The Department of Justice and Attorney-General has warned quad bike users that more stringent stability requirements, including an operator protection device, are now in place.
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Shannon Fentiman said the changes were necessary to improve the safety of quad bikes and help reduce the high number of quad bike-related deaths and injuries.
“A safety standard for quad bikes was introduced in two stages from 2019,” Ms Fentiman said.
“Stage One began in October 2020 and required all quad bikes to meet certain international safety standards and come with better safety information and warnings,” she said.
“Stage Two requires all new and imported second-hand general use quad bikes to have an operator protection device either fitted into the bike or integrated into the design.
“They must also meet lateral roll and front and rear pitch stability requirements.”
Ms Fentiman said over the past 10 years, 166 people had died in quad bike-related incidents in Australia, including six deaths this year.
“Many of the people who died were working at the time, on farms and at other rural workplaces,” she said.
“In fact, from January 2011 to December 2018, Safe Work Australia found that 62 of fatalities occurred whilst the rider was using their quad bike for work purposes.
“Due to the nature of rural work, quad bikes are often driven over rocky or uneven ground, crossing slopes, towing attachments, or carrying heavy or unstable loads.
“All these things increase the risk of a rollover significantly.”
Ms Fentiman said while the new safety standard would go a long way to help reduce serious injury or fatality when using quad bikes, there were still responsibilities that fell into the hands of the rider and workplace management.
She said the Office of Fair Trading, together with its interstate counterparts and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), would be ramping up quad bike safety compliance as a shared national priority.
