OZ ATV :: The Australian ATV Forum

[Dino]

http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/whs-information/agriculture/quad-watch/quad-stewardship-program/pages/quad-bike-stewardship-program

I just don't know about this.....

On the one hand we have our governments not giving us recognition, or useful rego, or safety requirements like wearing a helmet, and mouthing off with fanciful ideals, academic "solutions" and threatening media releases..........

And now they are asking us to register, and maybe report a near miss.
They don't have enough statistics to actually determine anything through statistics, that I do know.

Any thoughts?
_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[yogie]

so they want us to report a near miss, and build the case up for them to ban us down the track, they refused us to join in on their little forum a few weeks ago, nope not interested in helping them, there will be a few dodgy "sign ups" me thinks and the spate of accidents and near misses will be flooding in regardless.
_________________
2005 KFX700
With a few bells and whistles
and the twin yoshi's
American Star A-arms, tie rods
elka stickers
Shorty Shifter
I have a Waco
rossco gave me a flexx sticker
honda thumb
Great at climbing trees
durablue stickers

[Dino]

yogie wrote:

so they want us to report a near miss, and build the case up for them to ban us down the track, they refused us to join in on their little forum a few weeks ago, nope not interested in helping them, there will be a few dodgy "sign ups" me thinks and the spate of accidents and near misses will be flooding in regardless.

I've also concerned with WHO and how this info can be used.
And stewardship implies mentoring and guidance. That is something I don't need. I've been mentored and guided enough thank you.

I've got boat people up the road, carbon tax around the corner, mining taxes closing mines, power bills that are so green they are ridiculous, and still no where to ride legally under conditional registration without a trailer load of paperwork.

I do know that the recent statistics used at Bill Shortens pow wow were BS as used. I've already suggested they go back to there dirty little quad free offices and sort them out properly, without agenda.
_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[yogie]

I sent them an email before Xmas, and did realy well not turn it into a mad spitting rant.... read on, is my email and their rather intersting reply.

From: markjohn_stone@hotmail.com
To: info@safeworkaustralia.gov.au
Subject: RE: Quad bike stewardship program
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 14:25:57 +1100



howdy guys, just a few thoughts on this program, I read this with great interest and find this program will be open to too many gray areas and the info gathered will be of no real use. When Bill shorten had his quad forum in melb about a month ago, there were a few of us trying to get involved or just invited but we were told we had no relevence to this issue, well I and about 4000 other quad users are part of the www.ozatv.com forum, and while there is a mixture of ages and different disaplines of quad riding, the social aspect of quads far out wieghs the bulk of the members.
My self I feel the only way to combat the death on quads by farmers and their children is a simple one, make all quads be registered and all users licenced, and how many farmers or atv owners let their kids ride these? and how many of these same farmers let their underage and unlicenced children drive the family sedan ? not to many I suspect, very simplistic I relise but farmers will continue to let their children ride these 300 kilo plus quads.
And the pointless use of ROPS is another very silly answer to a training problem, myself with over 500 hours of riding, and in 1/3rd of it extreme hill climbing, I've had no serios accidents, because it comes down to training and experiance, I have taught my wife and children, the correct way of quad riding, and when I do tour/trailrides, anyone with less than 20 hours on a quad, he or she gets a basic handling course we have developed over the years, and in over 60 tours, NOT ONE accident reqiuring hospitail or a doctors visit, and why ? training and commomsense, and full safety gear required, as basic. anyway just a few ideas and thoughts. Any feed back on this would be apreciated.
So all the best this festive season and a safe one.


kindest regards
mark johnstone
0413539440
0352672517
Winchelsea, Vic

AND THE REPLY....

Hi Mark

I am responding to the e-mail you sent 21 December last year and apologise for the delay. This office closed on 21 December and this is the first opportunity I have had to respond.



I recall having some contact with you at the time the October forum was being arranged as we thought that the interests of serious recreational users of quad bikes would be valuable. A final decision as to the invitees was out of our hands and with Minister Shorten’s office. As the Minister’s responsibilities rest with workplace safety it was thought that recreational use was ‘off his patch’.



