Does training prevent farm motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle injuries?
This was the question that Dr Tony Lower and colleagues asked. Virtually every farm kid has used one and nine thousand are sold every year. An earlier Australian study estimated that 50% of ATV riders aged 15-19 years have incurred an injury while riding in the previous two years. This same study illustrated that only a very small percentage have undertaken formal training. But training has had mixed results in preventing automobile crashes by young drivers, so an intervention study was needed. With funding from Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) and support of Honda Australia, a randomised control trial of agricultural students was conducted. Year 11 and 12 students at six agricultural colleges were surveyed about their use of farm motorcycles and ATVs and their experience of injuries. The results of this baseline study have been published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (Lower, Egginton & Owen 2003). Schools were assigned as inter
