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© St. Petersburg Times, published August 27, 2002
SAN ANTONIO -- A 35-year-old Lutz man crashed an all-terrain vehicle into a fence Sunday night, suffering cuts to his head but avoiding life-threatening injuries, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.
Deputy Frank Pizzuto reported Robert Paige Felton was riding a family member's new Suzuki ATV on private property off Warder Road in San Antonio about 6:50 p.m. when he lost control at a high rate of speed and crashed into a fence.
Witnesses told deputies Felton suffered a cut on his forehead. He was taken by by helicopter to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa where he was listed in fair condition Monday.
Pizzuto said the impact smashed wooden fence posts and damaged the ATV.
Felton's crash came after an ATV crash last week that killed 13-year-old Donald "D.J." Roberts when he lost control of a four-wheeler and went headfirst through a barbed-wire fence off Stellar Drive. He died at the scene.
It also comes a week after a coalition of advocacy groups urged the federal government to ban children from riding all-terrain vehicles and force other riders to obey new safety standards.
Representatives from consumer, children's and environmental groups in Washington, D.C., cited statistics showing injuries to ATV riders younger than 16 have nearly doubled in the past eight years.
A May study by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission found: "Injuries and deaths associated with the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) have shown an increasing trend in the last several years."
As of Dec. 31, 2001, the commission reported 4,541 had died in the United States riding ATVs since 1982.