LAFAYETTE — Officials are urging caution as riders take to ATVs and UTVs during the summer months.
Jay Cripple, regional safety coalition coordinator for New Orleans, said there are nearly 100 ICU admissions yearly from ATV or UTV accidents. Children ages 10 to 14 make up the age group most injured.
On average, there are 10 deaths per year in Louisiana related to these accidents, according to Cripple.
"Through 4H, they have a youth safety program, which is being taught to the youngsters on how to safely operate and with that, they teach them that you shouldn't be riding these bikes unless you have helmets and gloves and other protective, you know, type clothing," Cripple said.
He said preventative education is important to keep kids safe.
"Hopefully those children leave that class and continue that behavior and then influence their own classmates and other friends," Cripple said.
Children should only be operating ATVs and UTVs that are made for their size, Cripple said.
"A lot of the youngsters on bikes that are way too big for them, and they just can't handle that kind of size and power of some of these larger bikes. So when you, when you train these youngsters, they're on 90 cc bikes, which is very small, but they're able to handle that size bike," he said.
Roadway operation of ATVs and UTVs is illegal. According to the Louisiana State Legislature's website, reckless operation of ATVs and UTVs on the roadway can result in fines or imprisonment.
"The more we see operation on the roadway, the more tragedy we're seeing also," Cripple said.
ATV safety courses can be found through Louisiana 4H or through the ATV Safety Initiative.
