduced. "Our experience highlights the dangers of ATV use in the paediatric population," they said.
"At present there is no legislation that regulates the recreational use of ATVs by children. We recommend a ban on recreational ATV use in children below 16 years of age. Furthermore we advocate rigorous control of events in which children partake.
"The organisers must determine the appropriateness of such events by examining evidence available in the international media," they added.
Dr Cathal O'Donnell, an A&E consultant at the Limerick hospital, said yesterday he had seen a number of nasty neck injuries both in Ireland and in Canada, where he previously worked, from accidents involving quad bikes. He said he supported his colleagues' call for legislation banning their use by children.
He said when these vehicles rolled over there is nothing to protect the driver's head or neck compared to when in a car.
Quad bikes are in widespread use on farms across the State and in 2004 the then president of the Irish Farmers Association John Dillon broke his left leg in two places in a quad bike accident on his farm in Co Limerick.