U.S. House approves law allowing kids to ride

Congress may finally let the kids ride.

After years of wrangling over whether ATVs and motorcycles built specifically for kids younger than 12 years old were a health hazard due to lead levels, the U.S. House of Representatives has finally exempted the toys and the kids can ride again.

The U.S. Senate has yet to approve the law, however. If it doesn't, the motorized vehicles will banned from sale in the U.S. in December.

Much of the two-year effort's success belongs to the American Motorcyclist Association which lobbied The Elected for a long time. It also lobbied the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Safety Nazi group that somehow found lead content in motorcycle engines to be more dangerous than lead content in bicycles.

Kids' bikes were exempt from strict standards put in place by the CPSC. Actions to prevent motor vehicle sales have been stayed several times, the latest one in February that delayed the ban's effective date until Jan. 1 2012.

The law bans the making, importing, distributing or selling of any product intended for children 12 and under that contains more than a specified amount of lead in any accessible part. It also requires that all children's products undergo periodic testing by independent laboratories approved by the CSPC.

"Despite the stay, it is unclear whether state attorneys general will also decline to enforce the [law]," the AMA wrote when the delay was approved. "The sale of kid-sized motorcycles and ATVs is still technically illegal. Even though a stay means that dealers would not be subject to fines or penalties imposed by the CPSC, state attorneys general would still be able to prosecute violators if they chose to do so. Kid-sized motorcycles and ATVs should be exempt from the law, and Congress needs to act to make that happen."