An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), informally referred to as a quad bike or quad, is defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control. As the name implies, it is designed to handle a wider variety of terrain than most other vehicles. Although it is a street-legal vehicle in some countries, it is not street legal within most states and provinces of Australia, the United States and Canada. By the current ANSI definition, it is intended for use by a single operator, although a change to include two-seaters (in tandem), is under consideration.
The rider sits on and operates these vehicles like a motorcycle, but the extra wheels give more stability at slower speeds. Although typically equipped with three or four wheels, six-wheel models exist for specialized applications. Engine sizes of ATVs currently for sale in the United States, (as of 2008 products), range from 49 to 1,000 cc (3 to 61 cu in).
Sport competition
Throughout the United States and the United Kingdom there are many quad racing clubs with enduro and quadcross sections. GNCC Racing began around 1980 and includes hare scramble and enduro type races. To date, events are mainly held in the eastern part of the United States. GNCC racing features many types of obstacles such as, hill climbing, creek and log crossings, dirt roads and wooded trails.
ATV National Motocross Championship was formed around 1985. ATVMX events are hosted at premiere motocross racetracks throughout the United States. ATVMX consists of several groups, including the Pro (AMA Pro) and Amateur (ATVA) series. Friday involves amateur practicing and racing on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday also involves racing for the Pro Am Women and Pro Am Unlimited classes. Sunday involves racing for the Pro and Pro Am production ATVs, but are scored separately. On average weekend over 500 racers will compete.
Championship Mud Racing/CMR saw its infancy in 2006 as leaders of the ATV industry recognized a need for uniformity of classes and rules of various local mud bog events. Providing standardized rules created the need for a governing body that both racers and event promoters could turn to and CMR was born. Once unified, a true points series was established and lead to a national championship for what was once nothing more than a hobby for most. In 2007 the finalized board of directors was established and the first races were held in 2008. Currently, the CMR schedule includes eight competition dates spanning from March to November. Points are awarded throughout the season in several different competition classes of ATV and SxS Mud Racing. The 2008 year included Mud Bog and Mudda-Cross competitions, but the 2009 and future seasons will only have Mudda-Cross competitions. Classes range from 0–499 cc to a Super-Modified class which will allow any size ATV in competition. The ultimate goal of The CMR is “to see the growth of ATV Mud Racing as a competitive sport and give competitors a pedestal upon which they can receive the recognition from national media and industry sponsors that they have long deserved.”
There is an ATV class in the Dakar Rally. Karim Dilou of Tunisia won the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Cup - Quad in 2008, riding for Yamaha.
Safety issues in U.S.
ATVs were first introduced in the early 1970s and almost immediately realized alarming injury rates for children and adolescents (mainly due to improper and irresponsible use). According to medical literature, ATVs are as dangerous as Motorcycles, based on mortality and injury scores. More children and women are injured on ATVs, who also present a lower rate of helmet usage.
Despite the move from three-wheel to four-wheel models some deaths and injuries still occur. Statistics released by CPSC show that in 2005, there were an estimated 136,700 injuries associated with ATVs treated in US hospital emergency rooms. In 2004, the latest year for which estimates are available, 767 people died in ATV-associated incidents. According to statistics released by CPSC, the risk of injury in 2005 was 171.5 injuries per 10,000 four-wheel ATVs in use. The risk of death in 2004 was 1.1 deaths per 10,000 four-wheelers in use. Focus has shifted to machine size balanced with the usage of ATVs categorized by age ranges and engine displacements—in line with the consent decrees. ATVs are mandated to bear a label from the manufacturer stating that the use of machines greater than 90 cc by riders under the age of 12 is prohibited. This is a 'manufacturer/CPSC recommendation' and not necessarily state law.
Critics point out that blanket policies concerning age are not sufficient and often use, as a fact, that early-teen male children are physically larger and stronger than many adult women riders. Some jurisdictions have either banned minors (typically those under 10 years of age) from using ATVs or are considering such legislation. Advocates of ATVs argue that starting younger improves safety. They recommend that children can develop the necessary expertise by starting at as young as 6 years of age instead of waiting until age 18. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved the sale of sub-50 cc ATVs for use by children as young as age 6. Current CPSC/Manufacturer sizing of youth oriented ATVs is more in line with those under age 10, whereas older youth (11–16) usually have a hard time riding ATVs of such diminutive size and thus are likely to disobey the safety guidelines and ride a larger (250 cc) machine.
