An Analysis of Crash Data and Safety Trends in ATV's and UTV's in Minnesota

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and utility task vehicles (UTVs) continue to remain under the radar as contributors to serious injuries and fatalities. In Minnesota, the number of deaths associated with ATVs averages about twenty annually. However, the number of serious injuries is even greater. Serious injury and fatal crashes have a significant impact not just on the individuals involved in the crashes, but their families and communities who bear the impacts of the aftereffects. Furthermore, these numbers are only those known to be reported in the motor vehicle crash data. There is the potential that the number of ATV- and UTV-involved crashes is greater when considering direct admissions to the hospital. Overall, the crash data trends are not fully understood. MnDOT is seeing an increasing trend in their occurrence, and they do not envision this trend de-escalating anytime soon. The topic of ATV/UTV has also been discussed with frequency in the Minnesota legislature. Therefore, this research seeks to better quantify the number and severity of crashes involving ATVs and UTVs as well as trends in this data. This in-depth analysis will methodically investigate the crash causals and circumstances that could then potentially inform education, policy, and perhaps engineering solutions to eliminate the serious injury and fatal crash occurrence.

Language

  • English

Project

  • Status: Active
  • Funding: $106,708.69
  • Contract Numbers:

    1058103 WO#1

  • Sponsor Organizations:

    Minnesota Department of Transportation

    395 John Ireland Boulevard
    St Paul, MN  United States  55155

    Local Road Research Board

    395 John Ireland Boulevard
    St. Paul, Minnesota  United States  55155-1899
  • Managing Organizations:

    MnDOT Research & Innovation

    Minnesota Department of Transportation
    395 John Ireland Blvd
    St. Paul, Minnesota  United States  55155
  • Performing Organizations:

    Montana State University, Bozeman

    College of Engineering
    Bozeman, MT  United States  59717
  • Principal Investigators:

    Villwock-Witte, Natalie

  • Start Date: 20260722
  • Expected Completion Date: 20280229
  • Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01999554
  • Record Type: Research project
  • Source Agency: Minnesota Department of Transportation
  • Contract Numbers: 1058103 WO#1
  • Files: RIP, STATEDOT
  • Created Date: Aug 18 2026 4:42PM