How quad bikes can cost $12m in claims
Research shows most accidents happen when farmers lose focus.
Iconsider myself pretty fortunate to have rolled a quad bike only once during my time farming. How terrible a statement is that?
But I won’t be alone in this sentiment - which shows a lot of us expect to roll a quad at some point in our careers.
On average, FMG receives a claim for a quad rollover or accident every single day.
For me, it was a simple moment’s inattention.
Jumping on the bike on a Friday afternoon to head home, my head already deep in planning what we needed for twilight golf.
I was parked on a hill and made two crucial errors - accelerated too quickly, while also turning the steering too sharply.
While I may have gotten away with just one error, putting them together meant there was only one outcome possible here – the quad bike rolled.
Thankfully, I was thrown clear and apart from a good head smack on the ground, walked away unscathed.
I was very, very lucky.
Data supplied to The Country by FMG insurance – who, over a 5-year period, had over $12.5m claims for quad bikes - shows almost one in five accidents happen when the farmer is performing multiple tasks.
How often are you just solely focused on one job at a time when farming? From memory, hardly ever.
But it’s something we all need to work on - especially coming into early summer, when there’s more mustering and spraying on higher-risk sheep and beef farms and a small lapse in concentration can lead to a collision, or worse, a rollover.
That’s why it’s important when using the quad to muster, to always be conscious of the ground ahead of you and be willing to let the stock get away, rather than putting the quad in a compromised position.
Interestingly, not all quad bike accidents happen when you’re riding.
Almost 20 per cent of FMG’S total quad bike claims are for accidents when the rider has hopped off the bike, the most coming being opening or shutting the farm gate – something we’d all do a million times a day without thinking.
It’s honestly as simple as using the park brake when getting on and off so you don’t find yourself chasing after a runaway quad bike.
How often do you check your bike before jumping on it?
Doing a pre-ride check is the best way to ensure you’re not hopping onto an unsafe vehicle.
Things like uneven tyre pressure can affect the stability of your bike and we know it doesn’t take much to roll.
So, before you ride, do a TCLOCC check: Tyres, Chassis, Lights, Oils and Cabin Controls.
Another close call I had involved towing a full PKE trough through an underpass, when the weight began to drive the bike towards the wall.
Again, I’m not alone in this, as almost 5 per cent of all accidents have had additional weight on the quad from either carrying farm dogs or towing trailers.
Because of the versatile nature of quad bikes, they can be pushed past their capabilities and used to tow or pull items they are not designed to.
All of these change the weight of the bike which then becomes more unstable.
Moral of the story – sometimes you need to suck it up and go get the ute!
Final tip from the data we received - the most commonly stolen items from farms are quads and farm bikes.
Quad theft typically happens at night, with the quad being taken from inside or near to houses and farm buildings.
Coming into Christmas especially (yep, I went there. Don’t @ me!), don’t make someone else’s Christmas “shopping” any easier for them.
So forget the Christmas lights for the moment and instead upgrade your shed security lighting, and your locks while you’re at it, to deter our light-fingered foe.
For more information check out https:// www.fmg.co.nz/advice/quad-bike-safety