The Nation - News from April 19, 1988

A federal judge expressed reservations both about signing and rejecting a consent decree to regulate all-terrain vehicles. Rejecting the decree would force the government into time-consuming litigation against manufacturers that would delay imposition of safety measures, U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell said at a hearing in Washington. But signing the decree would restrict additional measures the Consumer Product Safety Commission could take to improve the safety of the vehicles known as ATVs, which have been blamed for 900 deaths in the last five years, Gesell said. The proposed settlement between the CPSC and five manufacturers would ban future sales of three-wheel ATVs unless the manufacturers devised acceptable performance standards.