Small, speedy, lightweight snowmobiles are popular and readily available to children and adolescents in the snowbelt states. There are no uniform requirements for either vehicle registration or driver licensure. Therefore, the number and condition of snowmobiles, and the extent of their use, are unknown. Nevertheless, in 1985, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recorded 62 deaths directly attributable to snowmobiles. In addition, the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported that 12,687 snowmobile injuries were treated in emergency rooms in 1985, and another 11,829 injuries treated in 1986. Of these, 18 percent occurred in children under the age of 14 years and 48 percent occurred in adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 years.

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