Coroner slams MPs over quad bike safety

File photo / Greg Bowker

A Wellington coroner has criticised Parliament for failing to act on repeated recommendations to make quad bikes safer, after more than 100 people have died in quad bikes accidents over the last decade.

At an inquest into the 2008 death of Jody Santos, 21, who died after crashing his quad bike near Masterton, Coroner Ian Smith said he was tired of Parliament ignoring coroners' recommendations to make quad bikes safer, the Dominion Post reported.

Coroners had repeatedly asked for law changes to make it mandatory for quad bikes to be fitted with roll bars and seat belts and to force riders to wear helmets and it was time Parliament put these recommendations in place, Mr Smith said.

Had Parliament followed this advice, Mr Santos, a beekeeper, who had never ridden a quad bike before, could still be alive, he said.

Mr Santos' employers, Masterton-based PA and SC Steens Honey, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that Mr Santos was trained and certified to ride a quad bike and were fined $78,000 and ordered to pay $60,000 to his parents, who work for the same company.

- NZPA