The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) ban on youth ATVs was quickly stayed earlier this year, but at least half of the major dealers in the US have since stopped selling children's ATVs in fear of further irrational antics over the lead content issue.
The ban has caused a predictable increase in the use of adult-sized ATVs by children because of the un-availability of children's ATVs on the market. It has also caused the prices of the available youth ATVs to go up, possibly putting them out of reach of some perspective buyers in this worsening economy.
Having had enough, the Coalition for Safe and Responsible ATV Use has called on Congress to act quickly to deal with the ban on youth model ATVs. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) agrees that the preposterous ban would cause more kids to ride bigger quads, but they didn't expect it to cause half the major dealers to stop selling them even though they temporarily lifted the ban.
Statistically, the CPSC says that 90% of injuries and fatalities to children while riding quads occur on adult size ATVs. They also say that the amount of lead in said ATVs does not amount to enough to pose a threat to children. Unless they're eating them, of course.
The CPSIA needs to be fixed. It needs to exempt youth ATVs, motorcycles and snowmobiles from it's blanket policy that literally causes more harm than it prevents.
Image © Matt Finley