BLENHEIM - The death yesterday of a man and his young son in a farm bike accident near Canvastown, 51km from Blenheim, has reinforced the hazards such vehicles pose, says Occupational Safety and Health.
Sharemilker Mark Richard Cavey, 30, and his son Rhys, 4, appear to have drowned when the four-wheel
bike and trailer of hay they were towing rolled off a steep bank and landed on top of them in a muddy pond.
The service's Nelson branch manager, Brian Stratford, said four-wheel farm bikes or all-terrain vehicles caused more deaths than tractors in the agricultural industry.
"It's terrible that such a tragedy brings to light that this is a high risk and I guess people should take from this that it's not safe to have kids on bikes."
The farm owner, Tom Bryant, said Mr Cavey's wife went looking for her husband and son when they failed to return to their house after lunch.
By the time she found them trapped underneath the trailer in the pond they were both dead, he said.
"When she came back to the house she was covered in mud up to her glasses because she had been trying to get them out but couldn't."
Mr Bryant said he believed the father and son had died an hour before they were found because the bike's engine and their bodies were already cold.
He said it appeared the accident happened as Mr Cavey was driving up the steep side of a paddock. The bike and trailer jack-knifed, rolling them into the pond and trapping them beneath the trailer.
Constable Maurice Horne, of Havelock, said it was illegal to carry passengers on four-wheel motorbikes. However, he said the boy could have legally been travelling on the trailer.
Mr Bryant said Mr Cavey, who was chairman of the Canvastown School board of trustees, was a very big loss to the community.
Mr Stratford said the initial observation of two officers from the service who attended the accident signalled the bike was possibly being used outside its capabilities.
It was towing a car-type trailer with a heavy bale of hay on it and travelling up a slippery slope.
Mr Stratford said he accepted that it was a difficult situation because children and parents often did a range of activities together on farms.
He appreciated farms were different to factories as they were also a home environment, but with certain activities people had to make a hard decision and say children should not take part.
He said achieving such a change in behaviour would come only through education and, unfortunately, accidents such as the one in Canvastown.
- NZPA
BLENHEIM - The death yesterday of a man and his young son in a farm bike accident near Canvastown, 51km from Blenheim, has reinforced the hazards such vehicles pose, says Occupational Safety and Health.
Sharemilker Mark Richard Cavey, 30, and his son Rhys, 4, appear to have drowned when the four-wheel
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