First of two parts

The day began with the promise only a child can know.

A beautiful fall weekend, school had just begun a few weeks earlier and 14-year-old Tyler Palomarez escaped north to ride all-terrain vehicles with two friends near Alturas Lake. The cool autumn air tickled their lungs, and smoke from a wildfire hung on the horizon.

Tyler rode his family's red Honda Recon, a 400-pound machine of metal and speed. His friends followed, sharing a second ATV. The four-wheelers tore up a rocky path toward a curve in the trail, and the boys gunned the engines. Tyler attempted the curve first.

He didn't make it.

The ATV skidded off the trail, and Tyler flew into the air, landing on his stomach. He stood almost immediately and took off his helmet, staggered a few steps then lost consciousness and collapsed.

The ATV was unscathed. Tyler would never wake up. He died of internal injuries about six hours later in a Boise hospital after surgeons failed to stop the bleeding around his crushed liver.

The last time Tyler's mother, Gail, saw her boy at the hospital he was writhing in pain, legs kicking like he was riding a bicycle, she said. Gail reached down and touched the ankle of her son for the last time. She said she thought Tyler knew she was there, but she can't know for sure. She simply hopes.

After the last-ditch effort to save Tyler's life had failed, an emotional surgeon told Gail, "Never let anybody you know or love get on an ATV."

More people - more children - are riding ATVs than ever, especially in the Magic Valley, where ATV registrations climbed 71 percent between 2001 and 2005, to 11,953.

More ATVs in Idaho have led to more injuries and deaths, according to Consumer Product Safety Commission reports. At three Magic Valley hospitals alone - St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center, Minidoka Memorial Hospital and Cassia Regional - 70 people have been treated for ATV-related injuries so far this year, an increase over recent years.

Since 1982, at least 89 Idahoans died in ATV-related incidences - about a quarter of them were like Tyler, younger than 16.

Earlier this month, 6-year-old Jonatan Arevalo was killed near Malta when he was thrown from a Honda TRX350 ATV and struck a utility pole. The machine was being driven by his 14-year-old sister, according to a police report. A 3-year-old sister, who was also on the ATV, suffered serious injuries.

None were wearing helmets.

Rule-less roads

Neither Tyler nor Jonatan should have been riding the machines, adult-model ATVs the manufacturers warn are not appropriate for children.

Kids are too light, the manufacturers and safety experts say, to shift weight needed to turn adult-size ATVs.

Manufacturers make smaller models more appropriate for younger riders, but many Idaho families own just one ATV - often a large machine.

Safety advocates, as well as some manufacturers, also warn against riding in tandem, on pavement, off designated trails and without training.

None of those recommendations are required by law in Idaho, where safety laws are sometimes so lax that people jokingly call it the "right-to-die state." When it comes to ATVs, that saying couldn't be more true. Only ATV riders younger than 18 must wear a helmet - and then only if riding on public land, according to the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America. Idaho is one of 20 states with no minimum age for riders. Some states require riders of all ages to have a safety education certificate. Idaho does not.

And that's the way some riders prefer things. "People have to be responsible for their own actions," said Stan Mai, a Twin Falls resident and long-time ATV rider who opposes government-mandated safety rules.

There's been little interest in stiffer ATV regulations from enthusiasts or legislators here.

"Idahoans create laws in Idaho," said Jennifer Wernex, a spokeswoman for state Parks and Recreation that oversees a state ATV registration program. "Legislation is typically backed by the users."

It's the same story on the national level. About 20 years ago, the federal government declared ATVs an "imminent hazard" and manufacturers stopped producing less stable three-wheeled models. Injury statistics initially dipped but have remained steady since then. But lawmakers have made few efforts since the late 1980s to curb injuries and deaths.

Many manufacturers now offer rebates for buyers who complete an instructor-run safety program. In Idaho, those rebates are often unclaimed. According to a 2005 Parks and Recreation survey, ATV riders are most likely to say they gained primary training from informational videos about the technical operations of off-highway vehicles. About 65 percent say they were self-taught. Only a quarter of those surveyed said they received hands-on training from an instructor before their first riding experience. Nine percent had no training at all.

Safety concerns aren't limited to recreational riders.

"Everybody that rides ditches and sets water rides one of those dang 4-wheelers," said Jeff Webster, one of four paramedic field supervisors at St. Luke's in Twin Falls. "These farm guys never take a course."

Tyler Palomarez, the 14-year-old killed last year, had no training. His mother, Gail, who called Tyler "an inexperienced rider," said she tried to enroll her son in a safety course but was told he wasn't eligible because he wasn't a licensed driver. Gail was unaware of other ATV safety programs for children.

Braking for safety

Several groups in Idaho, including the Parks and Recreation department, are hoping to change that. The department began an ATV safety training program about three years ago, held during summers when more children can attend.

Jerome County 4-H received a grant this year to train its program coordinator, Tina Dickard, through the ATV Safety Institute, a national group that works with manufacturers to promote safer riding. Dickard is now a licensed safety instructor, and will begin teaching ATV safety courses for children this fall.

"ATVs are very dangerous," said Dickard, "especially for people who aren't properly trained."

Many mishaps are caused by people who don't know how to safely operate the machines or don't know what size ATVs are appropriate, she said.

"So many of them, you see 5and 6-year-old kids out there on something this size," she said, pointing to her 500-pound ATV. "They have no business being on something this size."

Dickard concedes that even safety programs won't spare everyone from injury or death, but the programs have been shown to greatly reduce the chances of an incident. She advocates mandatory safety training before anyone can ride an ATV.

That's not likely to happen anytime soon in Idaho. An 18-year veteran of the state Legislature, Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum, said he can't remember any safety-related ATV legislation proposed in recent years. And he doesn't expect any. There's virtually no way to enforce tougher laws, he said, because law enforcement cannot patrol all of the places ATVs can go.

"It doesn't make much sense to pass a law if there's no way to enforce it," Stennett said.

Tougher laws and better training or not, the Palomarez family will never again own an ATV. Gail hasn't seen the machine her son died riding since after the incident - they sold it immediately.

"It'll never happen," she said. "It'll never happen again."

Matt Christensen may be reached at 735-3243 and at matt.christensen@lee.net. Nate Poppino contributed to this report.

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