Despite mounting casualties from crashes of recreational off-highway vehicles, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has shot down a proposal to track injuries and deaths involving the popular trail machines.
In recent years, Polaris Industries, the leading producer of off-road vehicles, has recalled hundreds of thousands of its trail machines due to a fire danger. The hazard is linked to at least three deaths and three dozen injuries ranging from minor scrapes to limbs burned so badly amputation was required.
A recently published review by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of hazards related to All-Terrain vehicle use shows that work-related injuries are on the rise. NIOSH estimates that 11 million of these vehicles were in use in 2010 (for both recreational and work-related purposes).
Since first being introduced in the U.S. for agricultural use in the early 1980s, ATVs have grown increasingly popular recreationally and more recently, for work. There are currently more than 10 million ATVS in use in this country.
