A 10-year-old girl was killed last month in Missouri when the ATV on which she was riding with a friend flipped. It landed on top of her.

Madison County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad Wells said the department was called to the 11000 block of Bononi Road in New Douglas at 6:20 p.m. for a report of an ATV accident.

Montana Niccole Garner of Livingston was a passenger on a four-wheel, adult-size ATV being driven by a 12-year-old female friend. They were on the private farmland of the 12-year-old’s family, which is not far from the victim’s own home, Wells said.

“They were making a turn and it flipped and then landed on the child,”  said Madison County Sheriff’s Capt. Brad Wells. “This appears to be strictly an accident.”

Emergency personnel were summoned to the scene, and the girl was taken first to Community Memorial Hospital in Staunton, then flown to a St. Louis area hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The ATV’s driver suffered minor injuries, Wells said.

Area police have seen a number of fatal ATV incidents in the last few years. Wells said people using ATVs should follow warning stickers that indicate the limits of the vehicle and the recommended ages of drivers, and should wear appropriate safety gear.

Source: The Telegraph

There’s another safety warning out of the Chinese assembly lines, and this time it involves your car.

There are at this time approximately 36 million Chinese-made tire-valve stems on cars in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) is investigating claims that the rubber, foreign air-valves sold between September 2006 and June 2007 crack prematurely, causing tire failure. Complaints of tire failure include reports of fatal car accidents and rollovers.

According to auto-safety consultant Sean Kane, cracks in the rubber near the rim hole of the tire-valve could appear in as little as six months. The defect is most likely caused by the improper mixing of the rubber compound used to make the valve.

The NHTSA has yet to complete their investigation and issue a national alert. Until then, you can protect yourself and your family by continuing to regularly check your tire pressure. If you routinely come up with low pressure, take your vehicle to a trusted mechanic and request an inspection.

43,200 Americans were killed in motor vehicle accidents on highways in the United States in 2005.

One fourth of those fatalities – 10,816 people – died from vehicle rollovers, and rollovers accounted for less than 5 percent of all vehicle accidents in that year. More than 5,000 people suffered from injuries that caused them to become quadriplegic. Injuries and fatalities from rollovers are caused by the roof of the vehicle crushing the passengers, or from glass shattered from the roof crush.

Common sense would say that the the automobile industry is working to cut the amount of injuries – but it is not. In fact, these manufacturers are trying to use a federal agency, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), to eliminate the rights of car crash victims seeking justice and compensation from their injuries – injuries that could be prevented with stronger roof crush standards.

Hopefully, with pressure from Congress and consumer advocate groups, the NHTSA will maintain citizen’s access to our court system and revise their standard to more stringent – and safer – levels.