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A CBC News survey found that in New Brunswick, more people are dying from ATV and snowmobile accidents than any other province in Atlantic Canada in the last six years.
At least 64 people from across the province, including young teenagers and an 85-year-old woman, have died since 2012.
This represents a mortality rate of 8.4 per 100,000 population, the second highest in the region.
They die from spills, loss of control and tree cutting, among other causes.
Fatal Fun: Atlantic Canadians die in a recreational vehicle
After several months of investigation, CBC News gathered information on each fatal accident in the region, building a database containing police information, press clippings, obituaries and interviews with members of the community. family of victims.
The project was motivated by what appeared to be a steady stream of police press releases in recent years, each announcing to the newsroom another death in a recreational vehicle.
The goal was to dig deeper into why people are dying.
The deaths continued after CBC News completed its badysis of the numbers.
Last Saturday, 13-year-old Marc-André Gionet was injured to death by the loss of control of his ATV and crashed into a quarry near his home in Haut-Lamèque.
Most of the victims are men
An badysis reveals that most of New Brunswick's off-road accident victims are men, with a median age of 43 years.
Most died in ATVs and alcohol was a suspected factor in at least 59% of the accidents.
But the percentage of actual accidents related to alcohol could be higher. Nobody seems to know how many people are drunk in off-road vehicles.
Elizabeth wanted to become an accountant and was dedicated to her synchronized figure skating team. (Suzanne Landers)
This includes Elizabeth Landers, 15 years old.
His mother, Suzanne Landers, attributes her daughter's decision to teenage invincibility.
But these feelings of invincibility go beyond teenagers. Most of the victims confirmed riding without a helmet and were adults.
"If she was wearing a helmet, she would have lived"
Elizabeth was an experienced motorcyclist. The whole family would make difficult hikes together in the water and in the deep mud behind the tires.
Her parents, both retired police officers, preached safety and Elizabeth was cautious most of the time.
But on July 11, 2016, she and two friends got on a mountain bike designed for one person. They did not plan to go far, just down a hill to swim in Meenans Cove, on the edge of the Landers' Quispamsis property.
The machine was equipped with a seatbelt, which was not used by any of the girls.
Something went wrong during the short drive and the machine tipped over.
Elizabeth's friends were ejected from the machine, but Elizabeth was stuck. The rollbar fell on his head.
Elizabeth enjoyed synchronized skating with her team in Riverview., N.B. (Suzanne Landers)
Landers does not understand why his daughter chose not to wear a helmet that day, after all those years of driving safely. The helmet was sitting on the seat of the machine.
It may be because Elizabeth was used to challenging ATV tours, her mother explained. A trip to the water did not seem like a ride "so that did not really matter," Landers said.
"In the end, if she was wearing a helmet, she would have lived."
More than 65,000 registered machines
ATVs and snowmobiles are treated differently from cars under provincial legislation, but they can go as fast.
They are also very popular: New Brunswick has more than 65,000 registered ATVs and snowmobiles.
ATVs and snowmobiles are a way of life throughout Atlantic Canada. (Trevor Lyons / CBC)
"An ATV will take you to New Brunswick where you would never see otherwise," said Roger Daigle, President of the New Brunswick ATV Federation.
The province has made snowmobiling a tourist attraction and plans to do the same with the quad.
Both federations extol the benefits of sport: the jobs created, the people who visit the sport and the companies that earn income from it.
But the popular Brunswick pastime also had negative consequences.
More than 1,100 trauma in 3 years
The 64 lives lost do not include seriously injured people in New Brunswick.
Between April 2014 and March 2017, at least 1,183 people suffered traumatic injuries while driving an ATV or a snowmobile, which significantly reduced their ability to function.
The majority of injuries – 854 – occurred on ATVs.
And it's not just scratches and bruises.
"Wounds range from sprains to fractures to brain haemorrhages, such as subdural hematomas and haemorrhages," said Dr. Richard Louis, an injury prevention specialist at NB Trauma, a focused program. partly on research and education. injury.
The numbers were news for Daigle, who felt that no injuries had occurred on the upgraded ATV group trails.
The federation sees injury more as an individual failure than as the responsibility of industry or government.
"The only thing I can say is that there is an important tool on every vehicle," said Daigle after learning the injuries.
