ATV legislation is needed

The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.: In March, a 13-year-old operating an ATV with three other children aboard drove it onto a road in Lee County where it collided with a truck. One of the four children on the all-terrain vehicle, a 2-year-old girl, was killed.

Steve Holland of Plantersville was the funeral director for that little girl. He is also a member of the Mississippi Legislature, which year after year refuses to impose tighter safety regulations on ATVs.

“It’s a culture we operate in in Mississippi,” Holland, a Democrat, said. “It’s hard to get those laws passed, but the time has come for a serious discussion ... .”

However hard better regulation may be to put in place, it has to be easier than burying so many victims of ATV accidents. Between 1982 and 2006, ATV accidents accounted for 105 children’s deaths and 260 total deaths statewide, according to ATVSafety.gov. Between 2007 and 2010, 62 deaths were recorded statewide.

No one can guarantee that new rules for ATVs will prevent future fatalities. But surely stronger safeguards would reduce the number.