Students focus on safety innovations

Fieldays was a great opportunity to unveil new innovations.

Last week we met the award winning De-Fence innovations team from St Paul's Collegiate - today we meet two teams of classmates who were also in the Innovations Tent at National Fieldays.

Ride Safe

The team of Jack Alexander, Quinn Bowie, Jeevan Singh and Mitchell Bailey came up with a quad bike helmet that does not allow the vehicle to start without the helmet being secured.

Sensors in the helmet are linked to the kill switch in the vehicle.

The idea inspired by the new laws around helmets being needed to be worn by quad bike operators and farm owners/employers being liable and fined if the law is not being followed.

The boys wanted to design a product that ensured safety first and gave the employers peace of mind.

Flash Inc

Another safety first invention, this from the team of Jock Yarndley, Silvana Ground, Luke Donaldson, Sean Dykes and Sophie Carr Patterson.

The device is an LED strobe light which is located under a tractor bonnet to deter birds from nesting in or around the engine.

The strobe runs off a 12V battery, which is either charged from the tractor battery or by solar panel.

Inspiration came from Jack's dad who had a problem on their farm with birds nesting in the tractor engines, causing fires when the tractors were used.

The team research found that, according to an insurance company, there is an average of 37 claims per year for tractors that have caught fire due to birds' nests.

The claims amounted to $2.6 million in pay outs.

Students wanted to find a solution to the danger of the fires, loss of production time and cost to the agricultural and insurance industries.