In 1988, the All-terrain Vehicle Safety Institute (ASI) was formed to provide training and education for ATV riders. The cost of attending the training is minimal and is free for purchasers of new machines that fall within the correct age/size guidelines. Successful completion of a safety training class is, in many states, a minimum requirement for minor-age children to be granted permission to ride on state land. Some states have had to implement their own safety training programs, as the ASI program cannot include those riders with ATVs outside of the age/size guidelines, which may still fall within the states laws.
According to The New York Times on September 2, 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission met in March 2005 to discuss the dangers of ATVs. Data from 2004 showed 44,000 children under 16 injured while riding ATVs, 150 of them fatally. Says the Times, "National associations of pediatricians, consumer advocates and emergency room doctors were urging the commission to ban sales of adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16 because the machines were too big and fast for young drivers to control. But when it came time to consider such a step, a staff member whose name did not appear on the meeting agenda unexpectedly weighed in." That staff member was John Gibson Mullan, "the agency’s director of compliance and a former lawyer for the A.T.V. industry" - the Times bases the claim on a recording of the meeting. Mullan reportedly said that the existing system of warnings and voluntary compliance was working. The agency's hazard statistician, Robin Ingle, was not allowed to present a rebuttal. She told the Times in an interview, "He had hijacked the presentation. He was distorting the numbers in order to benefit industry and defeat the petition. It was almost like he still worked for them, not us." CPSC reports of ATV deaths and injuries show an increase in the raw numbers of deaths and injuries that is statistically significant. The rate of deaths and injuries, which takes into account the fact that the number of ATVs in use has risen over the last ten years, has been shown to have experienced no statistically significant change.
Land usage
In some countries where fencing is not common, such as the US, Canada and Australia, ATV riders knowingly cross privately owned property in rural areas and travel over public/private properties, where their use is explicitly limited to trails. Subsequently, environmentalists criticize ATV riding as a sport for excessive use in areas biologists consider to be sensitive, especially wetlands and sand dunes and in much of inland Australia.
ATVs in New Brunswick, Canada
While the deep treads on some ATV tires are effective for navigating rocky, muddy and root covered terrain, these treads also dig channels that may drain bogs, increase sedimentation in streams at crossings, damage groomed snowmobile trails and cause significant destruction in many ecosystems. Studies have also shown that ATVs may help in the spread of invasive species such as Centaurea and Lantana. Because both scientific studies and U.S. National Forest Service personnel have identified unregulated Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) as the source of major detrimental impacts on national forests, the U.S. Forest Service is currently engaged in the Travel Management Process, wherein individual forests are restricting all off-road motorized travel to approved trails and roads. This is in contrast to its previously allowed, unregulated cross-country travel across all national forest lands, except for specifically designated wilderness areas. Although ORVs had been identified 30 years ago as a threat to wild ecosystems by the Forest Service, only after pressure by an unlikely alliance of environmentalists, private landowners, hunters, ranchers, fishermen, quiet recreationists and forest rangers themselves (who identified ORVs as a "significant law enforcement problem" in national forests) has action been taken. The Travel Management Rule was initiated in 2004; completion is expected in 2010.
ATV advocacy groups have been organized to purchase property or obtain permission of landowners or both. Many US states have the clubs build and maintain trails, suitable for ATV riding and educate ATV riders about responsible riding. Most of these clubs are not compensated for their efforts from taxpayer money, as the type of trails needed by ORVs are unnecessarily destructive of soils, slopes and flora and not needed by any others using wilderness and forest trails. Many have also formed separate governing bodies that license ATVs separately from other ORVs.
Self-regulation of ATV use has proven particularly difficult. One public complaint against ATVs is excessive noise. Although the majority of ATVs comply with noise regulations, there are those whose intentional violation can disturb the activities of other recreational users for miles across open landscapes. Tampering with an ATV's exhaust silencer and spark arrestor is illegal on all US federal lands and most state lands. However, enforcement is spotty. It is also possible to install after-market exhaust systems that do not have spark arrestors. These systems are intended for closed course racing and not for use on public lands. Rangers at OHV sites validate the noise levels and ticket offenders.
Further, off-road vehicles, including ATVs, frequently go off designated trails, thus creating new spur trails. This process is called trail proliferation. In areas where the vehicles are confined to designated trails, enforcement is fairly straightforward; however some states have laws that permit use on vaguely defined, undesignated trails. Until recently, most National Forest lands in the USA were completely unregulated, even allowing ORVers to cut their own trails, some across private lands. Some states (Michigan for one) have mandated that if this proliferation of trails continues, the certification of forests is in jeopardy and the trails will be closed.
