"Quad bikes not toys".
"Accident sparks call for caution".
"Farm bike change wanted".
"Death spurs call for quad bike training".
The headlines regarding quad bikes in this newspaper during the past few months are disturbingly similar.
In the most recent incident, a 38-year-old Australian woman died earlier this month from severe head injuries having apparently fallen from a quad bike on an adventure tour near Auckland.
Her death came the day after a 10-year-old boy, found by his father pinned beneath a quad bike on a Wairarapa farm, died on October 10. Their deaths bring to five the number of people who have died in quad bike accidents this year.
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment figures show about five people die and about 850 are injured on farm bikes each year.
Such preventable deaths inevitably spur calls for action. Sadly, such calls have been made repeatedly in recent years and little seems to have changed.
Earlier this month, Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean said simple safety messages around the use of quad bikes could "go a long way to preventing these utterly unnecessary deaths".
He said quad bikes were fine when used for the purpose for which they were designed, but when pushed beyond that, or used by children, they became potentially dangerous. He said a "key message is training and awareness that they're not toys".
New Zealand Safety Council Trust chief executive David Calvert said earlier this month pushing safety messages was not enough and there needed to be tighter regulations. Parents should take responsibility for their children or face prosecution.
"We have to draw a line in the sand somewhere - no 6-year-old should ever be on a quad bike".
He supported the use of helmets and roll bars.
Federated Farmers health and safety spokeswoman Jeanette Maxwell agreed parents should take responsibility but also said children should not be wrapped in cotton wool as they would get no life experience and that unfortunately "accidents happen".
In September, coroner Richard McElrea recommended quad bikes be equipped with rotational towballs after an 18-year-old female farmhand was crushed to death on a West Coast farm in 2010 when the quad bike with which she had been towing a trailer rolled. In August, Otago-Southland coroner David Crerar called for all people using quad bikes to be instructed in their use and dangers, when a 65-year-old farmer died last year after being trapped under his quad bike on his Southland farm. He said farm workers should always choose the right vehicle for the job and said crash helmets should be worn. In 2009, Wellington coroner Ian Smith said the issue of roll cages "must be solved". But three years on, little progress has been made on that issue, with the jury still out on whether they prevent or contribute to injury.
In September, University of Sydney academic Associate Prof Tony Lower criticised quad bike manufacturers, saying the industry had convinced regulators not to introduce mandatory roll-over protection. ATV manufacturers and distributors in New Zealand disagreed with the claims and stuck by their belief the protective measures were not proven as did Otago Federated Farmers vice-president Mike Lord. Mr Lord did say that while quad bikes were a great farm vehicle, some farmers were using them beyond their design limits, and must take responsibility for safety.
And therein lies part of the problem. Quad bikes are seen as great workhorses. They are deceptively easy to ride, versatile, and cost less to run than utility vehicles. And as for them being used by children, it has always been the case that youngsters on farms have grown up driving all manner of vehicles from an early age. But part of the problem is undoubtedly that familiarity has bred contempt and the commonplace and vital working tool is perhaps taken for granted by many who forget or ignore basic safety messages. It is clear those attitudes must change.
Personal, workplace and parental responsibility should take priority and the basic safety messages heeded. If not, the Government may feel the need to address the issue with appropriate controls. And, surely, farmers do not want more compliance forced on them when the solutions, in many cases, are in their own hands.
