A 13-year-old Ka'u boy died yesterday morning on the Big Island when his all-terrain vehicle crashed into another ATV.

The boy was identified by Big Island police as Kamanuwai Waiwaiole of Waiohinu. He was taken to Ka'u Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10 a.m.

Big Island police responded to an 8:15 a.m. report of a crash at the intersection of Wakea Avenue and Kahiki Street in the Discovery Harbour Subdivision and found the boy lying on the road with severe head injuries.

The two ATVs had been headed north on Kahiki Street toward Wakea Avenue when Kamanuwai's ATV ran into the ATV in front of him. The force of the collision ejected him onto Kahiki Street, police said.

Neither rider was wearing a helmet. Police believe speed played a factor in the crash.

The accident is the fourth ATV-related fatality since 1997.

The three previous deaths were on Maui: a 3-year-old in 2001, a 16-year-old in 2002 and a 23-year-old in 2004, according to the Department of Health.

County streets and roads that carry vehicular traffic are off limits to the estimated 5,000 ATVs on the Big Island. But teenagers without cars complain that it's difficult for them to find a way to transport ATVs to legal trails.

This year Paul Maddox, president of Hawai'i Racing Association, said several groups around the Big Island are working to establish racing facilities for ATVs and dirt bikes, but for the moment the options are limited to a legal network of trails on Stainback Highway, and monthly races at the Parker Ranch rodeo arena in Waimea.

ATVs are allowed for farm purposes, such as checking fence lines, but a special permit is required for landowners to set up ATV courses.

The county planning department in the past two years has issued warning letters at about eight ATV courses that were set up on private land.