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Quad-bike accidents continue to be the leading cause of death and injury on Australian farms. A lack of policy around the vehicles meant protection devices weren’t necessary prior to 2019, so rollovers and crashes could be fatal.

Emeritus Professor Raphael Grzebieta from UNSW Sydney’s School of Aviation was the lead researcher for the Quad Bike Performance Project, which aimed to reduce the high toll of fatal and serious injuries in the farming environment due to quad-bike crashes.

“We drew upon a collection of coroner and injury data to inform our studies,” Prof. Grzebieta says.

“We found that no fatalities or serious chest injuries occurred when protection devices were fitted.

“We also found that wearing helmets reduced head injuries by at least 50 per cent, if not more.”

The bikes are single-rider vehicles that operate like a motorcycle. A safety rating system was a key recommendation of the NSW Deputy Coroner’s 2015 inquest into quad-bike deaths. 

Even though the five-star consumer safety rating system was not introduced, this work led to the death rate halving in seven of the eight years since. 

The Work Cover Authority of NSW, with a contribution from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), funded the $1.3 million project.

An delivered 24 government recommendations to improve quad-bike safety, which was written into a 2019 policy on consumer goods law.

“We were instrumental in getting the legislation on quad-bike safety rollbars and static stability law through,” Prof. Grzebieta says.

A study based on a provided key information on how injuries typically occur in the work place and how rollbars and helmets were protective of riders.

This work led to the team winning the ACCC’s and National Consumer Congress award.

Challenges & opportunities

The project found almost 60 per cent of deaths in the workplace and on farms were from chest injuries and asphyxiation. Head injuries were main cause of death with recreational vehicle use. Mustering livestock was identified as a particularly high-risk activity.

The team focused on developing a safety rating system for quad-bike stability, handling and crashworthiness.

More than 1,000 tests were carried out at the Roads and Maritime Services world-standard Crashlab facility near Sydney. The researchers tested and rated quad-bikes and compared them to side-by-side vehicles (SSVs), which are multi-passenger vehicles that operate and have safety features more like a car.

While four of the five SSVs tested received four-star ratings, only two of the 11 quad-bikes tested rated higher than two-stars. The quad-bikes were more unstable, had less rollover protection for riders, reduced capacity for dynamic handling and had a limited load capacity.

Another key recommendation from the project was an immediate ban on children under the age of 16 riding these vehicles.

“There’s still a view in the farm sector that this is okay,” Prof. Grzebieta says. “Too often we’ve seen children asphyxiated and crushed underneath these vehicles.”  

“Our studies show that with increasing rollover crash severity the rollover protective devices fitted to the rear of the quad-bike, along with wearing a helmet, are protective of the rider, up to a limit.”— Prof. Raphael Grzebieta.

Forward focused

���� highlights a shift back to complacent behaviours as farm-based fatalities from tractors and quad-bikes rose in 2022.

This reinforces a need for continuing safety campaigns and education to reduce the number of farm accidents.

The report says fatalities often occur when a safety system is circumvented.

“Rollovers used to be the number one cause but the invention of rollover protection and the mandatory legislation that followed have reduced rollover deaths by around 50 per cent,” Prof. Grzebieta says.

He says 50 per cent of the deaths are work related and the other 50 per cent are recreational related.

“The best protection against injury in a farming or recreational crash is a well-designed side-by-side vehicle.

“These have higher rollover resistance, better handling and lower severe injury risk than quad-bikes.

“There aren’t any deaths with SSV where seat belts are worn.

“Drivers and passengers should be wearing three point or harness seat belts, helmets and also use the other restraint systems such as the head and shoulder barriers included on these vehicles.”

Prof. Grzebieta says he and his colleagues pushed hard for a switch from quad-bikes to SSVs in the workplace.

“That has sort of happened,” he says.

“It’s one of the reasons you see the overall fall in quad-bike deaths.

“However, people must wear their seat belts and a quad-bike helmet.”