Meredith McLeod (Meredith McLeod) said of the drivers near his home: “It seems to be really difficult, especially when children drive themselves.”

The family later learned that Horatio had passed through the windshield when the young driver hit a steel culvert on the side of the road. Horatio was wearing a helmet, but his parents said that the coroner’s investigation found that he was not wearing a seat belt.

After several surgical operations to try to stop the bleeding, he died the next morning at Ontario Children’s Hospital in Eastern Ottawa.

Horatio’s reminders can be seen everywhere in the family’s home, including a garden planted in his memory and his bedroom. Since September 9, 2017, the day he went to his friend’s house, his bedroom has been constant.

For McLeods, the best way to respect Horatio’s life is to change the law, which they hope will prevent another family from suffering the same nightmare.

Last fall, the Ontario government held a coroner’s investigation into the cause of Horatio’s death. The jury made 27 recommendations, which, once implemented, will greatly change the pastimes of young and adult riders throughout Canada.

Despite the recommendations and hundreds of people killed in off-road vehicle accidents since Horatio’s death, there is no indication that the government plans to make major changes to improve safety.

Meredith McLeod said: “That’s why we do this…to advocate for parents who are as naive as we are.”

That day was the first time Horatio used any kind of all-terrain vehicle. His father agreed to let him ride with his friends’ family, as long as he didn’t operate the machine himself. The McLeods said that the parents of the other boy rode with them on another machine, ahead of the boys. Horatio excitedly tried something new.

Chris McLeod often repeats a scene in his mind, hoping that he will make a different decision.

He said: “I don’t even know how powerful the actual machine is.”

A curious, driven boy

Horatio’s parents remember him as a boy full of curiosity and motivation. He loves everything and dreams of becoming an astronaut or pilot. He was so determined to this goal that he participated in French immersion shortly before the crash, because he knew that he had to use two official languages ??at the same time to achieve his goal.

He has the determination to solve problems, and his teachers often ask Horatio to help them improve their skills. The school installed a “partner bench” in his memory for children to use when they feel lonely and need friends to accompany them.

His parents said that they didn’t know many details until what happened on the day of the crash, until they heard the evidence from the coroner’s interrogation three years after Horatio’s death.

This investigation is also where McLeods learned that he was not alone after losing his family in an off-road car accident.

Meredith McLeod said that finding out how many people died on the machine is a “painful thing” for the family.

She said: “In the first three years, we were just a family that lost our son. Everyone felt sorry for us. The outpouring of the community was absolutely an exception.”

“But I didn’t realize that I had a voice until after asking. That was a change.”

At least 555 people have died since 2018

Since Horatio’s death in 2018, at least 555 Canadians have been killed in ATV and snowmobile crashes, and this number is likely to be underestimated. CBC News aggregated the numbers by investigating the Coroner’s Office and the police and searching news reports across the country, but finding complete and up-to-date data categorized by province and region is a challenge.

“digital [of deaths] Pamela Fuselli, president and chief executive officer of Parachute, an injury prevention organization, said: “This is a very high number and definitely a component that we need to consider.” Parachute stood in the middle of the coroner’s inquiry about the cause of Horatio’s death.

“But every number, if you want, is a person. When you lower it to that level, when you hear stories of families who lost loved ones, injured, permanently disabled, or went through a long road, recovering from injuries, You really begin to understand the size of each number.”

The recommendations made in the investigation include mandatory training, new age limits, better tracking of injuries and deaths, and changes to the way off-road vehicles are designed. For a long time, injury prevention experts and medical professionals have been calling for the latter because they believe that the machine is prone to tipping or rolling.

The interrogation jury also accepted McLeods’ recommendation that youth-sized off-road vehicles should not be sold, “unless safety innovations are made and the off-road vehicle standards show that adult off-road vehicle (ORV) injuries/deaths have been reduced. Because of its implementation.”

Some of these recommendations are made to Ontario’s provincial government departments (such as the Department of Transportation), while others go one step further and require changes from the federal government.

The jury believes that any legislative amendment is called the “Horasso Law”, which is an idea loved by his parents.

The government has not promised to make changes

Chris McLeod said: “I think most suggestions are not the most important.”

