In 2009, Wellington coroner Ian Smith said the contentious issue of fitting rollover protection systems (ROPS) on quad bikes (ATVs) "must be solved".
Three years on, little progress has been made.
Mr Smith was one of two coroners to push for quad bikes to be fitted with roll protection, after two deaths in one year on farms in the North Island, and although quad bike manufacturers are adamant safety cages and roll bars cause more harm than good, farming and government bodies remain firmly on the fence.
"That's the research coming out of America. That, in actual fact, it doesn't improve the safety."
Mr Stewart said manufacturers were well aware of safety, and changes to the design of vehicles to improve rider safety had been ongoing over the past 20 years.
"Over the years, they have changed ATVs to meet some of the issues that have arisen. In the early years, they had a footrest, not a platform, and people used to slip off the footrest and put their foot down and run over their foot."
If manufacturers deemed ROPS on ATVs as safe, they would be fitted as standard, he said.
He added that if roll protection was needed, there was already a vehicle on the market that fit the bill.
"Today, you can actually buy a UTV [utility task vehicle]. These are designed with a steering wheel and a seat. Those sorts of units are made which cover off this rollover issue."
With only one farm death on an ATV recorded this year in New Zealand, he said Honda's 20-year-long campaign to train users and the Department of Labour's "proactive" attitude towards safety, which involved on-farm inspections, were making good progress.
However, because manufacturers refused to condone roll frames, official training courses could not train people to drive roll cage-fitted machines safely.
CARNZ Training Ltd training manager Andrew Simpson said he had heard first-hand from both sides of the debate but, as ATV manufacturers and distributors in New Zealand refused to fit roll cages, he could not condone their use.
"I guess, where I sit, the biggest issue for me is that manufacturers in New Zealand, none of them condone the fitting of roll cages on ATVs, and that's a side I have to be aware of with my training.
"I have talked to a lot of people that have said to me, without a roll frame they wouldn't be here when they rolled their bike. But other people I know of, without a roll frame on they would probably still be walking, because it was the roll frame that broke their back."
He added that the manufacturers' stance meant that any roll cages fitted to quad bikes would invalidate the warranty.
"I have actually talked to a buddy of mine who has a motorbike shop here in Palmerston North, and he said he got asked to fit a roll frame to a second-hand machine, and he wouldn't do it. His thinking was, if he fitted a roll frame and the guy kills himself, is it going to come back on him because he fitted it."
Given the current state of play, he recommended that people be more proactive when thinking about safety, rather than relying on a roll cage to save them.
Trials of flexible ROPS that bend if they come into contact with a driver have started, and Federated Farmers agricultural health and safety spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell said the organisation would wait to see the results before taking an official position.
"There is still quite a lot of research going on. Often with roll cages, as much as they prevent injury, they often turn about and cause crushing injuries."
Mrs Maxwell said that until trials of new technology finished, she would advocate that farms ensure quad bikes were serviced regularly and riders had appropriate training.
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment said it was also "actively" working with farmers involved in trials of ROPS technology.
Ministry central general manager Ona de Rooy said that although the department had promoted cases where farmers believed the use of ROPS provided additional safety, fitting a roll cage should be left as a matter of personal choice.
In addition to recommending the use of helmets, sufficient training and attention to load limits, ministry guidelines published last year as part of the Quad Bike Safety project also urged farmers to choose "the safest vehicle" for different jobs around the farm, Ms De Rooy said.
Heavy toll
• Five people die and 850 people are injured riding quad bikes on farms in New Zealand each year.
• ACC-accepted claims resulting from quad bike accidents on farms fell from 732 in 2005-06 to 625 in 2011-12
• For the year 2012 to date, ACC has paid out more than $1.8 million in accident claims involving quad bikes.
• Quad bikes are responsible for about 30% of all agricultural deaths.
