Friday, March 29, 2024

New quad bike safety device ready to roll out

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Reading about quad bike accidents prompted South Canterbury farmer and contractor Charles Anderson to investigate what he could do to make them safer for onfarm use. Well-versed with agricultural machinery and its related safety, the handyman in the farm workshop set to work on one of his own 4×4 King Quad Suzuki bikes. QUAD BIKE SAFETY FIRST • FarmSafe offers a quad bike farm licence – for details phone 0800 545 747. • WorkSafe NZ has recently released guidelines for the safe use of quad bikes and related health and safety requirements.
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The unassuming Fairlie farmer and self-confessed machinery hobbyist said he was just getting on with his own business when he realised he could have the answer to save lives.

“If I can make it (machinery) work better or be safer to operate, I will. Or I will make it from scratch if I can, that’s just what I do,” Anderson said.

Originally from Highbank in Mid Canterbury where he was a third-generation farmer, Anderson moved to Fairlie in 1975 where he now also runs an agricultural contracting business.

Quad bikes are one of the most widely used motor vehicles on New Zealand farms and many farmers consider them essential to their farming operations.

While they have replaced the horse, they go faster than a horse and carry more than a horse. 

And they easily go places that most four-wheeled vehicles can’t go.

Those are the good points of quad bikes. 

There are also the things that make them dangerous.

If you’re going to get killed on the farm, there’s a good chance that a quad bike is likely to be involved.

Researchers have found 60.8% of quad bike-riding farmers will lose control some time in their working life. 

They worked out that, on average, about 35 NZ farmers come off their quad bikes every day.

“I have read so much lately about incidents with quad bikes on farms so I thought I would have a look at the situation,” Anderson said.

Designated the Andy Anti-Antic roll bar – “I like to give my inventions a name” – Anderson’s contraption is simple but, he believes, life-saving.

It consists of a telescopic bar on each side of the bike just below the foot platform.

The bars are operated by a lever on each side, from the driver’s seat, so it can be slid out before going on steep ground and be retracted when the vehicle is used on flat ground.

The sliding bars have a skid on each end and the ground clearance of the bike is reduced by only 21mm on the Suzuki Anderson fitted the anti-roll bar to.

“Unlike other safety devices on quad bikes that protect the operator after it rolls over, this device helps stop the thing rolling in the first place,” Anderson said.

“Also, unlike other safety devices on quad bikes, this device is located under the machine which keeps the centre of gravity down.” 

While Anderson hasn’t tested it to the maximum he is confident it will work.

“I haven’t deliberately gone on a hill and tipped the bike over but it will work. If it tips, the skid on it will slide along the ground.”

Happy he would be safe on his bike, and with the intention to fit his second bike with the safety device, Anderson never gave it a lot more thought. 

It was a case of job done until a machinery rep saw the quad and questioned what the device was on the bike.

'I haven’t deliberately gone on a hill and tipped the bike over but it will work. If it tips, the skid on it will slide along the ground.'

“We chatted, I told him how I designed it, why and how I believed it was the best invention yet as far as anti-roll bars on quads went and he agreed, suggesting I should take it somewhere.

“Take it somewhere hadn’t entered my mind but then reading about more deaths, I couldn’t believe there were that many. I thought perhaps I should tell more people.”

Anderson has no plan to patent the design but is happy to share it.

“I am not interested in going down that track but I would be quite agreeable if someone else would like to take it further from here.

“That would actually be a bloody good idea. Anything that can reduce injuries and deaths has got to be good,” Anderson said.

He suggested the quad bikes should have such a device fitted when they were sold new.

“If a manufacturer wants to go through the process of testing (the design) and mass-producing the device then I am more than happy for that to happen.” 

Anderson had no idea what the device would cost to manufacture and fit.

“I had all the stuff I needed in my workshop and it was my time so really I have not a clue of the cost,” he said.

Three more fatal crashes in recent weeks have put quad bikes back in the spotlight, with WorkSafe NZ advocating farmers must take responsibility for what is a significant problem for the agricultural community.

There were 20 deaths last year as a result of quad bike incidents, with the problem examined by the coroner who considered recommending they be banned.

WorkSafe NZ worked with manufacturers and farming groups to minimise risks but said it was up to farmers to employ proper precautions.

Federated Farmers health and safety spokeswoman Katie Milne said crashes were impossible to eliminate.

While Federated Farmers was making an effort to promote safe use, it was difficult to implement because of the sheer scale of farming operations.

“It’s a work in progress to bring (accident) numbers down,” Milne said.

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