“Eight states have no laws at all regulating these vehicles, 12 others have no minimum riding age, so now some senators want to consider federal restrictions,” said consumer correspondent Elisabeth Leamy.
The ABC morning show was clearly on the side of federal intervention, with frightening video and several interviews. One woman said her family lost two children to separate ATV accidents and a doctor argued ATVs are more difficult to drive than cars.
Pam Saylor, who lost her son and another relative to ATV accidents, said, “For two children in our family to have died on an ATV is not a freak accident.”
But Leamy did not identify Saylor as a regulation advocate, although she is one. According to SCNow.com, Saylor and her husband have been promoting ATV legislation in the state of South Carolina since their son was killed.
GMA also used undercover footage from 2002, pointing out that dealers were “selling adult ATVs for use by children, even though they’re not supposed to,” said Leamy.
The only rebuttal in the entire story came from Mike Mount of the ATV Safety Institute who responded to the undercover footage: “I don’t think that that is the majority of salespeople in power sports dealerships across this country.”
There was no question about how federal legislation of “safety warnings, mandatory training” or a minimum age could be enforced, or how much it could cost consumers and businesses. No one mentioned the responsibility of parents to decide if their children should ride an ATV.
