New regulation has been voted on to prevent injuries and improve the safety of off-road recreational vehicles (ROVs).  ROVs are designed for drivers older than 16 years old and about 140,000 ROVs were sold in the United States last year.

Unfortunately, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says over 100 wrongful deaths have occured since 2003 and another 150 have been injured.  Some of these automobile accidents have caused injuries that require amputation. CPSC officials want more regulation to prevent these auto accidents and the injuries they cause.

“This is an instance where the industry has not been responding quickly and effectively enough to the well-documented hazards caused by these products,” said the director of product safety and senior counsel for the Consumer Federation of America.

Our personal injury attorneys believe if there is a need for regulation to prevent personal injury in automobile accidents or any other accident, those regulations need to be done.

ROVs came on the market in the late 1990s.  They are two-passenger motorized vehicles that are a cross between a rugged golf cart and a Jeep.  They also come with a roll cage and metal bars making the cab.  If a rollover accident occurs, whiplash or other spinal cord injuries can occur.

There are restrictions for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) such as speed limits for youth models, but no standards at all for the side-by-sides that are different from ATVs.  In March, the US branch of Yamaha Motor Corporation recalled over 100,000 of its Rhino off-highway recreational vehicles after two models caused 46 wrongful deaths in six years.

Our personal injury attorneys believe that any regulation to ensure the safety of riders needs to be conducted so that injuries or wrongful deaths are not a result of inexperienced riders or rider mistakes.  There may be ways to protect yourself in case you do get injured in an ROV accident.  We recommend that you talk to your auto insurance provider to see if they have a good policy for off-road vehicles.

No driver is perfect, and all it takes is one mistake to cause an automobile accident that causes injuries or wrongful death.

Call us now at 1-858-551-2090 or click here for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney after you get into a car accident and find out how we can help you.  We speak English and Spanish, and we look forward to providing advice for your case.  No fee if no recovery.