Donald Aubrey: Cautionary sensor best for quad bikes

Quad bikes have many uses, including in duck-shooting. Photo / Mark Mitchell

While most people know an all- terrain vehicle by its popular "quad bike" moniker, farmers are the ones most aware that they are not toys.

In the hands of the untrained or the over-confident they can be deadly. And quad bike safety is far from being a problem exclusive to the agricultural sector.

ACC figures show 417 quad bike-related claims were lodged in 2008-09.

Of those, 51 were road accidents, 207 were "non-work or other" and 159 were "work- related". In other words, work-related incidents represented 38 per cent of ACC claims.

The entire agricultural sector knows it needs to do better. But perspective is also needed.

In 2009, the ACC "home toll" (people accidentally killed in their own home) registered 621 deaths - more than 50 per cent higher than the corresponding road toll.

While 18,600 people were injured in farm-related accidents in 2009 - one person every 34 minutes - some 632,920 people were injured in their home - one every 54 seconds.

No one is calling for a Warrant of Bathrooms, but I fear the idea is probably forming in an under-employed policy analyst's mind.

Federated Farmers and the Agriculture Health and Safety Council stress that education is the solution, aided by technology. Farmers know they have a strict duty of care, a truth that has been rammed home by successful health and safety in employment prosecutions.

We have to ensure quad-bike users are proficient in their operation.

These all-terrain vehicles have become a farmer's Swiss army knife, which explains why there are more than 90,000 of them about.

Some accidents may be nervously laughed off with a reflective "I was damn lucky".

But for 46 farmers last year incidents ended in serious injury and for five, the situation was tragically worse.

In response, some people, including Wellington's coroner, have called for mandatory roll over protection systems with harnesses - but Federated Farmers isn't so sure.

Farming in New Zealand poses particular challenges because of undulating terrain, rocks and stumps.

Some of our members have developed alternatives such as T-Bars which may have a safety role to play.

Yet almost all commercial users of quad bikes agree roll protection and harnesses may increase the risk of injury.

One scenario that gives me the shivers is a quad bike rolling downhill and on to a stump with the user restrained. As well, roll systems fundamentally change a bike's centre of gravity, making a bad situation worse.

Federated Farmers is looking at warning systems because an Otago University study published last year found "those with a tendency to steer uphill, instead of downhill while traversing a left-facing slope, had the most accidents". The study asked if tilt warning systems would reduce accidents - bearing in mind human behaviour is the biggest determinant of incidents.

No amount of safety training, equipment or procedure will overcome bravado.

Also, when operating a quad bike, users can sometimes become so fixated on the task at hand they become oblivious to possible precarious situations.

Yet inclinometers and clinometers have been around for centuries - now they are in everything from a Nintendo Wii to an iPad.

So instead of roll-over protection and harnesses - people who advocate these show a lack of understanding of how all terrain vehicles are used - maybe tilt warning systems could become part of a wider solution.

Federated Farmers has been in contact with an American company which manufactures a warning switch weighing just 85g. Connected to a lamp or audible warning alarm, it's designed to indicate unsafe conditions.

Multiple triggers can be arranged to induce caution, before a final alarm indicates the point of no return - a bit like a car's reversing sensor.

This device was designed for off-road, in-motion vehicles operating in high vibration or on rough terrain; in other words, the environment farmers work in every day.

The University of Otago study also found that vibration may disturb a user's natural sense of balance. Having a system that cuts through this would help warn of danger especially on rough terrain.

Yet there needs to be further examination of recreational accidents - which are the majority of incidents. It's untenable for every bike incident to be classed as a farm accident.

Finally, no amount of regulation or overt safety devices will overcome a "gung-ho invincibility", as Otago University found.

Instead, cultural change requires ongoing education and training. In that area, Federated Farmers is on the same page as ACC, Farmsafe and the Department of Labour.

Donald Aubrey is vice-president of Federated Farmers and chairman of the Agricultural Health and Safety Council.