Government agencies are experimenting with farmers’ lives in their call for untested CPDs (crush protection devices) to be fitted on ATVs.

Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says international research suggest there is no credible evidence that CPDs will prevent more injuries.

“On the contrary, research from Australia reveals that the chances of a serious accident resulting in hospitalisation is more likely to occur if a CPD is fitted to a quad bike.”

He says it is important that officials take time to analyse the data before rushing to draft ill-informed policies.

Last week Worksafe recommended that ATVs be fitted with CPDs against the advice of most manufacturers and now ACC has announced that it will provide subsidies for two brands of CPD.

David Crawford says this is most concerning.

“We do not advise the retro-fitting of CPDs on quads that are not designed for them by the manufacturers. This is not safe practice.”

“The MIA is a safety-first organisation and for some time we’ve been asking the government to regulate and promote a number of simple evidence-based safety measures.”

He says the MIA wants to see the mandatory wearing of helmets, as well as children prevented from riding adult size ATVs and no passengers on single-seat quads.

“We’d also like to see improvements and more opportunities around rider training.

“Research in the US shows that there has been a big drop in quad bike fatalities since 1999 and this has been linked to increased use of helmets and restrictions on children riding the bikes.”

He says that between 1999 and 2011, quad bike fatalities halved and this has been strongly linked to behavioural changes on the part of riders.

“There were no engineering changes, such as CPDs during this time.

“In New Zealand, we’d like to see sensible, proven safety solutions and would welcome the opportunity for further discussions with the Government.”

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