“This is to teach you how to use these things and make sure you are old enough to make the right decisions so that you can enjoy these things safely.”

However, four months after the jury made its recommendations, neither the Ontario Ministry of Transport nor Transport Canada promised to make changes. No one at all levels of government interviewed the proposed changes.

Watch: McLeods’ mission is to promote better ATV safety rules:

A CBC News investigation found that since 2018, at least 555 people across Canada have died from ATVs or snowmobiles. 2:07

Mike Finn, a senior issues consultant at the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, wrote in an email statement: “We have carefully considered the Coroner’s recommendations and are currently reviewing each recommendation to determine the appropriate next step.”

A spokesperson for Transport Canada said that the department received the coroner’s report “and has taken note of the suggested recommendations,” but did not specify the possible changes.

Young people are not trained in all provinces

The Canadian Quartet Council of permanent juries made some recommendations that were finally endorsed by the jury. This includes recommending that the rider’s blood alcohol concentration is zero.

The council represents the ATV Drivers Federation, which has more than 100,000 drivers in Canada. Its general manager Wayne Daub said the council hopes to learn from the tragedy.

Doub said: “We believe that all drivers should be trained, regardless of whether there are incentives to make it happen, or whether it is legislated by the government.”

Unlike New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, Ontario’s laws do not require any form of enforcement on young people using off-road vehicles. Sex training.

Each province has different regulations, stating the age at which you ride the ATV. The regulations say that in Ontario, children under the age of 12 can drive off-road vehicles if they are under the supervision of an adult or on land owned by the owner of the machine.

With some exceptions, only one province in Nova Scotia requires mandatory training for adults.

This means that in most parts of Canada, without human guidance, you can buy an ATV today and go out to drive tomorrow.

“They are not allowed to drive anything else with an engine or electric motor without training. Why should ATV be tax-free?” Dao said.

Mandatory training brings challenges

The jury recommended the design of a “compulsory standardized safety and training course for off-road vehicles,” which includes “hands-on learning”, and is approved by the federal and provincial governments.

Both youth and adults must complete this procedure to obtain an off-road vehicle permit, license or certificate of conformity.

Daub said that mandatory training would be a good thing, because legally speaking, it would require operators to be trained. But he questioned whether it was feasible in sparsely populated places (such as parts of northern Ontario).

He said: “It will become more difficult to have trainers in all these places.”

The Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council, which represents ATV manufacturers and distributors, agrees that all drivers should be trained, but does not support the idea of ??mandatory training. The committee also believes that geographical factors will make it difficult to promote.

Board Chairman Bob Ramsey said: “In many provinces and territories in Canada, it is almost impossible to pass a certified lecturer or chief lecturer to provide this knowledge.”

If the government does not take mandatory training measures, McLeods hopes that insurance companies will provide discounts to encourage training, similar to education courses for new drivers.

Fuselli of Parachute, an injury prevention organization, said that there is not enough evidence on whether ATV training can reduce the likelihood of crashes. If so, which training is the best.

But she said that there is evidence that a progressive driver’s license system can gradually introduce skills to new drivers and make it easier for them to cope with more challenging driving situations, thereby effectively reducing car collisions.

“Due to the lack of actual research evidence that training on ATV is effective, we are translating the evidence surrounding the graduated driver’s license, saying it may be effective,” Fuselli said.

At stake

Since the investigation ended in November, Daub from the Canadian Quartet Council stated that he has held a meeting with the Ontario Ministry of Transport to discuss recommendations.

Daub said: “I am optimistic about the changes that Ontario will bring.”

“The change will not come from the federal government, I am not optimistic. ATVs are indeed a loophole. They are not suitable for Transport Canada at all because Transport Canada is on the road. They are not really suitable for infrastructure, they are not suitable for tourism. They are There are no houses and no places to drive in the federal government.”

Meredith and Chris McLeod are determined to see some good things from Horatio’s failure. They plan to continue working with parachutes to advocate for change, and plan to write to local politicians.

They only need to look at the necklace on the neck and engrave Horatio’s fingerprint and signature on it to know what is wrong.

“We are always changing,” Meredith McLeod said.

“If you didn’t realize it before turning on the engine, that’s the problem.”