THE CANADIAN PEDIATRIC SOCIETY SAYS ATV'S ARE NOT CHILD'S PLAY. THE ORGANIZATION SAYS NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 16 SHOULD RIDE AN ALL TERRAIN VEHICLE REGARDLESS OF THE SIZE OF IT. NEWSWATCH'S DARRYN DAVIS HAS LOCAL REACTION.

CONSTABLE RANDAL HADDRAL HAS BEEN PATROLLING AND PROMOTING ATV SAFETY FOR YEARS. HE SAYS FORTUNATELY OF THE 7 ATV DEATHS THIS YEAR IN ONTARIO NONE HAS BEEN IN SOUTH EASTERN ONTARIO. BUT OF THOSE 7 FATALITIES TWO WERE UNDER THE AGE OF 18. CONSTABLE HADDRAL SAYS THE MAJORITY OF THE INCIDENTS HE DEALS WITH COME DOWN TO A FEW COMMON CAUSES.

"MAJOR CAUSES ARE SPEED, SPEED TOO FAST, LOSS OF CONTROL, THOSE ARE THE MAJOR CAUSAL FACTORS "

KAREN SHAW IS ONE OF THE OWNERS OF THE BELLEVILLE SPORT AND LAWN CENTRE, SHE SAYS THEY PROMOTE SAFETY FIRST. FROM PROPER EQUIPMENT TO FOLLOWING MANUFACTURERS SAFETY GUIDELINES.

"PARENTAL SUPERVISION IS THE NEXT PROBABLY KEY IMPORTANT FACTOR. YOU CAN'T PUT THE CHILD ON AN ATV AND SAY GO PLAY. YOU HAVE TO BE OUT THERE AND INSTRUCTING."

SAYS SHE HAS NO PROBLEM WITH STRICTER RULES, REGULATIONS AND EVEN LAWS BUT SHE THINKS THE CANADIAN PEDIATRIC SOCIETIES CALL FOR A BAN IS GOING A STEP TOO FAR.

"I THINK BANNING IS A LITTLE EXTREME, A LITTLE OVERKILL...BE HARD ON MY INDUSTRY FOR SURE, I THINK THAT REGULATIONS SURE. "

ACCORDING TO STATISTICS FURNISHED BY THE CANADIAN PEDIATRIC SOCIETY OF THE ROUGHLY 180 CANADIANS THAT DIE EACH YEAR IN ATV INCIDENTS 40% ARE 19 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER. DARRYN DAVIS CKWS NEWSWATCH BELLEVILLE.