Youth Model Off-road Vehicles Banned Due To Lead Paint
Jason Lancaster | Jan 18, 2010 | Comments 3
Here’s a story from the Department of Ridiculous and Absurd:
As a result of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, sales of youth-model off-road vehicles (ATVs and motorcycles) were banned in February, 2009, because the vehicle’s paint contains lead. The ban was temporarily lifted last April, but the lift on the ban is almost over.
Seriously? It’s one thing if a match-box car for a 2 year old contains lead or lead based paint- that’s a serious safety problem that needs attention. We all know that toys for young children sometimes end up being taste-tested (one of the joys of youth). Lead is a significant risk to the proper development of a child’s mind, so it shouldn’t be present in a child’s toy.
To be clear, these off-road vehicles don’t contain copious amounts of lead. They’re using paints that keep with the previously existing federal standards, and up until a year ago they were deemed perfectly safe. Then the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) came along.
If you’ll recall, the CPSIA was rushed through congress about a year ago because some of the toys imported from China used lead-based paint. The CPSIA was a legal remedy to correct this problem, and was likely needed.
However, it’s hard to imagine a situation where a child would ingest lead from their youth-model ATV or motorcycle (see below).
Youth model ATVs and other off-road vehicles are banned because they contain lead paint. Image courtesy of Polaris.
According to Captain Obvious, “By the time a child is old enough to hop on a youth-model ATV or motorcycle, they’re not likely to be in the taste-testing phase of life.”
Here’s the real kicker: The federal government understands the ridiculousness of this rule, yet they’re not legally allowed to act.
According to the BlueRibbon Coalition, the Consumer Products Safety Commission wants to correct this problem but they’re not allowed to make an exception because of the way the bill was worded by Congress.
For those of you counting at home, that’s 1 point for Congress and zero points for common sense.
What’s more, congressional action is needed to fix this ridiculous mistake. Congress needs to pass a law to correct this simple oversight. So, if you’d like to help out, you can contact your congressman. OR…
The BRC has provided a simple form letter here – just put in your name, address, and email address, and then press “send.” The BRC will take care of the rest.
Filed Under: Auto News
Don’t even get me started on this one. Unbelievable what this stupid group of people came up with to ban ATV sales under 90cc and under for youths under 12. Yah, like my 6-7 year old will start licking the engine block just for fun – come on people, get a fricking clue! Dealers, parents, and all involved are pissed and rightfully so. WI has 2 other stupid and ignorant rules on their books that I am working on with my current legislature if he ever gets off his ass and does it that is #1: Youth atvs 90cc or less with riders under 12 CANNOT in WI ride on frozen waters (lakes, rivers, any kind whatsoever) EVEN WITH THEIR PARENTS alongside or nearby and #2: youths under 12 with 90cc or less CANNOT ride alongside WITH THEIR PARENTS even on rural road routes that are connecting roads, barely used by the general public and usually only 1-3 miles long at most, that connect to an ATV ‘trail’. I can see if a road route is not a connecting route to another ATV trail since not only are they longer mileage wise, but also used by many more motor vehicles (cars and trucks), but a connecting route is no big deal. I’m sure it has happened once or twice in history of youth ATV use in WI that a child did die due to being on a road route, but everyone I heard about it was either not the kids fault on the ATV (car driver was negligent) or the kid was unsupervised by THEIR PARENTS like it should be. I’m not asking for much, just use some common sense when it comes to writing the ATV laws and make them more specific and not to generalize since the youth ATV laws were written in WI about 15 years ago when youth atv’s were not readily available like today. The youth atv laws need to be updated to current riding conditions and not for the worse by having stupid groups saying we must ban youth atv sales for fear of our children licking the lead off the engine parts – how dumb is this!!
mk – Good to know. I think that these laws are often created with the best interests in mind, but many of them are completely unnecessary.
Yah, just like the WI state legislators wasting valuable time on debating for hours on end what the state of WI motorcycle should be, or the state cheese, or the state microbe to make the cheese? I’m serious they did this! Completely unnecessary and for the best interests in mind of whom and why?