ATV DEATH TOLL COULD EXCEED RECORDS - Fatalities Mounting

(05/31/2006)

The West Virginia ATV death toll will likely exceed all records in 2006. The state has recorded its 21st (or some records say 23rd) fatality in Fayette County. The latest accident occurred Sunday when a four-wheeler overturned and plummeted about 130 feet down an embankment near Page. The victim is 47-year-old Larry D. Bennett of Pax. A passenger on the ATV, 38-year-old Amber McDonald of Pax, was treated at a local hospital for a leg injury. It was the second ATV death over the Memorial Day weekend. A Milton man was killed Saturday when he lost control of an ATV and left the roadway, hitting several trees. Officials are predicting that the state's record number of deaths could surpass last year's record of 40. Jim Helmkamp, director of West Virginia University's Injury Control Research Center, says riders do not pay attention to the safety directions on the vehicles. Hundreds of state residents have already been treated in ERs, some of them with debilitating injuries.

Hur Herald ®from Sunny Cal The information on these pages, to the extent the law allows, remains the exclusive property of Bob Weaver and Dianne Weaver The Hur Herald. All information may be freely used but must not be sold or used in any type of commercial endeavor, or used on any web site without the express permission of the owners ©Bob and Dianne Weaver, The Hur Herald, 1999, 2000, 2001