Northland coroner Brandt Shortland is examining the accidental deaths Arapohue farmer Carlos Mendoza (52), Marua farmer Jack McInnes (64), and Awarua resident Suzanne Claudia Ferguson (62) to see what could be learned to prevent further accidents.
All three crashes occurred on steep terrain during August and September 2010.
Ferguson died after her 350cc Honda TRX 300 crushed her against a fence. Investigators believe she had gone off her regular track and was trying to get back to level ground. Mendoza died when he fell off his quad which then rolled onto him. He had been riding along a dam bank then drove up a berm. Mendoza, who lived alone on 4ha, is thought to have lain under the quad for four days before neighbours found him.
McInnes was crushed to death when his quad rolled on top of him during weed spraying on a hillside paddock where he turned uphill, the machine’s balance being upset by a cattle rut.
His daughter and the coroner surmise McInnes felt the quad rolling and dismounted to try to steady it. “He wouldn’t have wanted his equipment to get dinged so he would have got off the bike and tried to hold it up.”
Ministry of Business Innovation and Enterprise investigating inspector Phil Bailey presented evidence at all three of the Northland coroner’s cases and was the investigating officer for Mendoza and Ferguson.
Bailey told the court steep terrain was the deciding factor in all three cases; tyre wear and pressure also contributed. In all three cases the drivers were climbing or sidling slopes of 20-40o. Bailey said after the inquest that the ministry was now referring to the vehicles as quad bikes rather than ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) because it believed there were places quad bikes shouldn’t go.
All the quads in the crashes were mechanically sound but had balding, underinflated tyres. Mendoza’s quad’s right front tyre was worn and almost flat. “This would have pulled the bike to the right,” said Bailey.
The tread on Ferguson’s Honda TRX 300 was also low – only 10% of the front tyres remaining.
Helmets and roll bars were considered unlikely to have helped any of the drivers to survive.
Coroner Shortland withheld final decisions until he could hear from expert witnesses in Auckland.
Ministry figures record 850 quad rider injuries annually and five deaths.
