Doctors have declared that a change in current legislation is required to compel road legal all-terrain vehicle riders to wear safety helmets.
Medics dealing with road traffic accidents have said that lives are in danger as riders are not required to wear headgear, even though some quad bikes can travel as fast as 145kph.
Mike Penning, the Minister for Road Safety, stated that there are no current plans to force quad bike riders to wear helmets. However, he added that the government would review the issue, and strongly advises all riders to don protective headgear.
No figures on road legal vehicles, such as some Honda quad bikes, are kept by the DVLA, but according to the BBC some suppliers within the United Kingdom have increased their sales figures from hundreds sold to thousands since 2005.
This has had the knock on effect of fuelling the second hand quad bikes market, and experts say that it is imperative that riders of used quad bikes should have them serviced regularly to make sure that they are safe on the road.
Dr John Heyworth is the President of the College of Emergency Medicine and he told the BBC:
“We know that the riders on these quad bikes are at real risk of serious injury and even death because they are seriously unprotected.
“We know from experience that head injuries are the biggest killer in these sorts of accidents. So for goodness sake let’s protect these riders. It’s a simple bit of protection for them that will save lives.”
Prominent figures from the all-terrain vehicle industry support his sentiments, but are wary of any effect on legal riders.