Victim was passenger in side by side vehicle

A woman killed on a farm property near Wakefield was the passenger in a side-by-side vehicle.

The woman, whose name will not be released until at least next week, died on Thursday at a property on Eighty-Eight Valley Rd, near Wakefield, south-west of Nelson.

A 22-year-old woman, suffered minor injuries.

Police initially reported the incident had involved a quad bike rollover. However, WorkSafe strategic communications manager Mark Scott said yesterday that a side-by-side vehicle was being driven at the time of the accident.

He said the woman who died was the passenger in the vehicle.

The incident is understood to have occurred in a remote location with steep hillsides. Stuff understands the women were on a working holiday.

Quad bikes and utility task vehicles (UTV), such as side-bysides, are both off-road vehicles.

While quad bikes are lighter and more nimble but easier to roll, the steering wheel-driven UTVs can weigh between 400kg and 700kg, can seat two to six people and are designed for rougher terrain and hauling tasks.

They are fitted with roll cages. Thursday’s death was the second UTV-related fatality this year.

On March 27, a 52-year-old man died when his side-by-side vehicle rolled on a farm south of Blenheim.

The agriculture sector contributed the highest number of workplace deaths between 2011 and 2018, with quad bikes a factor in 36 of the 130 fatalities in that period – equal to the second-highest industry, construction.

However, since peaking at nine deaths in 2015, the number of quad bike fatalities has decreased with WorkSafe reporting a total of 10 in the past three years to June this year.