A CORONER has recommended the introduction of mandatory licences, seat belts and helmets for quad bike users in an attempt to curb the number of fatal accidents on rural properties.
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Yesterday, deputy state coroner Sharon Freund handed down her findings in Glebe Coroner’s Court into the death of nine people, including a Niangala woman and several children, killed after using quad bikes and side-by-side vehicles (SSV) between 2009 and 2014.
Ms Freund recommended a raft of measures that she hoped would go part of the way to reducing the incidence of death and injury, which she said was “unacceptably high”.
“These deaths are just a fraction of the number of those killed or injured as a result of riding a quad bike or SSVs every year in Australia,” she said in her findings.
“The emotional and social costs of these deaths to family, friends and the community are enormous.
“It is imperative, in my view, that steps be taken to make these vehicles safer and that is the overriding purpose of this inquest.”
Ms Freund found Angela Stackman died on November 20, 2011, on a property at Top Dale Road, Niangala, from positional asphyxia, when the Polaris Sportsman 500 quad bike that she was riding overturned, pinning her between the vehicle and a tree.
As part of her package of recommendations, Ms Freund has urged government and the industry to consider the establishment of a safety rating system for quad bikes and mandatory licences, helmets and seatbelts.
She also recommended children under the age of 16 be banned from riding the vehicles.
The inquest heard that there had been 200 quad bike deaths across the country since 2001 – most of them on rural properties – and that there had been 18 deaths in 2015 so far.
“This makes quad bikes the highest killer of workers on farms in Australia,” she said.
In addition, an average of 1400 people are seriously injured in quad bike accidents each year, with the number of major trauma injuries steadily increasing over the past five years.
Ms Freund found there was a pressing need for cultural change in order for quad bike riders to change their behaviour.
“It is essential that farmers become aware of the potential dangers of quad bikes and SSVs, including their instability and susceptibility to roll over,” she said.
But she found that changes in behaviour were often difficult to achieve, and thus further regulation was necessary.
