CHARLESTON (AP) - The House of Delegates battled over provisions amended into Gov. Bob Wise's all-terrain vehicle safety bill before unanimously passing the legislation Thursday.

The bill (HB4022) would require safety classes for children and require helmets for riders under 18. It would also ban ATV riders from paved roads with a center line.

The bill provides a 25-mile exemption allowing users to ride along all roads except interstates. But it does not address ATVs on 10,000 miles of paved roads that lack a painted center line and explicitly exempts private property, where most ATVs are ridden.

"I hope that we can use this as a starting point," Government Organization Chairman J.D. Beane, D-Wood, told members before the vote. Three members were absent.

As part of a quick action agenda set by Speaker Bob Kiss, the governor's bill was amended by Beane's committee on Tuesday to mirror a compromise crafted last year in a House-Senate conference committee. That bill was criticized by safety advocates and defeated in the Senate.

Kiss, D-Raleigh, and Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, agreed to use the bill as a starting point for this year's debate. Largely without success, House members pursued more than a half-dozen amendments meant to strengthen the bill's safety provisions.

House Minority Leader Charles Trump proposed three that failed. One would have banned the vehicles from all public roads, with exceptions for farm and commercial uses.

"I believe that this is the most important safety feature and safety measure that this House can consider on this issue," said Trump, R-Morgan. "Let's make sure that what we pass is as good as it can be."

That amendment was defeated 23-72 with four members absent or not voting.

The House rejected, by 32-65, an amendment from Delegate Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, that would have required helmets for children riding on private property.

"Children are learning how to ride ATVs on private property," Frich said. "They are getting injured on private property. They are dying on private property."

But the members present unanimously adopted an amendment co-sponsored by Beane that would require at least a level two intermediate driver's license, mandated for motorcycles, for riders to carry passengers under age 18.

A group of senators introduced two bills Wednesday that a joint legislative committee drafted during last year's monthly interim meetings. The dual approach is meant to improve the chances of some sort of ATV legislation passing this session. Lawmakers have debated ATV safety for seven straight years without passing legislation.

One bill (SB252) addresses child safety and the other (SB253) ATVs on paved roads.

Both have been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee, which also has the Senate's version of Wise's bill (SB153).

Accidents involving ATVs have killed 75 West Virginians since 2000, giving the state the nation's highest per-capita death rate.