For taking his 5-year-old kid on his ATV

Nov 9, 2009 16:56 GMT  ·  By
Jon Gosselin takes 5-year-old on ATV ride, stands in direct violation of CPSC regulation
   Jon Gosselin takes 5-year-old on ATV ride, stands in direct violation of CPSC regulation

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission clearly states that children under six are not allowed to drive an ATV, while also saying that two persons should not get on one at the same time. Jon Gosselin violated both stipulations by taking one of his children with him on a ride over the weekend, thus getting safety advocates all up in arms, as Radar Online reports.

The father of eight was spending some quality time with his boys over the weekend, when he decided to take one of them with him for a ride on his ATV. Jon Gosselin loves to ride ATVs and is often pictured on one – yet this is the first time that he’s coming under fire from safety advocates and the media in general for also taking one of his kids with him. As Radar points out, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is very clear about what constitutes a violation and what not.

What Mr. Gosselin did certainly does. “According to the CPSC, ‘Children under 6 should never be on an ATV – either as a driver or a passenger.’ The Gosselin twins are nine but the sextuplets are just five.” Radar writes. As it happens, over the weekend, Gosselin had one of the sextuplets up on an ATV with him. As the same CPSC puts it, even if he’s driving on a private property, Gosselin should still have had some sort of protection on, like gloves, boots and a helmet. Neither him nor the boy had any of the above in the photos recently made public.

“The Commission also points out that ‘ATVs are designed to carry only one person... drivers must be able to shift their weight freely in all directions, depending on the situation and terrain... Passengers can make it difficult for drivers to control the ATV.&rsqo; Most frightening, the Commission says that ‘Children are involved in about one-third of all ATV-related deaths and hospital emergency room injuries.’” Radar Online further says.

It is not yet known whether Jon Gosselin will be held in any way responsible for his reckless act, but suffice it to say that, at this point, the cries of outrage on the Internet at least are pretty impressive. Mr. Gosselin was not immediately available for comment on this.