Your tax dollars at work

The government is constantly spending my and your money to finance studies of things that could be figured out by a 5-year-old. The latest example I saw was a study by the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission with the headline: "ATVs Deadly for Young Riders." Hmmmmm. The study found that in 2006, 555 people died across the nation in all-terrain vehicle accidents, and 100 of them were children. The agency's recommendations for kids: Stay off roads (you know, where there are cars). Wear a helmet. Kids should not ride on adult-sized ATVs. Don't put more than one person on a one-person ATV (There goes the Wallenda pyramid). Here's a quote from the report: "Collisions with cars and other vehicles ... can be deadly." Really!?!?! Did this really require the attention of a bloated bureaucracy? Any fool could tell you that when riding relatively unprotected on a fast-moving vehicle, it might be wise to put something on your noggin. Kids who don't wear, or aren't required to wear, helmets when riding ATVs, and aren't killed in the process, are the people who grow up to ride motorcycles without helmets on major roads and highways. I call them "future organ donors." And they don't have the common sense of the aforementioned 5-year-old. So maybe they do need the government's guidance.