Quad bike death toll plunges after horror 2020

Statistics so far this year reveal a much lower number of deaths on quad bikes than in 2020. We look at why, and which state is still lagging on safety.

Queensland leads the nation in the number of quad bike deaths and injuries, but is doing very little about it.

JUST three Australians have died in quad bike accidents so far this year, following a horror 2020 when the toll hit 24, the highest in a decade.

University of Sydney farm safety researcher Tony Lower said the reason behind this year’s low number of deaths was just as much an unknown as what drove last year’s record high, given the difficulty of analysing such statistically low numbers.

Dr Lower and University of NSW Road Safety Emeritus Professor Raphael Grzebieta said Covid-19 may have had an impact on last year’s surge, as more people escaped to rural properties during lockdowns to spend more time on quad bikes.

But both admit there’s no evidence to back the theory.

Safe Work Australia records show that over the past decade Queensland has dominated the death toll, with 51 lives lost in quad bike accidents, followed by NSW with 42 deaths and Victoria 32.

Drilling further into the data shows Victorian and NSW quad bike safety campaigns and rollbar rebates may be starting to have an impact.

Last year nine of the 24 quad bike deaths occurred in Queensland, where little action has been taken to promote quad bike safety, compared to five deaths in NSW and four in Victoria.

Queensland-based Quadbar OPD manufacturer David Robertson said the bulk of his sales were in Victoria and NSW, with hardly any sold in his home state.

“I’ve sold about 30,000 since I started in 2007, with half of those sold in the past three years,” Mr Robertson said.

Another 8000 New Zealand manufactured ATV LifeGuard OPDs have been sold in Australia, bringing the total number fitted to about 38,000 or almost 20 per cent of the nation’s 200,000 vehicles.

ATV LifeGuard distributor Matthew Tiplady said about 40 per cent of quad bikes in Victoria now had OPDs, which he believed was having an impact in reducing rollover deaths and injury.

“A lot of farmers recognise OPDs are the way forward,” Mr Tiplady said

From October 11 most new quad bikes sold in Australia will have to be fitted with them under the Federal Government’s new safety standard.

However, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar signed a last minute exemption to the standard on June 23, which allows dealers to go on selling quad bikes without OPDs, if they ordered them before July 1.

The exemption has created confusion in the marketplace, given dealers have been able to order large quantities of quad bikes up until July that manufacturers can go on delivering well into the New Year or longer.

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