Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990                   TAG: 9006280335
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: RINER                                LENGTH: Medium

PAIR INJURED ON ATV

Carl Hensley, 11, of Miami, Fla., was treated for back injuries at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and later transferred to the UVa Medical Center.Jamie Duncan, 15, of Christiansburg, was treated for minor head injuries at Radford Community Hospital and then released after the boys wrecked along Virginia 606, a gravel road in the Riner area.

Sheriff's deputies said Duncan apparently lost control of the vehicle, which ran off the road and struck a culvert, throwing both boys into a ditch.

Milton Graham, chief deputy for the sheriff's department, said state laws prohibit the vehicles from being driven on any public highway or other public property without authorization from proper authorities. Drivers can cross a highway to move to other legal driving areas if they take the most direct route, he said.

Laws also prohibit children under 16 to drive the vehicles unless the engine is of a certain power - between 70 and 90 cubic centimeters displacement.

"They're extremely dangerous," Graham said. "They've been a problem since they came out with them."

Graham said his department handles several complaints - and accidents - involving all-terrain vehicles each year, especially during the summer.

Drivers of the vehicles are required by law to wear protective helmets and are not permitted to have passengers.

But the provisions don't apply if the vehicles are being used in farming activities or if the vehicle is operated on the driver's own property.

And, they don't apply on Tangier Island. "This is a good one - the way they wrote this law," Graham said.