I am just shocked, I tell you, shocked, by this CBS News report that ATV-related deaths and injuries to children under 16 have more than doubled in the last ten years.

Hook a lawnmower engine up to a bike, ride it over uneven terrain, and O-M-G! People get hurt! And kids are just so gifted with great judgment and realistic risk assessment skills, it's a fabulous idea to let them ride their little hearts out, right?

Actually, says University of Arkansas radiology fellow Chetan Shah, not so much.
He was seeing a sharp increase in the number of kids coming in with ATV-related injuries at Arkansas Children's Hospital, so he and his colleagues decided to study the numbers. They studied 500 kids who were admitted to the hospital with ATV-related injuries between 1995 and 2005. The average age of the kids was 11 and a half.

Six kids died, five from brain injuries; 16 children suffered nonfatal brain injuries and 85 sustained skull fractures. 38 kids had brain hemorrhages.

Five had spinal cord injuries, 21 suffered spinal fractures and 36 suffered lung injuries.

A dozen kids suffered traumatic amputations, usually of the feet, and 208 more fractured an extremity, usually the leg.
According to the CBS story, "Shah says the youngest victim was a 6-month-old infant who was riding with his mother. His thigh bone fractured, leaving him with a permanent limp."

Let's go over that again. Six months old. No word on what exactly possessed the mother to think that was a good idea.