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  • ATV Consent Decree (Trike Ban) RSS Feed

    by Published on 02-01-2010 01:48 PM

    The ATV Consent Decree was signed by the commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1987. This act was the death blow to large scale manufacturing of three-wheeled ATVs like there had been since Honda's introduction of the US90 in 1970 and has (thus far) prevented it from ever starting back up again.

    Stick with us in this section for the following days and weeks as we further explore and attempt to set the record straight on what REALLY happened and how the events transpired. For too many years, the three-wheeling community has nearly completely ignored this part of history. Its known to be a very passionate subject, but getting articulate factual information has been difficult. We aim to change that, and arm the common three-wheeler owner with a nuclear arsenal of answers against the often asked question "Aren't those things illegal?"

    There is intention to publish many CPSC press releases and documents, civil court case outcomes, as well as develop biographies of influential people during this time period. In the future you will find in this section:

    • Overview's of the CPSC's hearings they held on public opinion regarding three-wheeled ATV Safety.
    • Overview's of documents that the CPSC used in calculating their decisions.
    • Overview's of civil court case outcomes against the major manufacturer's that were influential
    • How to combat and answer the ubiquitous questions and criticisms enthusiasts receive
    • Opinion pieces written by contributing members stating their point of view in rebuttal to the CPSC we will be documenting
    • Collaboration with TrailerRider's injury reports that were/are the CPSC basis for legislation and action, for you to form your own opinions.


    We are seeking contributors and volunteers for this project. Any well written and motivated individuals interested in working with us on this task is encouraged to drop me a line. This is a very large under-taking and help will be appreciated. Thank you!
    by Published on 09-10-2010 12:13 AM

    TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
    HEARING All-Terrain Vehicles
    DATE September 3, 1985
    PLACE Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    TIME 9:05 a m

    The document and its entirety may be found here


    Part 1 of the CPSC public hearing in Milwaukee Wisconsin for ATV safety. September 3rd, 1985.

    I've spent MANY MANY hours working on reading through the transcript of this meeting. It is incredibly lengthy, roughly 360 pages. I had wanted to save and present this all at one time but I've decided to go ahead and present what I already do have, and finish it up with part 2 at a later date. There is some really good testimony, and interesting comments and statements that I intend to overview and cover below. I hope that you will be able to keep and objective mind and study these statements as your reading them, to base and form your own conclusions. When possible I've noted the exact page and line of statements beginning so it is easy for you to cross reference yourself on the full 360 page .pdf file that is linked to above. Lets begin:

    Page 15: Commenting by Wisconsin Senator, brings up how Environmental aspects of ATV use are to be considered as well. Was the ban a scape goat for the tree huggers to get rid of large chunk of motorized recreation?

    Page 22: Beginning public comments, by Walter Olmstead of Carl Heald, Inc. (Maker of super trykes and low gravity three-wheelers, minibikes, etc)

    Page 26:
    Olmstead mentions how his company is unable to get any liability insurance on their products because of how the media has made anything with 3 or 4 large soft tires out to be dangerous. Not that it was expensive, but that they couldn't get it at all.

    Page 40: Comments from a guy named Clay White begin, he is a chairman of some do-gooder non-profit "concerned Consumers League."

    Page 44: Clay White Accuses manufactures of knowing the machines were dangerous and doing nothing about it.

    Page 52: Panel member Jane Jansen, part of the Wisconsin Branch of the CPSC states the following after being asked how the injuries of ATVs compares to others.

    1 MS JANSEN It's at a very low level number in
    2 relation to other investigations But in reviewing the five
    3 that we have handled,
    ...
    1 One of the accidents did appear that there was a good
    8 level of user fault And that, in a product safety
    9 investigation, normally just throws it out of whack as far as
    10 It being a product fault And in that particular incident
    11 you had two young girls whose attention was distracted, and
    12 they were driving, and they hit a tree fell, the only thing
    13 that would concern me about that accident is what happened,
    14 in that the vehicle turned over
    Page 56, interesting discussion regarding how coroners don't typically mark or explain how alcohol or other substance abuse might have contributed to the death of a person:

    MR SCANLON Mr Krantz, for the death
    20 certificates processed by your department, do you know what
    21 percentage of those deaths on ATVs were alcohol related'' Ms
    22 Jansen mentioned that, in the five investigated by her
    23 department, alcohol or drug abuse was not involved
    24 MR KRANTZ In the ones that I have looked at,
    25 there was no mention made on the certificates But that's

    1 not to say that it didn't happen Because there is no
    2 particular place on the death certificate for the coroner or
    3 the medical examiner or doctor to specifically enter whether
    4
    ...
    by Published on 05-25-2010 05:39 PM

    Its just after 10:00AM at the Logan building in Washington, DC. A meeting is called to order by CPSC Chairman Terrence Scanlon and the "ATV Task Force" to discuss ideas and theories on how to best handle and cope with the growing ATV injury problem.

    In this article, I'll review and make comments on specific passages and sections of the document that can be found attached at the bottom. You can also download it directly, here. It is a 7mb Adobe .pdf file.


    On Pages 41-44 There is a very interesting exchange, where one of the ATV Task Force commission members, is questioning one of their researchers regarding how on ATVs, there typically are more riders per machine than other types of motorcycles. Which even though it isn't spelled out in plain english in the conversation, would definitely increase the "appearance" that the three-wheeled ATV is more dangerous, because in actuality one machine is getting significantly higher usage than other forms of motor sports and recreation, and therefore has more opportunities for there to be rider errors or accidents by people unfamiliar with the machine. Checkout this ...
    by Published on 05-19-2010 08:47 PM
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    CPSC Documents of the Consent Decree



    Fellow three-wheeler riding enthusiasts,

    I'd like to take a moment to preface this by saying that this would not be possible without the immense dedication and undertaking of fellow 3WW member TrailerRider. He has hunted down people at the CPSC, pulled strings, and made things happen for us to receive this information. What it has netted us, as a community, is more or less the entire documentation of the CPSC's investigation of, and banning of trikes from the US market place via the ATV Consent Decree. YEARS worth of information, including transcripts from hearings, accounting documents showing what their expenses were for marketing campaigns, letters and statements received from manufacturers, ...
    by Published on 03-15-2010 08:29 PM

    **NOTE: This was originally posted in the forum by member 3wheelmecca, as part of a Senior thesis for High School. It was ...
    by Published on 03-06-2010 10:10 PM     Number of Views: 25956 

    3 Wheeler ATV Accident Reports

    Don't Blame the ATV...


    Current list of reports: December 6,
    ...
    by Published on 02-28-2010 07:48 PM     Number of Views: 6151 
    Article Preview




    On April 3rd 1985, the Consumer Product Safety Comission (an executive branch of the United States Government) issed an approval of an "Action Plan" against the "sharp increase" in three-wheel ATV related injuries, and fatalities. The above linked article was the building ...

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