News - Local - South County

Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

Bill that aimed to improve safety for youngsters at Oceano Dunes fails to muster state support

The bill’s demise comes at a time in which the safety of young ATV riders is at the forefront

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A bill that intended to improve safety for youngsters riding all-terrain vehicles at the Oceano Dunes and other off-road areas died quietly in a legislative committee last month, after ATV enthusiasts and State Parks opposed it.

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, introduced SB 1228 at the behest of Larry Foreman, an emergency room doctor at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, and the California chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Foreman has been lobbying for greater ATV safety since he became disturbed at treating so many youngsters who were hurt in off-road vehicle accidents at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area.

The bill, which died July 2, would have made it mandatory for children younger than 16 to be supervised by a parent or guardian while riding off-highway vehicles. The law now requires direct supervision of those younger than 14.

It also would have required young riders to produce a certificate issued by California or another state proving that they had taken the required four-hour safety course.

In addition, it would have placed limits on the power of ATVs that children can ride, by age, with the aim of keeping children off vehicles too powerful for them to handle.

Two State Parks officials said the bill failed to pass muster because it did not provide a source of funding.

Phil Jenkins, chief of the Off Highway Division, and Roy Stearns, deputy director of communications, said Maldonado withdrew the bill after State Parks estimated it would cost $9 million to $12 million to implement it and after they asked him where the money was going to come from.

“Our budget is not so hot,” Stearns said.

As for the power of the machines, Jenkins said State Parks and the ATV industry are exploring ways to make the vehicles less dangerous for children.

The bill’s demise comes at a time in which Dunes safety has come to the forefront: Four people have died so far this year in vehicle-related accidents at the Dunes—all adults.

Jenkins said the bill would have forced the state to pay for safety training for about 135,000 youngsters. State Parks budgets $200,000 for that training, not the millions it estimated would have been needed.

Jenkins added that the Dunes has been offering safety classes Saturdays and Sundays for a few weeks.

Steve Archibald of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, who worked on the bill, wrote that ATV enthusiasts opposed the measure because they did not like the limits placed on ATV riders.

Brooke Armour, communications director for Maldonado, said the Off Highway Vehicle Coalition, formed to keep off-highway riding areas from shrinking, also opposed the bill.

In a legislative analysis, Archibald’s estimates were lower than those of Jenkins and Stearns.

“The bill’s requirement that all children under 16 years of age, when operating an ATV on public lands, possess an ATV safety certificate (could) result in about 4,000 additional children requesting free ATV training each year,” he wrote.

Armour estimated the cost of the bill at $150,000 in the current fiscal year and $300,000 annually after that.

Foreman took the bill’s defeat in stride. He grew up in Chicago and is a Cubs fan, Foreman said, so he’s familiar with saying, “Wait ’til next year.”

He likened completing the safety course to training to get a license to drive a motor vehicle on state highways.

“My ultimate goal is to get fewer kids injured,” Foreman said. He called the number and nature of injuries “just horrible,” adding that “as a society, we have an obligation to children.”

Archibald noted that the Consumer Product Safety Commission reported that there were 740 deaths in ATV accidents in 2003, including an estimated 250 children younger than 16. Every year, ATVs seriously injure more than 40,000 children younger than 16, the commission said.

Like Foreman, Maldonado vowed to try again.

“After every holiday weekend, I read stories of ATV accidents at Oceano Dunes and other recreation sites,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune.

“As the legislator who represents many popular off-road-vehicle sites and a father, I am extremely concerned with the increasing number of injuries to children who are driving ATVs. I will continue to work on this important issue,” Maldonado wrote.