The government is reviewing quad bike safety regulation in what campaigners described as “an embarrassing climbdown” after ministers repeatedly claimed that the introduction of roll bars could do more harm than good.
Ministers had previously said that research by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that roll bars could increase the risk of injury. But the HSE research was done in 1999, nearly a decade before the invention of newer devices that do save lives, according to evidence from Australia and the US.
Now the HSE is conducting fresh research into whether these newer fixed roll bars, known as operator protection devices (OPDs), could prevent riders being crushed underneath the vehicles if they overturn.
Quad bikes, or all-terrain vehicles, have no cab to protect riders if the vehicle rolls over, and dozens of people are believed to die in the UK each year in accidents involving them, many on farms.
In 2019, Ben Goldsmith’s 15-year-old daughter Iris died after her quad bike overturned while she was riding it on their farm. A 58-year-old man was killed in a quad bike incident in Oban on New Year’s Day, and Grace Vater, 22, died on Christmas Day in a crash in Gloucestshire.
Christine Lynn has been campaigning to make it mandatory for manufacturers to fit safety measures on quad bikes since her husband Denis died in 2021. The founder of food company Finnebrogue was driving at less than 10mph on his land in Downpatrick, County Down, when his bike flipped over and crushed him.
Later that year, Australia introduced rules making it mandatory for new quad bikes to be fitted with OPDs – a circular or straight bar fitted at the rear, designed to prop up the vehicle if it flips over, giving the rider space to escape.
Lynn’s approaches to ministers asking them to introduce similar rules were rebuffed on the basis that HSE research had concluded protection was unsafe. Mark Harper, the transport secretary, wrote to her in May last year saying that research had shown that “roll-over protective structures [ROPS]… may lead to an increased risk of injury in the event of an overturn” because it might hit the driver or prevent them escaping.
Yet in August, the HSE admitted in a Freedom of Information reply that the research was conducted in 1999 into older ROPS rather than the newer systems.
Two companies in Australia and New Zealand make OPDs – the Quadbar was first manufactured in 2007 and became available in the UK in 2012, while the ATV LifeGuard arrived in 2014.
Since November last year, people who use quad bikes in the Republic of Ireland must wear helmets, which are still optional in the UK.
Lynn said: “With Australia and the Republic of Ireland adopting new laws governing quad bike safety, I am amazed the UK government has been refusing to act because it has been considering outdated research and has not conducted its own review.
“The evidence from Australia and the US shows that new devices to protect quad bike users can and have saved lives. It is vital we follow the likes of Australia in introducing stricter quad bike safety laws so that accidents like the one my late husband was in do not unnecessarily cost more lives. I am therefore pleased the Health and Safety Executive has finally agreed to review the evidence, 25 years on from their last assessment.”
Research by the University of New South Wales found that half of quad bike deaths caused by rollovers could have been avoided if OPDs had been fitted. And in 2019, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission found that OPDs could save lives.
Margaret Ritchie, who challenged ministers in the House of Lords over the lack of safety measures, said: “This is an embarrassing climbdown from the government. I will continue the campaign in parliament in order to ensure that UK legislation on quad bikes is changed in line with the provisions in other countries such as the Republic of Ireland and Australia for enhanced safety standards. Better safety standards are urgently required, and legislation needs to be brought forward to ensure that this happens so that additional safety measures are made mandatory.”
A poll conducted by Savanta Comres in the summer found that two-thirds of the public (65%) supported calls for safety devices to be added to quad bikes as a legal requirement.
The HSE said: “Our research into this matter is in its early stages.”
