HERNANDO COUNTY (Bay News 9) — A new effort is underway to keep kids safe when they hit the trails on their dirt bikes and ATVs.

According to the Florida Division of Forestry, fatalities are on the rise.

Ken Barthelette, division of forestry supervisor, said riders need to play it safe.

“Hopefully, especially young people will look at that and it won’t go unnoticed,” Barthelette said. “That his death won’t just be something that happened in the paper.”

Saturday morning, forestry officials held their first kids day at the Croom motorcycle area in Hernando County.

The purpose of the event is to teach kids to be safe at an early age and a big part of that is the safety equipment like a helmet, eye goggles, shoulder pads, a chest pad and boots.

The Division of Forestry said parents should supervise their kids when they’re riding ATV’s or dirt bikes.

Parents should know exactly where their kids are riding, who they’re riding with and when when they’ll be back.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 7:00 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.