Quad bike standards saving lives as crackdown urged

Farmers, their families and workers are returning home safely after a day on the land due to stronger quad bike safety standards, but tougher enforcement could save even more lives.

Quad bikes have long been a leading cause of deaths on farms, with 10 fatalities in 2024 and 46 reports of injuries, according to Farmsafe Australia.

National standards introduced in 2020 require vehicle stability testing, along with the installation of anti-crush devices that keep quad bikes off the ground if they roll over.

Researchers have used coronial records to analyse 161 work-related quad bike deaths on farms between 2001 and 2024 to understand the effects of the new standards.

Roll-overs were responsible for 65 per cent of those fatalities, according to the review published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health on Friday.

Chest injuries caused deaths in more than half the cases, including instances of asphyxia, and a further 24 per cent involved head injuries.

But there was a small reduction in fatalities in the few years after the safety standards came into force, academics from the University of Sydney's School of Rural Health found.

Lead author Tony Lower said it was early days for the standards and fewer fatalities could be expected as new quad bikes replaced the older fleet.

"They are a really effective vehicle, but we just need to see them designed safely and used safely," said Dr Lower, an honorary associate professor at AgHealth Australia.

Victoria led the decline in fatalities, possibly due to greater enforcement of the standards than other states.

Authorities issued 1200 prohibition or improvement notices to Victorian users in recent years, compared to 60 in NSW.

While people don't always like enforcement, it has proven effective in areas such as road trauma, Dr Lower said.

"Everyone should get home at the end of the day," he told AAP.

With estimates of more than 20,000 anti-crush devices in use across Australia, there were no deaths involving vehicles fitted with roll bars, the paper said.

But there were fatalities related to quad bikes where the devices had been installed and then removed.

The Farmsafe Australia report, released in mid-July, showed fatalities from side-by-side vehicles had overtaken quad bike and tractor accident deaths for the first time in 2024.

Side-by-side vehicles were thought to be a safer alternative to quad bikes, but riders died or were injured when they carried heavy loads, did not use seatbelts or went without a helmet.

Engineering and design standards could only go so far, Dr Lower said.

"There is certainly a role for farmers, producers and parents and everybody else that works and lives on farms to ensure they do the right thing."