Federal government not regulating popular youth-sized ATVs

The federal government has not evaluated the safety of youth-sized all-terrain vehicles, machines that children as young as six years old can legally operate in some provinces.

The vehicles, which have smaller engines and are often programmed to go more slowly, are marketed by the ATV industry as being safer for children than adult-sized machines.

But no government body is regulating or testing youth-sized ATVs to ensure they are actually safe for children to use.

As a result, Canadian pediatricians are renewing a call for the federal government to adopt and enforce stricter standards for ATVs marketed toward children.

• Fatal Fun: RCMP crack down on N.L. underage ATV drivers, but hit roadblocks with parents
• Fatal Fun: At least 178 people killed in Atlantic Canada since 2012

"As a pediatrician worried about the health and safety of our children and youth and knowing how potentially dangerous these vehicles can be for children, the fact that nobody is overseeing their regulation is really quite shocking and I think horrifying," said Dr. Mike Dickinson, a New Brunswick pediatrician and past president of the Canadian Paediatric Society.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau's office declined an interview request.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson acknowledged that Transport Canada hasn't done any research on whether children can safely operate ATVs or snowmobiles.

Youth ATV risks

6 years ago

Duration 0:48

Children as young as 6 can drive youth-sized ATVs in some places, but governments don't know if they're safe.

'A gross oversight'

In the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission treats youth-sized ATVs the same as adult models, subjecting them to the same regulation.

That's not the case in Canada. Transport Canada does regulate some adult-sized "off-road two- and four-wheeled vehicles" but not youth machines.

Health Canada also doesn't regulate youth-sized ATVs and neither do provinces, which set the rules about related issues, such as training, age requirements and where people can ride.

Instead, the federal government pointed to a set of "voluntary" national ATV standards it says are upheld by the Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors' Council, an organization that represents ATV manufacturers and distributors.

That's not good enough for Dickinson, who said a third party, such as the federal government, should be involved to make sure the machines are safe.

"We live in a country where we're very comfortable in regulating vehicles and we're also very comfortable in regulating things that have to do with protecting the safety and the health of our children," he said.

"The fact that we have something that involves both motorized vehicles and children that isn't being regulated just seems like a gross oversight."

Not a new call

Canadian pediatricians have spent years speaking out against the risk ATVs pose to children.

Six years ago, the Canadian Paediatric Society issued a position statement that called for provinces to ban children under 16 from riding an ATV.

In Atlantic Canada, the minimum age to ride an ATV ranges from six to 14, depending on the size of the engine.

The doctors argued that children under 16 just don't have the size, strength, motor skills or brain development to ride ATVs safely.

That includes youth-sized ATVs, which they say are not any safer than adult-sized models.

"Even the machines that are marketed at young children can move at significant speeds and have significant weight," Dickinson said.

But the doctors' calls have created few waves, and children have continued to die.

Since 2013, at least six children under the age of 16 have died from ATV crashes across Atlantic Canada, a CBC News investigation has found. The youngest victim was five years old.

Governments have 'turned a blind eye'

The list also includes 15-year-old Elizabeth Landers, who died in Quispamsis, N.B., in 2016, and 13-year-old Heidi Dunn, who died in a crash in Bonavista, N.L., in 2017.

Most recently, 13-year-old Marc-Andr Gionet died in October after his ATV crashed into a gravel pit inside a quarry in Haut-Lamque, a community in northeastern New Brunswick.

"These are absolutely preventable deaths," Dickinson said.

"Provincial and federal governments to date have essentially turned a blind eye."

In recent weeks, the provincial government in Newfoundland and Labrador has said it is reviewing safety regulations around ATVs and snowmobiles.

But no government has committed to raise the minimum age for children to ride the machines.

More than 40 New Brunswick kids injured

The six fatalities do not include a number of children who have been badly injured on ATVs.

Health authorities in just one Atlantic province New Brunswick were able to provide statistics on youth ATV injuries.

In one year, between April 2014 and March 2015, 42 children under 16 sustained life-altering, serious injuries on ATVs, according to data provided by NB Trauma, a program working partly through research and education to reduce injuries.

Thirty of those children were driving the machines themselves, the data shows.

Fewer than half, or 20, of those children were confirmed to be wearing a helmet when they were injured.

Dickinson has seen a range of injuries to children on ATVs, including burns caused by touching a hot engine, bruises, sprains and head injuries.

"Families often live in denial that these are the kind of injuries and accidents that happen to other families and other kids and not their own," he said.

A powerful lobby

Why hasn't anything changed? The answer may come back to power and politics.

"Provinces where there is a pretty strong rural component, where these machines are used a lot and are popular, I think the politicians are a little bit nervous about offending their base," Dickinson said.

The ATV industry has pushed back against raising the minimum age, arguing youth models are safer and come programmed to go more slowlythan adult-sized ATVs.

Manufacturers have argued that children who ride ATVs at a young age will become safer adult drivers.

But there is also a financial incentive for manufacturers to get children to ride young: at least 2,227 youth-sized ATVs have been sold in Canada so far this year, according to data from the Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council. Many sell for $3,000 to $5,000 each.

The president of the council argued parents should have the ability to decide what is safe for their children.

"Unfortunately, here in over 30 years of working on this, we've never had a health professional come to us and say let's work together on how we can do this," Bob Ramsay said.

Ramsay also suggested children in rural areas have fewer options for recreation.

"If it's done properly with proper parental supervision, if it's done in a context that's very safe, there isn't an issue," he said.

"We have over four million Canadians using these."

Both Ramsay and lobbyists hired on behalf of the council have previously lobbied the federal government on issues such as "ATV equipment standards" and "accident safety statistics and policy."

In New Brunswick, the ATV federation has more than 22,000 members and has successfully pushed back against raising the minimum age.

"We put on a good force because we know training starts when you're young," New Brunswick ATV Federation president Roger Daigle said.

"We managed to convince our government to start training young people at six years of age."

A tipping point

Even though their calls haven't been successful to date, Dickinson said pediatricians will continue to try to convince both the federal government and provincial governments to make changes that will keep children safe.

But what will it take for things to change?

"It's hard to imagine what more it would take, how many more children need to be injured or die to get the attention of the government," Dickinson said.