Philadelphia

Boy, 13, Killed in Bucks County ATV Crash Identified

The teenager killed while driving an all-terrain vehicle Friday night in Bensalem has been identified as a township resident, according to police.

Gianni Forte, 13, was not wearing a helmet and the ATV he was driving north on Bensalem Boulevard apparently did not have its headlights turned on when the crash occurred, police said in a release.

Forte died at the scene and another 13-year-old boy, who was wearing a helmet and riding as a passenger on the ATV, was flown to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, police said.

The teenage passenger remained in critical condition Saturday.

The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. at Bensalem Boulevard and Jason Drive, police said.

Forte's ATV crashed into the passenger side of a car, which was making a left onto Jason Drive, police said. The force of the crash caused the ATV to flip over.

Bensalem Teen Killed ATV crash
NBC10
An ATV sits upside-down after it collided with a sedan in Bensalem, Pennsylvania on Jan. 27, 2017. A 13-year-old riding on the ATV was killed.

The driver of the car, identified only as a 60-year-old man from Bensalem, told police he didn't see any vehicles as he made a turn. He suffered minor injuries, police said.

Heather Carr, who lives nearby, said it was "a bad sight" when she came upon the scene.

"It was the quad turned over with a body in the middle of the road. First time I've ever seen something like that. It's just bad," she said.

Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest reported ATV fatality rate in the nation, according to data compiled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Between 1982 and 2015, 697 people were killed in Pa. ATV crashes. Nationwide, over the same time period, children younger than 16 accounted for 22 percent of the 14,129 ATV-related deaths, the CPSC's report showed.

In 2015, the CPSC estimates 97,200 people suffered ATV-related injuries serious enough to send them to the emergency room.

Authorities in Philadelphia, where driving an ATV on the road is illegal, have been cracking down on off-road vehicle use in recent years. Squads of ATV drivers have recorded videos of themselves racing through the city. Last April, police confiscated 60 ATVs and dirt bikes. The month before, they impounded 53.

Bensalem Township police Lt. David Richardson said police often receive calls about people driving ATVs down the town's roads.

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