Quad bike overtakes tractor as deadliest farm vehicle

[Squalo]

We have been over this topic a few times on myswag... I thought it was worth posting this up as we seem to have a lot of members keen on quad bikes, along with our rural members.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/quad-bike-overtakes-tractor-as-deadliest-farm-vehicle-20120721-22gu8.html

[BigJules]

One field day I was at had a simple hoop bar that could be fitted to reduce the danger. Made them look like our old push bikes.

[Mace]

That would be these:

http://www.quadbar.com.au/the-quadbar.html

Our work quads have them.

Worksafe recommends users "consider fitting them".  Theyre not legislated, and not recommended by manafacturers, as they have not been part of the engineering process during design/manafacture.

So, there is currently a stand of between manafacturers and Worksafe as to them being regulated into use/standard fittment.

As a safety professional I think they are a good idea.

[Tjupurula]

A really good friend of mine is in a Rehabilitation Centre in Perth, having flipped his quad bike just outside Kununurra and it landed on him.  I must add that he was not sober when it happened.  He is in his 30's, but now has the mental age of less than 10, and has to learn to walk and talk again.
Tjupurula

[Bird]

only ridden quads once on a farm, it was ok compared to the trike a mate had, it was the pure definition of deadly.

[Pipeliner]

A really good friend of mine is in a Rehabilitation Centre in Perth, having flipped his quad bike just outside Kununurra and it landed on him.  I must add that he was not sober when it happened.  He is in his 30's, but now has the mental age of less than 10, and has to learn to walk and talk again.
Tjupurula

Sorry to hear about your friend, but it seems his mental age wasn't up to his chronological age before the accident if he went driving a quad whilst drunk.

[RIB007]

Hi all .
The sad fact is ,quad bikes don't hurt or kill anyone the operator is responsible that is the line that all quad bike manufactures  believe.
If any has notice on our beaches all Surflife saving clubs are banned from using quad bikes , due to the high rate of accidents with quad bikes . Quad bikes don't have Australian standard for roll over protection as do tractors.

Richard

[kranky al]

wow - just about to get a couple of these for me and the mrs - will defo grab one of the bars for each bike

[Mace]

As Rib007 has said, the sad fact is that Manafacturers and Legislators are unlikely to ever see eye to eye on this one, so an AS is unlikely to be prepared.  It was a big enough issue getting them legislated for new tractors and ensuring all second hand tractors re-sold have them retro-fitted.  A  huge issue with the amount of quads about tho.

At least worksafe in Victoria have gone out and endorsed users "consider fitting them". A weak response some may say, but at least its something.

My daughters lost a school mate at state school when they were in year 6. It was very lucky that two wernt killed.  Both went straight over the back when the unit flipped.

Most ATV manuals now say "minumun age 16, rider to be trained" or something similar.

Most rural TAFE's offer an ATV  Users Course at part of their rural studies short courses. They might seem to be a "learn how to suck eggs" course for some, but id recommend one for all.

[BigJules]

I heard today that some government, Victoria?, has put up a $1M grant to study quad bike safety.