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solely on one kind of injury , albeit a devastating and catastrophic one ; the forever paralyzing spinal cord injury .

All five of our cord injury patients for which we cared involved persons 18 years of age or younger , and this disproportionately high number reflects only those of which we were aware ; only those who were admitted to our hospital .

On a national basis the frequency of these kinds of injuries seems to have reached epidemic proportions , and we believe some thing substantive must be done to curb this carnage . It is not only humane to do so ; it is cost beneficial and fiscally prudent . The ex pense associated with the acute care , rehabilitation and lifelong maintenance needed by many spinal cord injured persons coupled with the indirect costs resulting from the lost opportunities for both the patients and their families make doing nothing abou

t this problem a nonviable option . Simply , the price of not taking imme diate action is too great to pay both in human and financial terms .

To my knowledge , the Consumer Product Safety Commission is the only public or private sector agency with extensive information on ATV safety . According to their reports , which we have analyzed and incorporated into a scientific paper that will be published shortly in a major medical journal , the number of hospital emer gency room treated injuries resulting from ATV accidents rose from just under 3 , 000 in 1979 to almost 28 , 000 in 1983 . Now the CPSC estimates 30 , 000 ATV crash - related injuries occurred during the first half of 1984 . We are always a little bit behind in statistics .

Of the estimated 27 , 500 - plus hospital emergency room treated in juries occurring during 1983 , 11 percent required hospitalization and at least 15 deaths were documented . For the same period the CPSC estimates the occurrence of 30 , 437 mini - or trail - bike related hospital emergency room treated injuries of which only 5 . 8 percent , or about half as many , required hospitalization and 7 deaths were noted through the death certificates that were reviewed , again about half as many deaths .

The CPSC estimates that in 1983 there were approximately 21 . 9 ATV hospital emergency room treated injuries per 1 , 000 vehicles in use , of which 2 . 58 to 2 . 64 injuries per 1 , 000 vehicles in use require hospitalization . By comparison , for the same period there were ap proximately 18 minibike or trail - bike hospital ER - treated injuries per 1 , 000 vehicles in use of which only one per 1 , 000 vehicles in use required hospitalization .

It appears from the CPSC data that the ATV ' s or three - wheelers are at least twice as dangerous as other kinds of motorized cycles , although , their appearance and functional configuration would really not cause one to imagine that being the case . I believe the CPSČ will verify that according to their limited documentation of deaths resulting from ATV usage , that between June 1982 and Oc tober 1984 , they knew of 63 deaths in persons less than 19 years of age . Twenty - nine of these deaths were from crushed heads , three were from crushed heads and crushed cervical spinal cords , three were from broken necks , five were from crushed and torn abdomi nal organs , two from crushed chests and lungs , and one from drowning . The exact cause of death in at least 20 could not be docu mented .