ATV safety: Yamaha actively opposes fitting rollover protection

A LEADING ATV manufacturer has actively opposed fitting rollover protection to its quad bikes.

ATV safety: An anti-rollover protection system sign at the Yamaha ATV launch in Queensland last week. Picture: Justin Law

A LEADING ATV manufacturer has actively opposed fitting rollover protection to its quad bikes.

Yamaha Motor Australia displayed a logo reading “Never Fit ROPS, we won’t have a bar of it” at the launch of a new ATV in Queensland last week.

The logo was featured in literature distributed to journalists attending the event and displayed on a sandwichboard sign.

Instead, the brand advocated wearing helmets and rider training as more effective safety measures.

“Yamaha Motor Australia understands that farm safety is paramount to our customers and we are actively promoting three areas that are universally agreed to save lives: ATV/SSV training, the wearing of a farm-safe helmet and the necessity to keep kids away from adult ATV/SSVs,” a Yamaha spokesman said.

“A study of the statistics indicate that if these three areas are addressed we may be able to prevent up to 70 per cent of ATV/SSV fatalities.”

This is in line with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries policy against adding the devices.

The chamber’s ATV manager, Mark Collins, was also at the event and presented a study that he said showed ROPS caused as many injuries as they prevented.

Mr Collins said the study had replicated actual ATV rollovers using a remote-controlled ATV fitted with and without a crush protection device.

A dummy fitted with sensors that detected areas of injury was also used for each of the 700 simulated crashes.

“What it showed was the number of injuries recorded by the dummy was equal, with and without the CPD,” Mr Collins said.

However, a WorkSafe spokesman said there was no real-life evidence to support the finding.

“Despite several coronial inquests in Australia and New Zealand into quad bike safety, those who believe rollover protection devices ‘may’ cause an injury in the event of a rollover have been unable to provide a single incident to support their view,” he said.