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'06 ATV crashes killed more than 550, U.S. says

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- At least 555 people -- including more than 100 children -- died in all-terrain vehicle accidents in 2006. Government safety officials expect the number to go much higher as they receive information from coroners and hospitals nationwide.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated in its annual report released Thursday that an additional 146,600 people were treated in emergency rooms for ATV-related injuries -- more than a quarter of them children.

Consumer groups and parents who have lost children in crashes have complained for years about the safety of the popular off-road vehicles.

The industry contends it's not the ATV but the driver that's the problem. "ATVs have never been shown to be an unsafe product, but there have been bad decisions made by people sitting on the seat," said Mike Mount, a spokesman for the California-based Specialty Vehicle Institute of America.