By Sheena Roszell

quadding

Injury Prevention Centre aims to prevent injury and death as quad season begins

May 18, 2019 | 7:00 AM

For many, the May long weekend kicks off quad season in Alberta and people in this province use more quads per capita than anyone else in the county.

On average, 14 people die in Alberta each year from quad related activities and about half of those are from rollovers. Over 700 are admitted to hospital and over 5,000 go to emergency departments for treatment.

Don Voaklander, Director of the Injury Prevention Centre at the University of Alberta says this time of year they are raising awareness that quads are inherently non-stable vehicles and operators should take care when using them.

He says to prevent rollovers it helps if you don’t have an extra person on the quad, you can also purchase after market rollover protection devices and there is a lot of training available in the province where you can learn how to ride quads on slopes and hills.

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He says a lot of the rollovers they see are relatively low speed but once a 600 pound quad is on top of you, it’s pretty hard to get off.

Always wear a helmet and leave the liquor at home says Voaklander.

According to recent stats, eight out of 10 people who died from head injuries from quad collisions were not wearing helmets. Alcohol was found in the blood of more than half (55%) of the drivers who died quadding.