A woman has been airlifted to Sydney on Sunday after the quad bike she was riding flipped and landed on her in Coleambally, providing a sobering reminder to the community of the dangers posed by the vehicles.
The 31-year-old woman was driving the quad bike at 5pm on a rural property when she attempted to negotiate a small channel bank.
The quad bike flipped and fell back, landing on top of her.
Ambulance and NSW Police were called to the scene, but due to the woman’s injuries a Canberra SouthCare helicopter was also called in to assist.
The woman was taken to the Royal North Shore hospital and is undergoing tests to determine the extent of her injuries, however they are not thought to be life threatening by Griffith Police.
The accident adds yet another number to the troubling tally of quad bike related accidents in NSW, with 111 people losing their lives in quad bike accidents nationally since 2011.
Twenty nine of those incidents occurred in NSW.
In January seven-year-old Connor Irvin from Barellan was killed when he was crushed by the quad bike he was riding, with a six-year-old girl and 60-year-old man also losing their lives in similar accidents within hours of each other in March.
The tragic losses of those lives renewed calls for regulation and safety measures to be implemented from members of the NSW community.
In March the state government announced it would double the value of quad bike safety rebates available to farmers in an effort to improve safety.
Farmers are now able to apply for a $1000 rebate for the purchase of a side-by-side vehicle, $500 for the retrofitting of safety equipment to quad bikes they already own and $90 to go towards the purchase of an approved helmet.
However, questions remain whether the measures are sufficient with a 2015 Coronial inquest into quad bike related deaths recommending further actions yet to be undertaken.
At the conclusion of the inquest Deputy State Coroner Sharon Freund recommended the NSW Attorney-General consider developing legislation to introduce mandatory training or licensing for quad bike riders, compulsory use of helmets, fitting seat belts onto all quad bikes and prohibiting children under 16 from using them.
