Doctors Perplexed By Failure Of ATV Bill In State Legislature

Thursday, May 11th 2006, 6:21 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Trauma care doctors are disappointed the state House killed a bill that would require children under 18 to wear a helmet when they ride all-terrain vehicles.

Doctor Roxie -M- Albrecht, director of trauma care at the OU Medical Center, said when officials announced the legislation earlier this year she expected it to advance and become law.

Albrecht figures politics played a role in the legislation's untimely death.

The bill by Oklahoma City state Senator Bernest Cain and Norman state Representative Bill Nations stems from a study by the Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association that showed 62 Oklahomans died and 400 received traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries in ATV accidents from 1992 to 2002.

Sponsors of the legislation said at least 23 states require riders to wear helmets and 28 states have some kind of minimum age requirement.

Tulsa state Representative Dan Sullivan says state House leaders believed that parental responsibility should control this issue, not legislation.