Remember the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act? It was a knee jerk reaction to all those toys with lead in them coming out of China a couple years ago. The problem was, in banning all products that were intended for children and contained even trace amounts of lead, CPSIA also ended up banning the sale of children’s motorcycles and quads. There’s been a temporary stay of enforcement in place, but now we might have a permanent solution. House Resolution 421, the awesomely titled “Kids Just Want To Ride Act,” seeks to restore the legal status of kids bikes.

We were actually the first publication to realize the implications CPSIA would have on motorcycle sales back in 2009 and extensively covered the bill’s implementation, then stay of enforcement. In addition to just being dumb — if your kid’s licking motorcycle parts, a little lead poisoning’s not going to matter much — CPSIA actually had a negative impact on children’s safety. Forcing kids onto larger quads and motorcycles than are appropriate for their age and size can increase the risk and severity of accidents. The New York Times and other outlets read about that unintended consequence here and picked up the story.

Now, two years later, HR 421 finally seeks to permanently fix this problem.

“This is the most promising and viable legislative remedy available to permanently exclude kid-sized motorcycles and ATVs from the deleterious and unintended consequences of the CPSIA,” said AMA senior vice president Ed Moreland.

The bill is being introduced by Representative Denny Rehberg (R- Montana), who says, “Here again, a law meant to improve children’s safety is actually being enforced in a way that puts kids in more danger than ever, while destroying jobs to boot. It’s critical that we put to rest any confusion once and for all so kids can just get outside and ride. There’s no excuse for continued bungling that only stops kids from using the very youth-sized off-road vehicles that are intended to keep them safe.”

Want to help? You can take action through the AMA here.

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