Safety a top priority

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August 7, 2008

Anonymous The Cullman Times Thu Aug 07, 2008, 08:17 PM CDT

By Patrick McCreless

PATRICKM@CULLMANTIMES.COM

With the many dangers all-terrain vehicles can pose if not used properly, John Sellers is doing everything he can to ensure the planned Stony Lonesome OHV Park is as safe as possible.

“This is a family and safety-oriented park,” said Sellers, director of OHV Park. “We want people to be as safe as they can be.”

The $2 million 1,465-acre park, which is located near Bremen and is scheduled to open in mid-October, will mainly feature trails for all-terrain (ATV) vehicles such as 4-wheelers, but will also have trails for bike and horseback riding.

Sellers said over the past two weekends, several OHV Park employees have taken part in four 10-hour training classes to become certified ATV instructors.

“We have three who are nationally certified as trainers now,” Sellers said. “We will be setting up training programs.”

Sellers said he plans to have a booth set up at the Cullman County Fair in September to sign people up for ATV training.

But even if many people using the park do not sign up for the in-depth ATV instruction class, Sellers said they will still have to undergo some basic safety training.

“We’ll require everyone who comes into the park to register and require them to watch a safety video and go through the program there,” Sellers said.

Once inside the park, all ATV users will be required to wear safety helmets.

Sellers said even the design of the park has safety in mind.

“We’ve got segmented parts of the parks,” Sellers said. “We do not mix the trails.”

According to a recent press release from the Alabama Department of Public Health (DPH), ATV-related injuries have increased in the state in recent years, particularly for children. DPH statistics indicates there has been a 200 percent increase in ATV traumas seen by emergency medicine physicians at Children’s Hospital over the past 10 years. In the last two years alone, 102 children have been treated at Children’s for traumatic injuries from ATV crashes, and 15 percent of the traumas received by Children’s in 2007 were injuries sustained in ATV crashes — more than one per week, on average. Injuries from ATV crashes are six times more likely to result in hospitalization than a bicycle wreck and 12 times more like to result in death. Among children ages 14 and under, the annual cost of ATV-related injuries is more than $3.3 billion and the annual cost of deaths from ATVs is almost $5.7 million.

Cullman County Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens said while there will be additional insurance costs for the park property itself, there would not be any substantial liability insurance to cover injuries. Kitchens said everyone who enters the park will be required to sign wavers, which will protect the county from possible lawsuits.

Dr. Tom Ashar, assistant medical director at Cullman Regional Medical Center, said he has personally treated at least 20 children with ATV-related injuries this summer, adding that other doctors at the hospital have treated 60 or more.

It’s much more in the summer ... it really picks up,” Ashar said of ATV injuries.

Ashar said he has seen several adult ATV injuries as well.

“A fair proportion of the adult injuries are involved with drinking,” he said.

Ashar said children are more prone to injury in ATV accidents since their bodies are less developed and they’re less aware to stay safe. Many of the injuries he sees are broken arms and legs as well as cracked skulls.

“Occasionally we’ll have fatal or near-fatal injuries like spine fractures,” Ashar said. “But serious injuries are less common.”

For further safety, Kitchens said there would be security personnel at the park.

“We have a deputy who patrols our parks now,” Kitchens said. “We will have security people patrolling and making sure there’s no drinking going on.”

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