Safer Farms chairperson Lindy Nelson says this year seems to be particularly high in fatalities on quad bikes. Photo: Supplied
Quad bike deaths could be on track to being the highest since 2015 if they continue at their current rate, says a health and safety organisation.
On Saturday night, a man died after his quad bike rolled on a rural property in Waihao Downs, near Waimate.
It is at least the third quad bike fatality this year; a boy died after a quad bike and motorbike crashed at a Warkworth residence in February, and there was another death in March on a private property in Hastings.
There were four deaths in December 2023 alone.
Safer Farms chairperson Lindy Nelson said the death was devastating, and there seemed to be a worrying trend.
"This year seems particularly high in terms of fatalities on quad bikes," Nelson said.
"We have had an unseasonable amount of deaths on quad bikes since spring last year, and they seem to be continuing," she said.
"As an industry, we have all pulled together and started the work to look at what are the preventative factors, and how do we, as farmers, address these incidents."
Some of their members have addressed the vehicle harm by switching to side-by-side vehicles, installing rollover protection on their quad bikes, and limiting their speed as well as being vigilant in when and where the bikes were used.
WorkSafe said it had not yet been notified of the death, which may be because it was a recreational incident and not work-related.
In 2015, there were nine quad bike fatalities reported to WorkSafe, the highest number since 2006 when the reported data began.
