Roll guard device creates a safer space

Why are some people so against Operator Protection Devices on quad bikes when they could be the difference between life and death, asks Weston Stewart.

Close call: The LIfeGuard OPD can offer a safe space in the event of a rollover.

A QUAD without an Operator Protection Device attached has very little survival space under it if it rolls and lands upside down.

By fitting an OPD, this creates space under an upturned quad, which could be the difference between life and death in a rollover.

So why would you actively oppose fitting something that could potentially save lives? Why would you campaign against OPDs and say they’re dangerous when it’s very unclear the last time an OPD itself inflicted damage?

Why would you oppose OPDs but not worry about other accessories that get fitted to quads, which actually make them more dangerous (for example, side-bars and large sprayers)?

Worst case scenario: if it was a 60-40 split that 60 per cent of the time an OPD made a quad safer, and 40 per cent more dangerous, wouldn’t it still be better to go with an OPD?

But statistics show it’s not even close to this ratio — most, if not all quads that have caused a fatality in recent years haven’t had an OPD fitted, yet there’s many testimonials from people who have been saved by an OPD.

Here’s one: “I was loading my ute and as I was at the top of the ramps, just about on to the ute, one of the ramps gave way, the quad bike flipped 180 degrees, and I fell right under the falling quad bike, the ATV Lifeguard absorbed the impact and rolled the quad bike off me — without the ATV Lifeguard I would be dead”. Adrian Hoffman, Warrnambool farmer.

Currently there’s only a few OPD options available and they all require some form of maintenance.

The manufacturer of the OPD provides this information online and with the product.

The recent issue of a group demanding a recall on a single ATV Lifeguard OPD and saying that it was faulty due to one failing is just another one of the many attacks against OPDs.

In this particular case the OPD hadn’t been maintained so it failed, its that simple.

To use an example like this and demand a product recall shows the lengths some people will go in their efforts to discredit OPDs.

It’s like saying: “Oh, I didn’t realise the front tyre on my quad was flat which made it roll so let’s recall all quad bikes because if the front tyre goes flat they can roll”. If you don’t maintain a product like it should be it won’t work in the way it’s been designed to work.

And if you actively discouraged someone from fitting an OPD to their quad, then they rolled and died, if it was clear an OPD would have saved them, you should be charged with manslaughter.

● Weston Stewart is operation manager at Ag-Tech Industries, manufacturer of the ATV LifeGuard OPD

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