By Kim Bell
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Copyright 2008 St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS — Carlos Hill doesn’t own an all-terrain vehicle, but he’s spent far too much time with kids who ride them.
Hill is a flight paramedic from Breese, and he’s transported an increasing number of children on the Air Evac helicopter after they’ve crashed ATVs.
They don’t wear helmets. Many ride the four-wheel machines meant for adults. Those who survive often have brain injuries.
On a whim, Hill e-mailed St. Louis Children’s Hospital one day last year, after a particularly troubling week in which he cared for one child seriously hurt and another who died while riding ATVs. Hill said something should be done to educate the kids.
The simple e-mail got things rolling, and the hospital started a coalition that will kick off its efforts next month.
The message: Wear helmets and don’t take passengers.
The Survive the Ride coalition will target 10- to 16-year-olds in rural Missouri and Illinois, where ATV accidents are the highest.
“Parents oftentimes view those more as a toy,” said Hill, 52, who has worked as a paramedic for 30 years. “What’s sad about those patients who are lucky enough to survive is that these long-term brain injuries are just devastating in many ways and can bankrupt a family.”
In mid-June, Hill’s employer, Air Evac, will pay for him and flight nurse Marc Scholes to travel to county fairs, air shows and other gatherings and set up a booth about ATV safety. In the fall, the coalition hopes to bring its message to 1,000 kids in rural schools, using other paramedics and flight nurses to make presentations and hand out brochures and school materials.
Children’s Hospital is the lead agency in the campaign. Other partners are Arch Medical Transport, Air Evac, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Kohl’s Cares for Kids.
Last year, Children’s Hospital treated 55 children hurt on ATVs. In 2006, 45 were treated. So far this year, the hospital has treated 14 kids hurt on ATVs.
“It’s unrealistic to tell kids not to ride them,” said April Blastenbrei, a supervisor in the child health advocacy and outreach department at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. “But if they’re going to ride them, we want them to ride safely.”
In the last month alone, three young people from the area have died riding ATVs:
- Early on the morning of April 26, Joanna L. Bendler, 19, of Lonedell, was killed when her ATV struck a tree on Project Road, south of Lonedell, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
- Early Tuesday, searchers found the body of DeSmet High School freshman Daniel R. Dorsey, 15, of St. Charles, in a flood-swollen creek in Gasconade County. Daniel had been driving an ATV the day before on a family farm and apparently wrecked it in Sugar Creek, off Stolpe Road.
- On Wednesday, Zachary T. Barker, 15, of Potosi, died in Washington County when a car struck the ATV he was riding.
Details of the crash that killed Zachary are tragically familiar to medical workers who worry about kids on ATVs.
About 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Zachary was on the back of the four-wheeler while his friend, David M. Forister, 14, was driving. David drove the vehicle out of a ditch doing a “wheelie” and onto Highway 8 at Dunberry Road in Washington County.
Their ATV crossed the eastbound lane without a problem. But it landed on all four wheels in the westbound lane and came to a complete stop - right in the path of an oncoming car, said Brian DeClue, the coroner for Washington County.
The car hit the ATV, throwing the boys about 60 feet. DeClue said neither boy was wearing a helmet.
Zachary died at the scene. David was taken by helicopter to Children’s Hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition Thursday.
Zachary’s death was the second ATV-related fatality DeClue has handled in eight years as coroner of Washington County, where the vehicles are popular.
“We’re talking country, that’s what kids do in the country,” DeClue said. “They should have stayed in the ditch.”
Shane Skillett, president of the Mid Missouri Mudslingers ATV-riding group, said he makes his 16-year-old son abide by all safety rules - especially wearing a helmet.
“He’s not allowed on it without one,” said Skillett, of Belton.
Skillett said the lack of experience of some young riders can put them in danger.
“They just don’t have the skill that an adult has and they like to go fast,” he said. In Missouri, ATVs may not be legally driven on roadways, with very limited exceptions, said Capt. Tim Hull of the Missouri Highway Patrol. When an ATV is on private property, there are no state requirements on the age of a driver, wearing a helmet or having a passenger, Hull said.
Hull gave these tallies for ATV-related deaths in Missouri for the past few years: 14 killed in 2006, 17 in 2005 and 13 in 2004. The total for 2007 won’t be released until June.
National statistics compiled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report that 8,104 people have died in ATV crashes between 1982 and 2006. About a third of those were younger than 16.
In Missouri, 239 people died in that 24-year period, the commission says. In Illinois, the number who died was 164.
The Product Safety Commission defines an ATV as any off-road motor vehicle with three or four tires, a straddle seat and handlebars.
Staff writer Leah Thorsen contributed to this report.