Comment from Barbara Brodnax

As a mother who has lost a 12 year old daughter to an ATV accident, I have seen the results of what an ATV under adult supervision can do. Until laws are passed to penalize parents for allowing children under the age of sixteen to ride or operate ATVs, lives will be lost or left severly injured. For some, death would be a kinder outcome. Until these laws are passed, manufacturer warnings wil continue to be ignored. Until these laws are passed, children ( especially those between 10 and 14 years old) will continue to push these machines above their mental, physical and cognitive skills. These children do not have the "fear" that is needed to respect and operate ATVs as adults. Off road ATVs go highway speeds just as on road vehicles. When will this country realize it is the same as allowing a child on a national highway in control of an automobile? Children have no voice. Their parents ignorance, just as I was, will allow these dangers to exist. It is up to lawmaklers to wake up and change these laws for the sake of saving lives. Do your research, talk to Doctors and Physicians, trauma centers and the like. They continue to try to put these children back together. I will never forget the sight of my beautiful, 12 year old daughter, mangled, lifeless on the gurney of an emergency room table. As I tried to wipe the blood from her face and say my final goodbyes, the guilt, and extreme awareness of what the ATV had taken from me overwhelmed my mind...It is something her father and I will have to live with for the rest of our lives. I just want to do something that may prevent it from happening to anyone else. It is the only thing that we as parents who have lost our children to ATVs can do. For you see, for us, it is too late to be educated with the facts and stastistics.