Foundations Can Teach Safety By Partnering With Marketers

by Paul Vitrano, Feb 17, 2009, 12:30 PM

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Spring is a time when families start heading out to the trails or deserts for adventure on dirt bikes or all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Parents and children like to spend time together, caring for the machines, learning safety practices and just enjoying the outdoors and public lands.

 

Marketers of these vehicles reach these families and help sell their youth-model dirt bikes and ATVs through advertising and promotions. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) and the ATV Safety Institute partner with these marketers to help get consumers started on these adventures.

Funded by all the major motorcycle makers, the MSF DirtBike School helps kids learn to ride off road. All the major ATV brands back the free ATV Safety Institute RiderCourse.

Marketers send their customers to the foundation through advertising, online postings and by including guidebooks in owner's manual packets. They want their customers to operate their products properly and safely.

The foundation and the institute promote training programs largely through media relations. Stories about safety classes have been featured in major metropolitan newspapers and morning talk shows. Because they are non-profit organizations, they get more free help through PSAs as well.

But as of last week, future MSF and ASI efforts are in question after the government banned sales of many youth-model motorcycles and ATVs, under the lead-content provisions of the new Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

Despite the reality that children over six don't put motorcycle or ATV parts into their mouths, the government has enacted overly broad legislation. And the foundation and institute are in a tough spot since, as with any motorized vehicle, some lead embedded within certain alloyed parts is necessary either for safety or for functionality.

The Motorcycle Industry Council and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America have urged the Consumer Product Safety Commission to grant, and for members of Congress to support, requests for exclusions. But, for now, the marketers are unable to sell the bikes and a seasonal pleasure for many kids and their families is in doubt.

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0 comments on "Foundations Can Teach Safety By Partnering With Marketers ".

1. P Vincent from comfycozy.com
   

   commented on: February 17, 2009 at 1:14 p.m.

   Every day another piece of the CPSIA puzzle comes to light. As a small business owner, I've been talking about this issue on my blog and staying on top of how this law touches so many industries. While I and many artists and business owners support the purpose of the law, the requirements, testing and ramifications however, could have devastating effects on all of us...even if there is no chance that our products contain lead.

   In my case, I design and print whimsical glow in the dark pillowcases. We have documentation from our suppliers that the inks we use have been tested and do not contain lead. That however, isn't good enough. We will have to have ALL of these inks tested again - to the tune of over $5k.

   Again, we don't want products with lead getting in the hands of our kids, but redundant testing by small, home based businesses is not the answer.

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