D7

Cole Hobson
City Views

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News of a 10-year-old New Brunswick boy losing his life in an off-road vehicle accident is difficult to hear.

Details were sparse at the time of this writing, but the RCMP reported last week that Scott Paul Ouellette from Rivière-Verte passed away on June 22 at the Edmundston hospital as a result of injuries sustained when the vehicle he was driving overturned.

It would be easy to write a reactionary column about how laws need to be tougher on the off-road and ATVing community to ensure this never happens again, but that's not the column I'm going to write.

The truth is, what transpired in Rivière-Verte already was against the law, as there is no legal way in which a 10-year-old could have been driving such an off-road vehicle.

The more pertinent topic at hand is for those who are older and how their riding should be handled.

The controversial Bill 17, introduced in 2007, put new limits on youth riding and ruffled many feathers in the community from those who felt the government was being unfair and taking away a viable sport from the province's young people. The act banned children under the age of 14 from operating any ATV and children age 14- and 15-years had to be properly trained and supervised by adults before operating these vehicles.

As an outsider who isn't involved in ATVing or off-roading,

I can't claim to know all the details about the sport and its relative dangers or safeties, but what I can see is the positive work that groups like the New Brunswick All Terrain Vehicle Federation have taken in an attempt to legitimize the sport and to ensure it is as safe as possible.

The NBATVF is proactive in organizing safety courses for both young and old riders alike and in offering up relevant information concerning safety and proper procedures.

Naturally, ATV enthusiasts feel with proper equipment and safety techniques, it is an activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

The government, understandably, was concerned with the safety of children and therefore took steps it felt would help keep young riders safe and prevent tragedies like the one in Rivière-Verte from happening.

The paradox in the whole situation is that regardless of what rules are put in place, these accidents are still going to happen. Those who feel they are above the law and will allow their children to ride illegally on machines too powerful at too young an age are still going to be at risk.

Those who are interested in sharing their ATV or off-road hobby with their younger children in a safe and supervised manner are out of luck until their children reach the age of 14.

The truth is, a kid could die by being hit in the head with a baseball or taking a check in hockey.

Sports like skiing and snowboarding also likely present an even greater risk of injury, but I don't believe anyone is clamouring to make new rules or pass bills to exclude young people from participating in those activities.

You could likely look at statistics and see that such incidents are much less frequent and there have been more accidents with youth on off-road vehicles.

However, it's probably safe to say most of those transpired when a youngster was on an adult-sized vehicle -- something I think most everyone agrees is rightfully against the law.

Everything we do in life presents risks and the reactive solution is simply to create a new rule, regulation or bill anytime danger is present.

In this case though, the reactive solution isn't necessarily the logical one.

Ultimately it has to come down to a parent's responsibility. It would be nice to not have to rely on the government to create rules and regulations to help keep young people safe, but in some cases it seems that's a necessity, even if it doesn't always have the desired impact.

Overall, it's an issue that brings about a variety of opinions, and even myself, I'm torn.

I'm completely gutted when I hear of a young person dying in this fashion, and many of the young people I know I don't feel should have any business riding such vehicles at least until they are adults and can legally drive a car.

However, for those families who wish to practice safe procedures, on age appropriate vehicles, with constant adult supervision, I can see how the laws can be seen as unnecessarily punishing.

It often takes a tragedy to help put a point on something and if one positive can be taken away from what happened up north, hopefully it's that extreme caution -- regardless of age and experience -- needs to be exercised for those who enjoy getting out and enjoying off-road vehicles.

n City Views appears daily, written by various members of our Staff. Cole Hobson is a Times & Transcript reporter. His column appears every Monday. He can be reached by e-mail at cole.hobson@timestranscript.com