The Brain Injury Association has recently taken over running of a canteen, situated adjacent to the Kauri Saleyards, and its members decided to bring awareness about helmets by talking to farmers who brought or purchased livestock.
Association manager Vanessa Gray said quad bike helmets would help minimise the risk of injury.
"The farming environment is quite unpredictable," she said. "The unexpected can happen and since we're in an ideal environment amongst people here, we thought of just talking to people and raising that awareness."
This week is also Brain Awareness Week and the association has dedicated today as HAT or Have a Think about Brain Injury Day.
Ms Gray has invited Northlanders to wear a hat today and think about brain injury.
She says 90 New Zealanders sustain a brain injury daily- a hidden epidemic in our community.
But Northland farmers are not convinced. Maungaturoto dairy farmer Peter Underwood said he and other farmers he knew were never brought up wearing helmets on quad bikes.
Kokopu farmer Denis Anderson said it was difficult to get people to wear helmets on farms.
"I am not totally convinced that there's enough evidence head injuries are the cause of deaths," he said.
"The most important thing is for our staff to ride quad bikes sensibly and responsibly."
Whananaki farmer Neville Edge said he'd never wear a helmet on his farm because it was a nuisance when working with stock.
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-APNZ