I thank you for your comments on the stewardship program announced in December last year. We are hopeful that the farmer organisations will encourage their members to register their details as the aim is to gather accurate information on the size of the quad bike fleet used for work and to be able to counter some of the claims by manufacturers that there is insufficient incident data to identify if one of their bikes was involved or whether it was a ‘cheap import’. I also thank you for your comments about parental responsibility and about training. It would be great if every purchaser undertook proper training or engaged with a group such as yours before they took possession of their own bike. They may be better informed and make more appropriate purchasing decisions. Sadly the situation around training still needs work. Employers have a duty to provide training for their workers but there is no universal requirement as there is for motor vehicles. I note that in the US where training is provided free of charge the uptake is around less than 4% and I’d suggest the situation here is no better.



We do not advocate the use of ROPS on quad bikes as it is simply not a sensible solution; we are open-minded however, as to the utility of crush protection devices in some circumstances. We are in furious agreement with the manufacturers regarding children under 16 not riding adult sized quad bikes though, given what I mentioned earlier, this can only be applied in a workplace for example a farm.



After a relatively incident free start to the new year I hope it will continue to be so.



Regards





Philip Hillsdon

Safe Work Australia

Assistant Director| Plant and Structures Team

Codes and Guidance Branch

GPO Box 641

Canberra ACT 2601

Location Code C220NB2

Phone (02) 6121 9213 | Facsimile (02) 6276 9961

E-mail philip.hillsdon@safeworkaustralia.gov.au









Please note: The information contained in this email message and any attached files may be confidential information, and may also be the subject of legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended recipient any use, disclosure or copying of this email is unauthorised. If you received this email in error, please notify Safe Work Australia by calling (02) 6121 5317 and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments.
_________________
2005 KFX700
With a few bells and whistles
and the twin yoshi's
American Star A-arms, tie rods
elka stickers
Shorty Shifter
I have a Waco
rossco gave me a flexx sticker
honda thumb
Great at climbing trees
durablue stickers

[Dino]

Interesting response by the assistant director.

(1) If they actually investigated the incidents properly*, they'd have that data. How back to front is that? Get stats on maybe 5% of eligable users, and extrapolate that to dispute the data presented to them by the manufacturers.
(2) A standard "it's not my department response." <My submission was rejected by Shortens office because it was entirly outside the scope(?)>
If any of our govt.(s) were serious, they'd use a whole of govt. approach, incorporating a round table discussion with users, reps from the numerous portfolios, FCAI, actual user groups ( like Recreation, Working and Racing ), use real stats and come up with realistic goals, targets and timelines. Stuff BS speeches for headlines and tissue soaking "rent-a-cause" trollers.
(3) "The training situation....." What effing training? Other than those who have to ( <1% of working units), what is currently on offer is (and/or) expensive, incomplete, out of date, and not exactly enforced.
You nailed it fella. Most Recreational Users (OMG, sounds like something else!), actually might have more of a clue.
(4)The ROPS answer is gold. "That academic" would be feeling about the same as "that rops manufacturer".

* Investigated properly, newer studies of actual reports, not media articles, have showed that despite happening on a farm, nearly half were not working at the time. Not known, recreation or other is a big lump for desk jockeys to, now, have to swallow.

129 deaths nationally over 10 years for 220 thousand + machines, in a self regulated arena.
Compared to:
"A total of 48 people died on Australian roads this Christmas/New Year period, slightly less than the 50 who died over the 2011/12 period..."
from yet another Professor:
http://tools.goldcoast.com.au/stories/53943484.php

So 98 dead in over 2x two week periods in a highly regulated and enforced version of motorised transport. Water activities took about another 20 for the same periods, bushwalking a few more.

I'm quite pleased enough concerned people actually blew all that BS back in the anti's collective faces.
_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[matgod]

So in europe you can ride quads on the road legally. But in Australia they want to ban them off road or have pox ass rules. Ffs australia were getting way to soft.