It’s been said that wisdom is born of our mistakes, and our mistakes born of our lack of wisdom - there’s many variations attributed to dozens of people so it’s a common theme if a little simplistic and generalised.
It’s a very wide ranging question, potentially a topic in itself. Flying model planes or drones in your back yard, doing repairs to things, electrical, plumbing, gas, using weapons, traps, keeping animals, using machines, vehicles, fire, loud music, digging holes/wells, transmitting radio signals, keeping fuel stored, running a business, collecting rainwater … obviously some activities/actions have a significant potential for affecting others and one can well understand the need for some boundaries and constraints (laws), but it’s interesting to consider in a broad sense…
It’s not uncommon where I am to see people hooning around on quads and bikes, unregistered and of course uninsured - I’ve seen a neighbour repeatedly go up and down our residential street on back wheels of his quad, no helmet, shorts, t-shirt and thongs for some time - tuning it I guess Did I report it? no - different towns have different ‘cultures’ and especially this time of year bikes and quads are all the rage and small town one needs some level of ‘understanding’ …
The comparison of quad vs (motor)bike is an interesting one - when riding a bike its arguably easier to lose it, the thing can certainly land on the rider, and they can weigh easily into the same range as quads, more if one considers the big road tractors. Both my road and dual sport bikes tip the scales wet at over 250 Kg … There’s probably more chance of separating from a bike in an ‘off’, which is a good thing in most cases. So it seems that people accept that bikes are plain dangerous especially when used enthusiastically, so having ROPS and seat belts and pretty much anything else is just incredibly unlikely to be workable and a waste of time - just run with the ATGATT theory and hope for the best in the event of the worst. But it seems way more likely that something can be done with quads that is workable and effective - so why not do it? Personally I would probably opt for a safer quad with some form of ROPS if I were buying new.
Interestingly the following site includes the following information:
Crush protection devices and rollover protective structures
A crush protection device is mounted on a quad bike to minimise the risk of someone being crushed between the vehicle and the ground if the bike rolls over. It does not enclose the rider.
A rollover protective structure encloses the operator and is used in conjunction with driver/passenger restraints, usually seat belts. ROPS are not suitable for single operator quad bikes but are commonly used on side-by-side vehicles that can sometimes be referred to as two-seater quad bikes
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/quad-bikes
I sense a hair being cleaved into multiple strands there but I get in part what they are saying. To me, protection from a rollover is protection from a rollover - we now seem to have the sub category CPD or Crush Protection Device, which is a device to protect you from being crushed during a rollover, as I read it, ahem … I’m not sure the issue needs to be ‘complexified’ with ‘wordbling’
It seems there are a few aftermarket ‘solutions’ and some authorities offering rebates for purchase, like this one in Victoria from a few years back:
http://www.highfieldind.com.au/highfieldindustriesnewsandupdates/quad-bike-crush-protection-rebates
I’m not entirely sure if the rider in the picture is fully appreciating the cuddle their quad bike is giving them but it is an interesting concept and the video looks promising to say the least:
I have no connection with this company but I do think the dog is cool but should be also wearing an approved canine helmet (if there is not such a thing now, just wait a while) …
Here’s another video:
To me its obvious advertising/endorsement, but so be it, also seems fairly relevant to the topic.
I’d suggest if you were doing 50 Km/H when losing it, this won’t be much help, but driving/riding/whatever ‘too fast for the conditions’ is often likely to end worse when the bad stuff happens.
They mention 1500$ in the video - that’s upwards of 10% of the cost of a new quad, and it’s ‘reusable’ in the sense you can unbolt it and reattach to the next quad. I’d probably spring for one or something similar after more than the 10 minutes of research I put into this post …
I’m sure there are many other ‘solutions’ - this was just a quick search …