Quad bike warning

Surgeon fears more deaths unless roll bars are made mandatory

MORE deaths and horrific injuries will happen on Australian farms unless the government makes roll bars on quad bikes mandatory, surgeons have warned.

An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission review recommended mandatory roll protection on fourwheel bikes in March 2018 to curb deaths on farms.

Warwick Teague, who is the director of the trauma service at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, said he was seeing people disabled in quad bike incidents. “At the coalface we’re seeing injuries that no one should be facing within their lifetime,” he said.

“Head injuries, injuries to the chest and abdomen – which are devastating – spinal injuries, crushes to the pelvis and debilitating injuries to the lower limb bones.” The Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ quad bike spokesman said tens of people, including children, were dying each year.

“Future generations will look back on this moment just as we now look back on seatbelts on car seats,” Dr Teague said.

The paediatric surgeon said more than 230 people had died in quad-bike accidents since 2001, with thousands more injured in that period.

“They are not inherently stable pieces of equipment and the sooner we recognise that and mitigate for it, the sooner we will be protecting lives,” Dr Teague said.

The National Farmers’ Federation is rallying support for change, with the Country Women’s Association joining the push along with a slew of other rural organisations.

NFF workforce committee and Farmsafe chair Charles Armstrong said the government had to act on the ACCC’s recommendation to make protective devices mandatory.

Manufacturers including Honda and Yamaha have threatened to withdraw from the Australian market if laws are passed mandating roll protection on quad bikes.