Boy, 13, Seriously Hurt in ATV Crash

A 13-year-old Granada Hills boy was seriously injured Sunday when he crashed his three-wheeled all-terrain vehicle on a residential street, authorities said.

The boy, who was wearing a bicycle helmet, was knocked unconscious when he hit his head on a solid brick column that supported a mailbox, said Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The accident occurred in the 10800 block of Petit Avenue near Tulsa Street. The boy was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center where he was listed in serious condition, Humphrey said.

The boy was not wearing appropriate headgear, Humphrey said. His injuries might been less severe had he been wearing a motorcycle helmet, he added.

It appeared that the boy, who lived in the neighborhood, had been riding his ATV on a city street when he struck either a “no parking� sign or a curb, authorities said. He was thrown from the three-wheeler into the mailbox support.

A neighbor, who found the boy, called 911. It was not known when the accident occurred.

When paramedics arrived about 12:25 p.m., the boy was extremely combative, though unconscious, Humphrey said, adding that those were classic signs of head trauma.

ATVs are designed for off-road use and generally are not legal on city streets. The boy’s three-wheeler, a Suzuki, was not registered and not equipped with a rider seat or handlebar grips, said Officer Dan Henry of Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Traffic Division.

Because of the high number of injuries and fatalities involving three-wheeled ATVs, the Consumer Product Safety Commission in the late 1980s proclaimed them to be unsafe, and the Justice Department negotiated a deal with manufacturers to voluntarily stop selling them. As part of that agreement, manufacturers launched a nationwide safety training campaign and advised against use by children under 16.

Despite the efforts to remove three-wheelers from the market, they represented one-fifth of all ATVs still in use as of 1998, according to the Consumers Union.