Quad bike rollover: Paraplegic weighs up action against Honda

Quad bike rollover victim looks to legal options against Honda.

A RIVERINA law firm acting on behalf of quad bike rollover victim Rebecca Collie is weighing up taking action against manufacturer Honda, in the NSW Supreme Court.

“We have been investigating quad bikes and proceedings will be taken to the NSW Supreme Court in the near future,” Wagga Wagga law firm Walsh & Blair personal injury specialist Tim Abbott said

“At this stage it’s possible that quad bike manufacturers might be involved.”

Mr Abbott said a key issue would be why rollover protection was not fitted to the bike.

“It’s pretty clear that, had she had a ROPS, she would not be a paraplegic,” he said.

The law firm launched an investigation last year into the dangers of quad bikes, in preparing for the case.

In a letter on June 16, 2018, to the Australian distributor of the Lifeguard roll bar, Mr Abbott wrote: “we act on behalf of (the victim), who became a paraplegic when a quad she was riding, namely a Honda Fourtrax Rancher, flipped on top of her”.

“Bearing in mind that the accident occurred on 23 April 2017 and that the bike was thought to have been purchased within a couple of years of the accident: what knowledge was there in the public domain in regard to the dangers associated with the riding of quad bikes in Australia and the injuries and/or deaths caused by rollovers”.

Mr Abbott also sought evidence on when the OPDs were first available, whether they had saved lives and the ease of fitting them to the Honda 420. Quad bike makers Honda and Yamaha have campaigned against fitting roll bars or operator protective devices. But legal experts have previously warned the campaign left them exposed to legal action from rollover victims who were deterred from fitting the devices.

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In 2011 Slater and Gordon legal consultant Peter Long told The Weekly Times ATV manufacturers could face legal action from anyone who decided against fitting a rollover protection system in response to the manufacturers’ “Never Fit ROPS’’ campaign, but was then injured in a rollover.

“They could take (legal) action if they relied on that campaign in making that decision and it can be shown to be misleading, that the campaign was flawed,’’ he said.