2nd
Annual Kentucky ATV Safety & Rescue R&D
Weekend
Knott County, KY - October 12,
2009 - By Mike Brady
Knott County, KY (11/3/2009)
- The second annual "Kentucky ATV Safety
and Rescue R&D Weekend" was held on October
10 - 11, 2009, in Knott County. Also, while we
can't be certain of a direct correlation between
events, for a second consecutive year the Consumer
Products Safety Commission's (CPSC) annual ATV
report indicates: Kentucky no longer leads the
nation in all terrain vehicle (ATV) fatalities.
ATV related deaths for the period of 2005 through
2007 (the last full year on record) list the five
states with the highest number of reported ATV
deaths as: West Virginia *143, Florida *123, Kentucky
*114, Pennsylvania *87 and North Carolina *83.
While an improvement, these numbers remain far
to high and more needs be done to continue this
downward trend.
Participants practice safely removing
a donated Yamaha 350 Banshee ATV from the rider.
While remaining humble, a group of dedicated
emergency service professionals in Kentucky have
been working for almost five years to realize
this trend. Without a formal membership, or a
structured hierarchy, this group of individuals
periodically assembles with the goal of learning
how to reduce the number of ATV accidents, while
at the same time improving the effectiveness of
rescuers who respond to the accidents. Lessons
learned during the two-day event will be incorporated
into the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's
'Farm and Home Safety Training Program' as well
as into 'ATV Safety and Rescue' classes taught
to responders statewide.
Members of Knott County ATV Trail Riders Club's
'Off-Road ResQ Team' loads the patient.
As with the first R&D weekend, the venue
for this year's event was the Knott County ATV
& Motorcycle Rider
Training Center. This year's itinerary included
rescue scenarios drawn from actual off-road accident
reports and other topics identified by the participants
as vital to improving response and evacuation
times. One key issue was a coordinated use of
medical helicopters to assist ground teams in
locating the scene. While several states maintain
a fleet of aircraft for search and rescue missions,
Kentucky's medical helicopters are primarily used
for medical evacuation from a landing zone, after
the patient has been located. Search areas routinely
cover thousands of acres across varying terrain.
Ground SAR teams on ATVs or UTVs could take an
hour just to reach the ridge in the background;
a distance of only three quarters of a mile by
air. As the trails connecting the ridges drop
over 400 feet into a drainage and run through
an area known as "Quicksand Creek" by
locals, ground searches could take hours, if not
days.
Air Methods 'KY-4' based at Hazard, KY
and PHI Medical 'PHI-2' based in London, KY
With the airborne assistance of both PHI Medical
and Air Methods medical helicopter crews, rescuers
were guided to simulated ATV accident scenes in
minutes, not hours.
Participating in this year's 'Kentucky ATV Safety
and Rescue R&D Weekend' were the management
and staff of the Knott County ATV and Motorcycle
Rider Training Center, instructors from Kentucky
Department of Agriculture's Farm and Home Safety
Training Program, personnel from ///EMERGENCY
EQUIPMENT, air crews from PHI Medical and Air
Methods, personnel from Elizabethtown Fire / Rescue,
LaRue County Fire / Rescue, Lexington Fire &
EMS, Hazard Fire / Rescue, Salyersville Fire /
Rescue, the Grapevine- Chavies 'Rhino ResQ Team'
and the newly formed Knott County ATV Trail Riders
ResQ Team. Including air crews, twenty-four emergency
responders participated during this two day learning
experience. ///EMERGENCY EQUIPMENT's All Terrain
Res-Q Team arrives at an Air Methods LZ with a
patient.
*NOTE: Exact annual numbers
of ATV related deaths are difficult to determine
as reporting periods and criteria for reporting
an ATV accident changes from state to state. For
example: The CPSC does not consider UTVs (side-by-sides)
to be ATVs for the purpose of this report. However,
when the victim arrives at an emergency room the
medical report simply reads "ATV accident"
without regard to type. Also, reports of ATV related
deaths in areas where accident victims are evacuated
by air to Trauma Centers in an adjoining state
will not be included in figures for the state
where the accident actually occurred. (Source:
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/atv2007.pdf
)
All Terrain Res-Q Trailers' have donated
the use of two off-road rescue trailers to this
program.
For more information visit: www.OffRoadRescue.com
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