The rider sits on and operates these vehicles like a motorcycle, but the extra wheels give more stability at slower speeds. Although typically equipped with three or four wheels, six-wheel models exist for specialized applications. Engine sizes of ATVs currently for sale in the United States, (as of 2008 products), range from 49 to 1,000 cc (3 to 61 cu in).
Sport competition
Throughout the United States and the United Kingdom there are many quad racing clubs with enduro and quadcross sections. GNCC Racing began around 1980 and includes hare scramble and enduro type races. To date, events are mainly held in the eastern part of the United States. GNCC racing features many types of obstacles such as, hill climbing, creek and log crossings, dirt roads and wooded trails.
ATV National Motocross Championship was formed around 1985. ATVMX events are hosted at premiere motocross racetracks throughout the United States. ATVMX consists of several groups, including the Pro (AMA Pro) and Amateur (ATVA) series. Friday involves amateur practicing and racing on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday also involves racing for the Pro Am Women and Pro Am Unlimited classes. Sunday involves racing for the Pro and Pro Am production ATVs, but are scored separately. On average weekend over 500 racers will compete.
Championship Mud Racing/CMR saw its infancy in 2006 as leaders of the ATV industry recognized a need for uniformity of classes and rules of various local mud bog events. Providing standardized rules created the need for a governing body that both racers and event promoters could turn to and CMR was born. Once unified, a true points series was established and lead to a national championship for what was once nothing more than a hobby for most. In 2007 the finalized board of directors was established and the first races were held in 2008. Currently, the CMR schedule includes eight competition dates spanning from March to November. Points are awarded throughout the season in several different competition classes of ATV and SxS Mud Racing. The 2008 year included Mud Bog and Mudda-Cross competitions, but the 2009 and future seasons will only have Mudda-Cross competitions. Classes range from 0–499 cc to a Super-Modified class which will allow any size ATV in competition. The ultimate goal of The CMR is “to see the growth of ATV Mud Racing as a competitive sport and give competitors a pedestal upon which they can receive the recognition from national media and industry sponsors that they have long deserved.”
There is an ATV class in the Dakar Rally. Karim Dilou of Tunisia won the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Cup - Quad in 2008, riding for Yamaha.
Safety issues in U.S.
ATVs were first introduced in the early 1970s and almost immediately realized alarming injury rates for children and adolescents (mainly due to improper and irresponsible use). According to medical literature, ATVs are as dangerous as Motorcycles, based on mortality and injury scores. More children and women are injured on ATVs, who also present a lower rate of helmet usage.
Despite the move from three-wheel to four-wheel models some deaths and injuries still occur. Statistics released by CPSC show that in 2005, there were an estimated 136,700 injuries associated with ATVs treated in US hospital emergency rooms. In 2004, the latest year for which estimates are available, 767 people died in ATV-associated incidents. According to statistics released by CPSC, the risk of injury in 2005 was 171.5 injuries per 10,000 four-wheel ATVs in use. The risk of death in 2004 was 1.1 deaths per 10,000 four-wheelers in use. Focus has shifted to machine size balanced with the usage of ATVs categorized by age ranges and engine displacements—in line with the consent decrees. ATVs are mandated to bear a label from the manufacturer stating that the use of machines greater than 90 cc by riders under the age of 12 is prohibited. This is a 'manufacturer/CPSC recommendation' and not necessarily state law.
Critics point out that blanket policies concerning age are not sufficient and often use, as a fact, that early-teen male children are physically larger and stronger than many adult women riders. Some jurisdictions have either banned minors (typically those under 10 years of age) from using ATVs or are considering such legislation. Advocates of ATVs argue that starting younger improves safety. They recommend that children can develop the necessary expertise by starting at as young as 6 years of age instead of waiting until age 18. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved the sale of sub-50 cc ATVs for use by children as young as age 6. Current CPSC/Manufacturer sizing of youth oriented ATVs is more in line with those under age 10, whereas older youth (11–16) usually have a hard time riding ATVs of such diminutive size and thus are likely to disobey the safety guidelines and ride a larger (250 cc) machine.
In 1988, the All-terrain Vehicle Safety Institute (ASI) was formed to provide training and education for ATV riders. The cost of attending the training is minimal and is free for purchasers of new machines that fall within the correct age/size guidelines. Successful completion of a safety training class is, in many states, a minimum requirement for minor-age children to be granted permission to ride on state land. Some states have had to implement their own safety training programs, as the ASI program cannot include those riders with ATVs outside of the age/size guidelines, which may still fall within the states laws.
