Children at risk on NZ farms

''For every child that dies, there is probably between 12 and 20 who are significantly injured.'' Dr Nick Baker

A farm bike death is sudden and excruciating.

It can involve asphyxiation, drowning, or a severe head or spinal injury.

It has happened to dozens of New Zealand children, with many more critically injured.

More than 100 children hurt themselves on quad and farm bikes annually, according to ACC figures. About 28 are hospitalised. Between three and six die each year.

After swimming, farm bikes – particularly quad bikes – lead to more child deaths than any other recreational activity in New Zealand.

Despite pleas from former children’s commissioner Dr Russell Wills, former chief coroner Neil MacLean, and various doctors and safety groups, the law does not prevent children from riding quad bikes.

‘‘For rural communities . . . this has become a way of life, and there was some resistance to these sorts of bans from the farming community,’’ paediatrician Dr Nick Baker said.

‘‘But actually, these vehicles are extremely dangerous.’’

Records show one 4-year-old passenger on a farm bike was garrotted by a wire strung between trees, dying in Starship Hospital from severe spinal injuries.

Others had the life crushed out of them when pinned beneath a machine 10 times their weight, or drowned after becoming trapped underwater.

Between 2002 and 2012, 33 children were killed on off-road vehicles, a 2014 study co-authored by Baker found. Children in urban areas were four times less likely to die in such incidents.

‘‘For every child that dies, there is probably between 12 and 20 who are significantly injured,’’ Baker said.

‘‘Some of those will be permanent, like spinal cord injuries with paralysis, or brain damage from head injuries. They’re not minor.’’

On Saturday, a Southland girl was seriously injured when she was hit by a car while riding a farm bike on a public road.

Last month, 5-year-old Brooklyn Grigg drove into a creek and was fatally crushed beneath his child-sized quad bike north of Auckland.

Baker said legislation banning children from adult quad bikes ‘‘would help’’, but even bikes marketed towards children – some of which go up to 45kmh – were dangerous and effectively unregulated.

‘‘If you’re five or six or seven, you may be able to drive when everything is going right, but as soon as the unexpected happens your reflex may not be the right reflex.’’

Federated Farmers has long opposed a ban on quad bikes, but generally warns against children using them.

Finding the balance between the practicality realities of farming and keeping people safe was increasingly difficult, farm safety consultant D’arcy Palmer said.

‘‘WorkSafe frown deeply on children on quad bikes, putting passengers on quad bikes. I don’t know how they’re going to solve that one, because everyone does it.’’His company audits farms, and the vast majority were not fully compliant with health and safety rules, he said.

Strict rules – such as an outright ban on children being on quad bikes – could effectively bar children from farms, which would make things worse in the long run.

About 80 per cent of workers on his clients’ farms did not come from a farming background, which was where unsafe practices were most prevalent, he said.

‘‘Children should be allowed on farms, I’m a great believer in that . . . but it’s a complex issue.’’