"This is what is called a nut.This nut is located between the seat and the handlebars or between the seat and the steering wheel.I mean by this that the person sitting on this machine is the # 39; nut ".
A price tag of $ 18 million
In 2010, ATV and snowmobile injuries were estimated to cost New Brunswick about $ 18 million a year, according to a report by Parachute, a charity that aims to "prevent serious and fatal injuries."
This includes health care costs, but also indirect costs such as lost productivity due to hospitalization.
This does not include the emotional costs that families like Landers pay every day.
Suzanne Landers, Elizabeth's mother, estimates she lost 10 pounds in five days after the death of her daughter. She could not eat and "was shaking for days and days".
She does not remember large portions of the four months following the accident.
"The amount of trauma that it causes in your life goes beyond the understanding," Landers said.
"It's like being hit emotionally by a freight train."
Mandatory training a difficult sale
Some of the family members interviewed by CBC News support the mandatory training of anyone using an all-terrain vehicle, a practice already in place in Nova Scotia for anyone born after April 1, 1987.
New Brunswick requires safety training only for runners under 16 years of age or adults supervising minor operators, which means the Landers should have taken a safety training course.
His mother said that the most effective way of forcing people to take training would be to require him to insure an off-road vehicle. (ATVs and snowmobiles must be registered and insured to drive in New Brunswick.)
Elizabeth has made many difficult mountain bike trips with her family while growing up. (Suzanne Landers)
"If we can even save a few people by province in one year just by implementing something like that, I'm fine for it," Landers said.
This is not a new recommendation. In 2001, a provincial ATV working group recommended mandatory training for all. But it never happened.
It's a difficult sell and does not have the support of the ATV Federation. The New Brunswick Federation of Snowmobile Clubs has not yet taken a position on this topic.
As the MTB Federation's Chief Instructor Jim McGregor would like everyone to take a safety ATV course. He oversees nine other instructors, who offer half-day safety clbades, primarily aimed at training children.
Jim McGregor, Chief Safety Instructor at the New Brunswick ATV Federation, would like to see everyone taking safety training. He does not think it should be mandatory. (Ed Hunter / CBC)
But McGregor is reluctant to support mandatory training.
"By making it mandatory, I'm not sure it's publicly acceptable," he said.
"Always to blame someone"
Both groups representing ATVs and snowmobilers argue that the problem is not a lack of rules. These are the riders who do not follow the rules.
"We are always trying to blame someone," said Ross Antworth, executive director of the New Brunswick Federation of Snowmobile Clubs.
"It's crazy, why should the government force an individual not to open a beer when he's on a snowmobile or ATV?" Why should the snowmobile federation act? "
Ross Antworth, Executive Director of the New Brunswick Federation of Snowmobile Clubs, says individuals must take responsibility for their own safety. (Jon Collicott / CBC)
Both federations are calling for stricter application of the rules, but no optimism about the government's willingness to invest in a more stringent application.
The ATV Federation is also not in favor of its more than 22,000 members paying more to cover the costs of enforcing the rules.
New Brunswick has an off-road vehicle control unit with 10 officers. The department that oversees the unit does not provide an interview to anyone, but instead sends a statement by e-mail.
"By design, off-road vehicles do not offer significant occupant protection and therefore represent an element of risk," said spokesman Geoffrey Downey.
"That's why we strongly encourage operators to abide by all safety rules, to abide by posted speed limits and never to drive while impaired."
A lack of political will
In 2001, the New Brunswick ATV Working Group also called for stronger enforcement.
But the provincial government has not acted on most of the task force's recommendations because of a lack of political will, according to Trail's lawyer, David Peterson. He was part of the working group.
David Peterson was part of a New Brunswick work group on the ATV industry in the early 2000s. He is not optimistic that the government is adding new restrictions to the sport. (Ed Hunter / CBC)
The problem, he said, is that politicians do not have the "backbone" to risk the anger of voters in predominantly rural constituencies where snowmobiling and ATV are popular. The MTB Federation alone has nearly 22,500 registered members.
"Nothing will happen because they worry about a few votes," Peterson said.
"They'll have 30 or 40 ATVs on their doors, shouting at them."
It is not optimistic, it will change until more people die.
"I am sorry to say that the number of deaths may not be large enough to attract the attention of the government so that it will invest enough resources in an enforcement plan" said Peterson.
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