Parents are being urged to keep children away from quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles, following a concerning rise in injury presentations at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH).

The hospital’s Paediatric Major Trauma Service has treated eight patients from December to March who have been injured by both adult and child-sized quad bikes.

The children were aged between two and 15 and sustained injuries including fractures, lacerations and head injuries, with some requiring operations and a stay in hospital. There were no such presentations for the same period a year ago.

WCH trauma specialists have seen an alarming increase in quad bike-related presentations in the past few years. The eight incidents from 1 December 2023 to 31 March 2024 compares to eight incidents in total for the whole of 2022 and 12 in 2023.

The warning to parents follows the tragic deaths of three men in separate quad bike accidents in South Australia in just the past fortnight.

There are an average of 15 fatalities every year across Australia and a further 1400 serious injuries associated with quad bikes.

Children are at greater risk of being seriously injured or killed while using a quad bike due to their small body size and their lack of weight, strength, reflexes or cognitive ability to safely operate the all-terrain vehicles.

Quad bikes are extremely unstable once even a single wheel doesn’t touch the ground and when turning corners – particularly for children who aren’t heavy enough to shift their weight to balance the vehicle.

The warning marks the start of Paediatric Trauma Prevention Year 2024 at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, which aims to help reduce preventable deaths and serious injuries to children and young people.

Experts say parents should ensure that:

• Children under 16 never ride a quad bike as a driver or passenger.
• Young children are always closely supervised when they are near quad bikes.
• Adults model safe practices, including wearing an approved helmet and protective clothing.
• Quad bikes ridden by adults are well maintained, comply with the Australian Standard, and have an Operator Protection Device in place.

Women’s and Children’s Hospital Paediatric Trauma Nurse Consultant Jackie Winters said quad bikes were not toys.

“We do not want to see another child become severely disabled, or even worse,” Ms Winters said.

“Although children’s quad bikes are legal, we do not recommend allowing children to ride them, as they don’t have the right abilities or size to operate them in a safe way.

Ms Winters said that because quad bikes appeared sturdy, parents could get the false impression that they were safe for children to use.

“We want to give the clear message that as clinicians who are seeing a rising number of children severely injured and distressed, these vehicles are not safe for children to use in any circumstance.”

Kidsafe SA Chief Executive Officer Holly Fitzgerald said that children were at high risk of being crushed by the bikes, which could result in asphyxiation and serious head and spinal injuries.

“It is essential that parents and carers are made aware of these dangers and never allow children under 16 to ride or be a passenger on adult-sized quad bikes,” Ms Fitzgerald said.