Sad toll of broken families

Every time they hear of another child killed on a quad bike, a very sad, select group of parents cringe. They want laws changed. They want manufacturers to make bikes safer. And they never want another parent to make the mistake Gavin Vanner did.

Four-year-old Molly Vanner was crushed by a quad bike in August, after Mr Vanner let her drive alone while he took a phone call. On Thursday a jury found the farmer not guilty of manslaughter or criminal nuisance.

"It was just flaming dumb, it was just a stupid bloody dumb mistake that I did," he had said earlier.

Georgina Bowling was 8 when she died. After nagging her parents all day to let her ride a quad bike, she drove under a bar and choked to death in the two minutes her father wasn't watching.

Five years later her parents, too, call themselves "stupid".

"Life basically changed in a second," says Georgina's mother Janneke. "It's very hard. Every day's another day without her. Molly was 4, Georgie was 8 ... It's not supposed to be like that."

The Bowlings, with older daughter Paris, made a video soon after Georgina's death. Produced with the help of ACC, the video was given to police to be shown at schools and shock children into rethinking the she'll-be-right attitude.

"It's not ever been said that we should all take responsibility. It's not just the parents, it's not just the teachers, it's everybody, it's the Government. Why can't we have legislation against it?"

Rob Brittain lost his 9-year-old daughter Rebecca in 2002. His voice cracks when he talks about the Vanner case. "I can't imagine ... there was enough guilt for us. She was staying with friends. We knew what was going on, we'd been uneasy about it all along."

Four years old is "absolutely" too young to drive a quad bike, he says - and the Government should enforce an age limit.

"I think history bears out that they're too young. Twelve, even 12 years old ... those couple of years can make all the difference."

Those extra years didn't save 12-year-old Jayden Bond, who was killed in October last year when his employer let him drive a quad bike on a public road near Waitara.

Jayden's mother, Lisa Bond-Hansen, still has her ups and downs, coping with the loss of her son. She wants driving-age recommendations made law.

"They're made for the strength of 16 and up. Too many of these are happening ... they're killing kids."

Amanda Pearse was older again - she died at 14, four years ago, while staying at her friend's farm near Hamilton.

Her father, Roy, says quad bikes are "nasty little things" and wants roll cages and an age limit of 16.

Amanda was with her friend, driving down to the store to get lollies, when the other girl hopped off to open a gate and asked her to reverse the bike. "She hit the throttle instead of the brake ... it rolled back into the fence and laid on top of her and the electric fence just kept zapping her ... "

Jo Apaapa's daughter Iritana was also 14 when she died in 2002 in the eastern Taranaki community of Toko after she was thrown from her bicycle which was being towed by a quad at speed.

Her mother describes her daughter as artistic, bubbly, with her whole life ahead of her. At just 14, she was sitting bursary in Te Reo Maori. For Mrs Apaapa, the latest quad bike tragedy has brought up all the raw feelings of losing her daughter.

"I feel really sorry for the parents but if it's going to wake farmers up that these bikes are dangerous and that they need to do something, then that's good," she said.

Meanwhile, had Molly Elizabeth Vanner survived she would now be 5 years old.

Yesterday her gravesite at Hawera Cemetery seemed lonely. Although she never made it to her fifth birthday, a birthday had been celebrated nonetheless at her grave. A bottle of orange fizzy drink, chocolate, a pencil case, a glitter globe with the words "To our princess Molly" surrounded the little white cross bearing her name.

-HERALD ON SUNDAY