What exactly is a " Quad Bike " ? Some would describe it as a motorbike with four wheels, and that is probably close to the truth, although the fact that it weighs about three hundred kilograms puts it in an entirely different safety category.
They range widely in price and they rate highly on many teenagers gift wish list, but they are also fast becoming a " work horse " on many farms - and they are literally replacing the horse as the farmers means of moving around. A quad bike is capable of transporting supplies and equipment to where they are needed on the property. They have a much larger load capacity than a motorbike and they are sold with the claim that they can " go anywhere " !
Unfortunately, they have a dismal safety record here in Australia. Between 2011 and 2017 we had 114 deaths directly related to quad bike accidents and in most cases death caused by the machine rolling and crushing its rider. There have been strident calls for these machines to be required to be fitted with a roll bar as basic safety equipment and a Federal government enquiry has been considering the legislation needed to achieve that aim.
This enquiry has faced stiff resistance from the quad bike manufacturers. One of the joys of riding these powerful machines is the feeling of freedom. Few wear a safety helmet and somehow the feeling of being encircled by a safety cage brings with it a lack of rider enthusiasm. It is also a fact of life that the tooling and redesign of the quad bike industry will cost its makers millions of dollars.
Now quad bike representatives and those from the automotive manufacturing industry have walked out of that enquiry over the installation of a five star safety rating, as is the benchmark safety evaluation in the car industry. That rating has an important impact on new car sales. Five stars is the maximum rating and vehicles that achieve a lesser standard are becoming hard to sell.
Few quad bikes are manufactured here and what Australian standards apply will have a direct impact on the rest of the world. The best economics relate to selling a single machine model on a universal basis and this manufacturing industry is aware of increasing concern in the giant American recreational Quad bike market. That has been experiencing 600 deaths and over a 100,000 serious injuries each year and pressure is building for an improvement in safety standards.
One of the limitations is the fact that Quad bikes can not be registered for road use. Because they are used on private property it is hard to enforce regulations on age use - or what the riders are required to wear. Enforcing new safety standards is fast becoming a whole new ball game.
What is inescapable is that a person sitting atop a three hundred kilo piece of machinery that can travel at high speed over all types of surfaces and inclines is vulnerable to rollover and crushing. As a bare minimum, that machine would be safer with at least a single roll bar over the riders head.
When all the huffing and puffing and vested interest opposition to change subsides, that would be an intelligent addition to the safety standard that applies to Quad bikes that may be imported and sold in Australia. It is important that it should be part of the integral design and incapable of being removed without the use of an acetylene torch.
Such legislation would do the world a favour !
No comments:
Post a Comment