Coroner demands action over quad bikes

The ‘‘persistent concern’’ over deaths of people on quad bikes has prompted a coroner to issue recommendations to improve safety.

Neville Anderson, a 56-year-old Clutha farm worker, was found dead under an overturned quad bike on September 24, 2014.

Coroner Brigitte Windley, of Wellington, found Anderson suffered crush injuries to his chest as a result of crashing the quad bike.

She noted her findings echoed a series of other findings issued by deputy chief coroner Brandt Shortland in 2013, in which the trapping of a rider under a bike was a common feature among the deaths.

She issued several recommendations to improve quad bike safety and address a ‘‘persistent concern’’.

Those recommendations are: The Quad Bike Workplace Safety Project findings provide a case for Roll Over Protection (ROP) devices to be mandated for all quad bikes;

A rebate or subsidy programme for rider training, purchase and fitting of ROP devices, and purchase of alternative vehicles should be introduced for farmers and their employees who use quad bikes in performing their farming activities;

A national five-star safety rating system for quad bikes should be introduced.

At the time of his death, Anderson was employed by Cullen Farm owner Murray Cullen.The pair had known each other for 30 years.

Anderson was checking for new lambs or mothers in distress in a back paddock on the afternoon of September 24, 2014, and was towing a purpose-built trailer with an empty crate attached.

He was expected to leave the trailer in another paddock, and return from his lambing beat about 5.30pm, but when he didn’t return, or answer his cellphone, Cullen started a search.

At 6.30pm, he found Anderson pinned under the overturned quad bike, straddling the seat, still in a riding position.

The trailer was still hitched to the quad bike but the towball coupling was twisted, leaving the trailer in an upright position.

Anderson was not breathing, was cold to the touch, and had no detectable pulse.

An autopsy noted it was possible he suffered a medical event before the crash, but that was ‘‘not possible to prove’’.

WorkSafe noted Anderson had three decades experience in riding quad bikes, but no formal training.

He was also not wearing one of the supplied helmets.

‘‘Despite the public attention quad bike deaths have received, and the ongoing work done by government agencies such as WorkSafe and ACC, with input and support from industry organisations, quad bike deaths were reported to have reached a record high in 2016,’’ coroner Windley noted.

She acknowledged ROP devices were a controversial issue in quad bike safety, but identified compelling Australian research providing the first ever in-field evidence about their protective benefit.

‘‘It is imperative that we examine proposals that may improve quad bike safety and reduce quad bike trauma and death.’’