Quad bike deaths: Law change alone not enough to save Australian lives

Hundreds of Australians have been killed and injured on quad bikes. See the list of where and how they died and why our laws are failing.

Special Report: A decision not to retrofit thousands of quad bikes with mandatory roll bars has proven fatal, with one Australian losing their life every two weeks in horrific accidents last year.

The deaths of those 24 people – ranging in ages from two to 78 – are not counted in the official road toll as the majority of accidents occurred on private property.

So far this year, four people have lost their lives in quad bike accidents – with at least 164 killed over the past decade.

In October 2019, the Federal Government announced a raft of new safety regulations including ensuring all quad bikes sold within Australia carry a sticker warning about the degree of slope before they overturn.

The bikes also had to meet either European or US standards for components such as brakes and suspension, and be tested for stability.

Dealers can sell quad bike without roll bars beyond the original October 10 deadline, as long as the bikes were ordered before July 1 and delivered by December 31.

Most deaths on quad bikes aren’t recorded in the road toll because they happen on private property.

Experts have warned tens of thousands of potential deathtraps have been left in use.

They have also reignited calls to make helmets mandatory and a ban on those under 16 from using them – with figures showing 24 children over the past 10 years were killed.

A spokesman for Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, who introduced the new safety standards into law in October 2019, said Australian Consumer Law meant roll bars could not be mandated to be fitted to the existing fleet.

A man in his 70s was taken to hospital after a quad bike crash on a rural property near Tenterfield in NSW.

“The National Farmers’ Federation led a high-profile campaign asking for this safety standard, with support from the Australian Medical Association, Rural Doctors Association of Australia, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service,” the spokesman said.

“The ACCC is working with farmers, manufacturers and retailers, to implement the standard and is monitoring the supply chain issues raised in relation to the manufacturers ceasing supply of quad bikes in Australia before the standard comes fully into force”.

However, barrister Daniel Tynan said it appeared the government could use the product safety recall mechanisms under the ACL that required them to “remedy the faults” with recall notices could be issued by the relevant Minister “if it’s reasonably foreseeable the use could cause injury”.

“If there is a seat belt issue with car, they are not going to think twice they will recall it,” he said.

Farmsafe chairman Charles Armstrong estimated there were 250,000 to 300,000 quad bikes in use “and only a small proportion of those have a crash protection devices [roll bar] fitted despite the fact there are rebates in several states for fitting them”.

He said: “We have not had one fatality in 20 years on a bike with [roll bar] on it. Not one. These bars keep the weight off the person and allow them to crawl out – and survive.”

Mr Armstrong pleaded with those without them to retro fit roll bars to save lives.

Three state governments – NSW, Victoria and Tasmania – offered quad bike owners rebates to encourage them to install roll bars, but Victoria’s has lapsed, and Tasmania’s ends soon.

A 28-year-old Mt Sheridan man lost his hand after crashing this blue Can-am Maverick XRC quad bike at Miallo in Queensland. Picture: Supplied

While welcoming the safety changes, the Australian Medical Association’s Chair of Rural Doctor Marco Giuseppin said they don’t go far enough and “would not bring the number [of deaths] to zero” because there was a large fleet of quad bikes still without roll bars, which would require replacing “over time”.

Dr Warwick Teague, a paediatric Surgeon at The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, sees the damage quad bikes do regularly.

“Some require ICU treatment and about half require the air ambulance, but that is the tip of the iceberg really,” Dr Teague said.

“We would not let some cars on the road with seat belts and not others.

“That’s why it is so important we continue this conversation around safety – it shouldn’t end just with these changes.”

Dr Warwick Teague of The Royal Children's Hospital wants the safety conversation to continue. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Dr Teague hoped to see helmets made mandatory and a ban on anyone under 16 years using the bikes.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Deputy Chair Mick Keogh said he would have liked roll bars to be mandatory on all quad bikes. He expects deaths and injuries would reduce “over time” as the “existing fleet” was replaced with new vehicles with roll bars.

Driver experience was not a factor, with the ages of the majority of victims higher than that of other vehicle related crashes, he said.

“The longer a person rides the more likely they have crashes.”

TRAGIC LOSS LED TO SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Dean and Emily Cason need no reminding about the danger of quad bikes.

The couple from Nathalia, in Victoria, lost their 11-year-old son Sam almost exactly 10 years ago, while he was riding a 500cc quad bike on a friend’s farm.

Since then more than 100 others have died, including children as young as two.

“When you still hear about young kids dying on them, it’s sad but there’s not much you can do. You try and push awareness and get it out there but a lot of people turn around and say ‘ I have ridden them all my life and never had a problem’. So that is the barrier that you are up against.”

Mr Cason said the family still struggled with the loss of Sam.

Emily and Dean Cason are campaigning for quad bike safety in memory of their son Sam. Picture: Tim Carrafa

“Emily still finds it hard and I have my down days.”

Mr Cason said Emily set up a campaign to spread awareness of quad bike danger “to hopefully save other parents going through what we went through”.

On the ‘Fight for Sam Campaigning for Quad Bike Safety’ Facebook page, Emily said she wouldn’t give up the fight until safety standards were implemented, including a ban on under 16s and mandatory helmets.

“My reason for fighting for Sam is I never wanted to give up hope … And remember why I started this cause.”

The couple have two other children, a daughter and another son.

“The youngest one doesn’t remember him because he was that young … We have been to hell and back but we get through. We have our bad days but we celebrate his birthday or the day it actually happened, we will do something that day, to take our minds off it,” Mr Cason said.

He conceded not everything was going to change as quickly as they would like.

“Everything takes time, hopefully soon there will be more bikes with roll bars on them and farmers wearing helmets now, at the end of the day it’s getting the [safety] message out there.”

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