Professor opens up on ‘terrible’ news he has to deliver after accidents
Concerns surrounding quad bike safety have been reignited following the tragic death of two North Queensland women in 48 hours.
Townsville
Don't miss out on the headlines from Townsville. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Concerns surrounding quad bike safety have been reignited following the tragic death of two North Queensland women in 48 hours.
A 76-year-old woman died at Townsville University Hospital early yesterday afternoon following a crash near Innisfail on Monday morning, where it was confirmed by police she wasn’t wearing a helmet.
RELATED>>>
• Taylah Pearson’s family pay tribute to their ‘Tay Tay’ and her beautiful heart
• Quad bikes: Elderly woman dies after crash near Innisfail
• Cyclist hospital admissions more than double
The horrific crash came a day after Burdekin woman Taylah Pearson died after she was thrown from the back of a quad bike. In October last year, the Federal Government passed reforms that mandated new safety standards for the manufacture of all new quad bikes following a damning report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued last February.
Leading the charge in advocating for law reform on behalf of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Associate Professor Warwick Teague said he would never forget the little boy whose crash has stayed with him since 2013.
“It was a terrible farming injury in a child who went on to have awful infections of his wounds,” Prof Teague told the Townsville Bulletin.
“It was my most defining experience of quad bike trauma (because) it meant lifelong family and community devastation.”
The paediatric surgeon said his appointment by the college as spokesman for prevention of quad bike trauma highlighted how seriously it was taken by surgeons across the nation.
Prof Teague said sitting families down to give an often unfavourable prognosis was one of the most important and difficult things he did as a healthcare professional.
He said it was impossible for clinicians to remove emotion from this conversation because there was too much at risk.
“I looked after a child who’d crashed at a dairy farm and been trapped by a quad bike that rolled and the burns he sustained weren’t from direct impact or the motor,” he said.
“In the minutes he sat there until he was discovered he was being burned from the heat of the bike and that is harrowing.
“I’ve looked after children who will never open their eyes again or walk unaided again because of their injuries and this is the gravity from something that is completely preventable.”
Prof Teague has sat on three separate coronial inquests.
He said the nature of injuries caused by quad bike crashes were consistent across Australia, but the environment and ages of those affected weren’t. Prof Teague said it was critical all Australians made this issue their responsibility and applauded the lobbying of other industry groups such as the National Farmers Federation.
“I acknowledge the complexity of injury and trauma but my role is not to speak over the farming and other industry groups,” he said.
“This is why we’ve worked so closely with the National Farmers Federation who have been leading this conversation for many years.
“They have worked tirelessly to get their communities to come around and recognise the importance of quad bike safety.”
Originally published as Professor opens up on ‘terrible’ news he has to deliver after accidents