Three years ago, Roger Queen was riding an all-terrain vehicle on a curvy mountain road in North Carolina when he lost control and fell over the ledge. He landed on his feet nearly 60 feet below the road, crushing his spinal cord and shattering his spine.Queen, a Lafayette resident, was paralyzed that summer day and spent 20 more days in the hospital.”I’m now a paraplegic due to ATV accidents,” he said. “I barely survived.”Like Queen, 150,000 people nationwide are sent to the emergency room each year stemming from ATV-related accidents, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.”Everybody is too casual around these things,” said Karen Ahmad, injury-prevention nurse for Our Lady of the Lake and member of the Safety Council of Baton Rouge. “People need to understand what the risk factors are and how you can lower them and still have a good time.”Since 1985, the estimated number of emergency-room ATV-related injuries has steadily risen as the popularity and purchase of ATV units increases. There are more than seven million ATVs in use in the U.S. operated by more than 15 million Americans, according to the ATV Safety Institute.Ahmad began promoting ATV safety a few years ago when Our Lady of the Lake saw an increase in ATV-injury patients.”The injuries they described were devastating,” she said. “They involved crushed skulls, broken necks and ruptured organs.”Ahmad said she found ATV safety was a huge issue, especially in Louisiana, where it is a “cultural” problem.”Everybody has been on them since they were kids, and they think they can handle it,” she said. “They don’t realize what the risks are or how to lower the risks. Most of these accidents are very predictable and very preventable.”Ahmad said riding the units on the road is one of the most common abuses because the tires are not road worthy, and there are no turn signals.Riding double is another factor contributing to fatal and critical injuries, she said.”People think it’s fine to put two or even three people on these vehicles,” she said. “It basically throws the center of gravity of that vehicle off and makes it easy to flip.”Among adults, alcohol- and drug-related ATV accidents are common.”You’ll see that all the time in the rural areas,” she said. “You’ll see somebody going down the road with a couple of children and a beer in one hand.”Ahmad said the number of injuries could be prevented if more people would take advantage of the complimentary ATV training when purchasing a new unit.”That training can make a huge difference,” she said. “We have guys here at LSU-Ag who took advantage of the training a year ago, and they were amazed at what they didn’t realize about ATVs. If any of these Ag guys can say that, I know the average guy on the street probably has a very low awareness.”Joe Richardson, a salesman at Friendly Honda Yamaha on Airline Highway, said each customer is given a free safety kit and video with every ATV purchase.”We go over [safety issues] with them,” Richardson said. “You’ve got to wear a helmet, and you’ve got to watch your speed.”Richardson said Friendly Honda Yamaha sells an assortment of safety gear including helmets, riding suits, chest protectors, gloves and goggles.No law in Louisiana requires a helmet be worn while on an ATV, according to the National Association of OHV Program Managers.”You shouldn’t consider getting on an ATV without a helmet any more than you would consider getting on the football field at LSU without a helmet,” Ahmad said. “These vehicles are moving a lot faster than football players, and when you come off [the unit] into a tree, it’s a significant trauma.”Trevor Endres, a 21-year-old Baton Rouge Community College student and member of LSU-ATV, has been riding ATVs for nearly 15 years. But he hit a rut and flipped his unit last weekend without wearing a helmet. Luckily, he wasn’t severely injured or hospitalized.”I’ve been lucky,” Endres said. “I’ve got nine lives, and I’ve never been seriously hurt.”Despite Endres’ luck, his friend had a fatal accident several years ago when he was only in the seventh grade.”He hit a ditch and came over the handle bars,” Endres said. “He was by himself.”Endres experienced one accident in which his unit flipped over, but his friend caught it before it fell on top of him.”These units can weigh 500 pounds and could take several adult males to pull it off,” Ahmad said. “[The ATV] could crush the chest, rupture the lungs, and they may bleed to death before you can even get the unit off of them.”Ahmad recommends a helmet, goggles, over-the-ankle boots and long pants for riding.Falling off an ATV at 30 miles an hour is the equivalent to falling out of a three-story building, she said.”That’s not a very high speed for an adult unit,” she said. “If you wouldn’t want to jump off a three-story building without protective gear, you probably ought to consider putting on some protective gear before you get on a four-wheeler.”——Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]