Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to sign a bill Wednesday that would set new rules for children using all terrain vehicles in South Carolina.
The new law would prohibit children under the age of 6 from operating an ATV. Children younger than 16 would not be allowed to carry passengers and children 15 and younger would be required to wear a helmet and eye protection while riding on ATVs. Farmers and their families who use ATVs in their farming operations or wildlife habitat management would be exempt from the law, as would hunters and trappers.
The law would go into effect July 1st.
It's called "Chandler's Law", after a Swansea teenager who was killed in an ATV accident in 2003.
The parents of a Conway boy who also died from an ATV accident say it's about time South Carolina had a law enforcing safety regulations on the 4-wheeled vehicles.
"I think it's a long time coming and I'm glad to see that it has passed, and it's definitely going to have an impact," said Robyn Rabon, whose 11-year-old son Collin died in 2006.
Collin's father says the law will prevent other families from having to suffer what his family has gone through.
"I think it's a great idea. I think anytime safety can be involved in any aspect, it certainly should be," said Steve Rabon.
Coastal Carolina University football coach David Bennett is a personal friend of the Rabon family and established Collin's Kids a foundation in memory of Collin Rabon that raises money for children's causes in Horry County. Bennett says he's glad the ATV bill will become law.
"I think anything we can do for the safety of kids, I think it's great that our governor has done that."
Over the past five years, Chandler's Law passed in both houses of the General Assembly several times, but was always vetoed by former Gov. Mark Sanford. Lawmakers could never muster enough votes to override the vetoes. Sanford said the law would impinge on private property rights, diminish parental responsibility and be difficult to enforce.
But Haley had no such qualms about Chandler's Law and indicated she would sign the bill soon after the latest version passed both houses last month.
South Carolina had been one of only six states without some kind of ATV safety law. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, 35 children under the age of 16 died from ATV accidents in South Carolina from 1982 to 2006.
