Many ATV/UTV Fatalities are Older Operators Without Training

Thursday, July 20th, 2023 -- 12:01 PM

(Bob Hague, WRN) There have been 16 deaths of ATV & UTV riders in Wisconsin this year.

The DNR’s Lieutenant Jake Holsclaw says many of the UTV deaths could’ve been prevented. “They come with seatbelts. And there's a good reason they come with seatbelts.”

In addition, many of those killed were not wearing helmets and hadn’t taken a course to safely operate the increasingly popular machines. “Between ATV and UTV registrations we're approaching that half a million mark. That's a lot of machines on the landscape.”

Holsclaw says many victims were not wearing helmets. “State law requires all operators operating in public lands that are under 18 to wear a helmet. So we get fairly good compliance that way but unfortunately where we see it sometimes is you know the adults. A lot of times the adults aren't wearing helmets.”

Holsclaw says many victims are older adults who did not complete the certified safety course which is required for operators born after 1988. “Even if you're grandfathered in and you're born before 1/1/88 we encourage those folks to take that course. And yeah unfortunately we have seen that many of these injuries or fatalities are with folks that are older than born in ‘88.”

Holsclaw says many victims were not wearing helmets, and he notes alcohol is also a factor in many ATV/UTV fatalities.

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