Sean's law or Ben's?

Impose stricter regulations on all-terrain vehicles.

Imagine dropping off your 8-year-old son at a friend's house for a play date — then finding out, just hours later, that he had been killed while driving an all-terrain vehicle.

That's what happened to Mark and Katie Kearney of Plymouth, who lost their son, Sean.

"I dropped my son off to have fun," said Mark. "Now we have to go and visit him in the cemetery."

According to State House News Service, Kearney testified late last month on Beacon Hill in support of a bill that would prohibit children under 14 from driving ATVs.

Sponsored by state Rep. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, the bill would also toughen requirements for young ATV drivers and impose stricter punishment on violators.

Make no mistake: ATVs are dangerous motor vehicles. If you need training and a license to drive a car, which has seat belts and air bags, you need training and a license to drive ATVs.

As a matter of fact, we think 14 is too young to drive an ATV, which can reach speeds of up to 50 mph. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons have recommended a ban on ATV drivers under age 16.

Why? Because nearly one-third of those killed in ATV accidents in the U.S. between 1982 and 2005 were children under 16.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, of the 7,188 people killed in an ATV accident in the U.S. in that period, 54 were from Massachusetts.

One of those victims was 13-year-old Benjamin Alder of Forestdale, who was killed when he was thrown from his motorized dirt bike on a wooded trail near the Massachusetts Military Reservation in April 2003.

In addition to fatalities, more than 254,000 ATV-related injuries were treated in hospitals and doctors' offices in 2000, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission reported that ATV-related injuries doubled between 1997 and 2001 to 110,000, outpacing the 40 percent rise in the number of vehicles.

Children under 16 accounted for about 40 percent of the total ATV-related injuries and deaths in 2000.

Currently, few states require a license to operate a dirt bike or ATV and there are no nationally mandated safety standards.

In Massachusetts, children from 10 to 14 must be supervised by a person 18 or older. What good is that if a 10-year-old is on a separate vehicle, approaching high speeds?

"The state of Massachusetts failed us," Mark Kearney said.

Patrick's bill requires the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to keep a record of ATVs driven in the commonwealth and would mandate that police officers who find children in violation of the statute to file a request for the investigation of child abuse.

This bill could save lives. The House should act on it as soon as possible.