According to The New York Times on September 2, 2007, the Consumer Product Safety Commission met in March 2005 to discuss the dangers of ATVs. Data from 2004 showed 44,000 children under 16 injured while riding ATVs, 150 of them fatally. Says the Times, "National associations of pediatricians, consumer advocates and emergency room doctors were urging the commission to ban sales of adult-size ATVs for use by children under 16 because the machines were too big and fast for young drivers to control. But when it came time to consider such a step, a staff member whose name did not appear on the meeting agenda unexpectedly weighed in." That staff member was John Gibson Mullan, "the agency’s director of compliance and a former lawyer for the A.T.V. industry" - the Times bases the claim on a recording of the meeting. Mullan reportedly said that the existing system of warnings and voluntary compliance was working. The agency's hazard statistician, Robin Ingle, was not allowed to present a rebuttal. She told the Times in an interview, "He had hijacked the presentation. He was distorting the numbers in order to benefit industry and defeat the petition. It was almost like he still worked for them, not us." CPSC reports of ATV deaths and injuries show an increase in the raw numbers of deaths and injuries that is statistically significant. The rate of deaths and injuries, which takes into account the fact that the number of ATVs in use has risen over the last ten years, has been shown to have experienced no statistically significant change.
Land usage
In some countries where fencing is not common, such as the US, Canada and Australia, ATV riders knowingly cross privately owned property in rural areas and travel over public/private properties, where their use is explicitly limited to trails. Subsequently, environmentalists criticize ATV riding as a sport for excessive use in areas biologists consider to be sensitive, especially wetlands and sand dunes and in much of inland Australia.
ATVs in New Brunswick, Canada
While the deep treads on some ATV tires are effective for navigating rocky, muddy and root covered terrain, these treads also dig channels that may drain bogs, increase sedimentation in streams at crossings, damage groomed snowmobile trails and cause significant destruction in many ecosystems. Studies have also shown that ATVs may help in the spread of invasive species such as Centaurea and Lantana. Because both scientific studies and U.S. National Forest Service personnel have identified unregulated Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) as the source of major detrimental impacts on national forests, the U.S. Forest Service is currently engaged in the Travel Management Process, wherein individual forests are restricting all off-road motorized travel to approved trails and roads. This is in contrast to its previously allowed, unregulated cross-country travel across all national forest lands, except for specifically designated wilderness areas. Although ORVs had been identified 30 years ago as a threat to wild ecosystems by the Forest Service, only after pressure by an unlikely alliance of environmentalists, private landowners, hunters, ranchers, fishermen, quiet recreationists and forest rangers themselves (who identified ORVs as a "significant law enforcement problem" in national forests) has action been taken. The Travel Management Rule was initiated in 2004; completion is expected in 2010.
ATV advocacy groups have been organized to purchase property or obtain permission of landowners or both. Many US states have the clubs build and maintain trails, suitable for ATV riding and educate ATV riders about responsible riding. Most of these clubs are not compensated for their efforts from taxpayer money, as the type of trails needed by ORVs are unnecessarily destructive of soils, slopes and flora and not needed by any others using wilderness and forest trails. Many have also formed separate governing bodies that license ATVs separately from other ORVs.
Self-regulation of ATV use has proven particularly difficult. One public complaint against ATVs is excessive noise. Although the majority of ATVs comply with noise regulations, there are those whose intentional violation can disturb the activities of other recreational users for miles across open landscapes. Tampering with an ATV's exhaust silencer and spark arrestor is illegal on all US federal lands and most state lands. However, enforcement is spotty. It is also possible to install after-market exhaust systems that do not have spark arrestors. These systems are intended for closed course racing and not for use on public lands. Rangers at OHV sites validate the noise levels and ticket offenders.
Further, off-road vehicles, including ATVs, frequently go off designated trails, thus creating new spur trails. This process is called trail proliferation. In areas where the vehicles are confined to designated trails, enforcement is fairly straightforward; however some states have laws that permit use on vaguely defined, undesignated trails. Until recently, most National Forest lands in the USA were completely unregulated, even allowing ORVers to cut their own trails, some across private lands. Some states (Michigan for one) have mandated that if this proliferation of trails continues, the certification of forests is in jeopardy and the trails will be closed.
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