Intentional Deception with ATV Statisitics

Filed in archive Accidents , ATV , ATV Statistics , News , Rants on October 4, 2007

Today the CBC ran an article that obviously tries to mislead the public about ATV accident statistics. I know, I know, you've heard it before. Seems that's all I ever talk about any more. But this one takes it a step further.

Let me explain:

The CBC article, titled ATV Related Hospitalizations Spike in Past 10 Years, claims that there has been an increase of 25% in ATV related accidents that ended up in Canadian hospitals. That's fine, it may be an accurate statistic.

But they go on to compare the ratio of ATV accidents per 100,000 people

26.6 off-road vehicle hospitalizations per 100,000 in 2005.

That's per 100,000 people, NOT per 100,000 ATVs. If they were being even remotely honest about reporting FACTS, they would include the fact that ATV usage rose by MORE than 25% over the past 10 years.