ATV Accident Death and Injury Statistics – Massachusetts

Careless behavior and neglecting precautionary measures have led to a big number of ATV accidents across the country over the years. The saddest part is that multiple accidents involved minors. As a result, various states have targeted the all-terrain vehicles. Massachusetts is one of the places that feature the strictest regulations in the US.

The state has imposed serious restrictions concerning who can use ATVs and how these vehicles should be driven. Children under the age of 10 aren’t allowed to ride on ATVs. Children under the age of 17 are banned from driving vehicles intended for use by adults.

What’s even more intriguing is the fact that the regulations apply to both public and private property use. As a result of these restrictions, Massachusetts observed a serious decrease in the number of ATVs sold in 2015, as well as in the number of accidents.

While the new statutes protect some of the most vulnerable Massachusetts residents, accidents and ATV-related deaths still occur in the state.

Massachusetts ATV Accidents: The Latest Cases

There haven’t been reports of serious ATV malfunctions, explosions or fires. Still, reckless use of the all-terrain vehicles has led to more than one serious crash in the state.

While minors are banned from driving ATVs, a boy aged 13 died in a Buckland ATV crash recently. Griffin Kearney was driving the vehicle alone, and the crash resulted in severe head trauma. Kearney died in the hospital while medics were fighting for his life.

In 2016, a man was killed, and a woman was seriously injured following an ATV accident. The crash occurred on a wooden trail close to Skinner State Park. Both the man and the woman were riding an ATV that went off the path and crashed into the nearby trees. Investigators found out that the male driver who was 26 at the time of the accident lost control of the ATV.

ATV Fatality Statistics

The new regulations could be paying off because Massachusetts is one of the US states that have the lowest numbers of ATV fatalities. There was one ATV-related death in 2014 and no deaths in 2013 and 2012.

This is a massive improvement because, in the period from 1982 to 2012, there were 75 deaths in the state. This number is still a lot lower than the fatalities in Texas – the leader in this dark ranking. Texas witnessed 698 ATV-related deaths from 1982 to 2012 and 82 fatalities in the period from 2013 to 2015. California comes in seconds with 654 deaths over the 20-year period.