Parents’ Risk Acceptance and Attitudes Toward the Use of Quad Bikes by Children and Young People in Sweden

Abstract

HighlightsParents did not see themselves as role models for children regarding use of quad bikes.Parents seemed to misjudge their children’s maturity and capabilities.Risk acceptance was a common issue, due to risk normalization.There is a need for an age limit for drivers of adult-size quad bikes.Abstract.When seeking to explain the many accidents involving children on quad bikes, it is critical to understand the norms and risk perceptions of their parents, because parents are responsible for their children’s safety. This study explored attitudes and behavior among parents of rural children using quad bikes and their experiences of incidents and injuries. Information obtained from two focus group discussions, one with young adults and one with parents, and an in-depth interview with a quad bike distributor was used to develop an interview guide. The guide was used in telephone interviews with Swedish parents (n = 41) and some children ages 5 to 14 (n = 9) between autumn 2015 and spring 2016. Analysis of the results revealed eight themes: (1) how quad bikes are used, (2) risk awareness, (3) safety information could help other parents, (4) parents’ perception of children’s abilities, (5) children’s learning, (6) children`s perspective, (7) rules and responsibilities, and (8) risk acceptance. Major findings were that parents were aware of the risks and had a strong commitment to children’s safety, but also showed risk acceptance. To increase the safety of quad bike use, recommendations to organizations and authorities are presented, such as an age limit for drivers of all adult-size quad bikes and safety labeling of quad bikes, with information clarifying the rules for specific vehicles. Keywords: Acceptance, Accident, Agriculture, All-terrain vehicle, ATV, Awareness, Farm, Child, Incident, Parent, Quad bike, Risk, Rural, Sweden, Youth.

Perspective: Emphasizing Safe Engineering Design Features of Quad Bikes in Agricultural Safety Programs

“…It is interesting that these programs continue to focus primarily on administrative controls and personal protective equipment, even though they are less effective than other methods such as elimination/substitution and engineering controls (NIOSH, 2022). This approach seems to be in line with other studies conducted in Sweden examining the personal beliefs and social constructs of workers using quad bikes, who tend to shift the focus away from engineering controls and safety technology to leaning on blaming the operator for faulty behaviors (Edlund et al, 2019;Lundqvist et al, 2022). A thorough review of these safety outreach programs was performed in both the U.S. and Canada (NCERA, 2020;AHS, 2016).…”

Children in relation to agricultural health and safety in Sweden: A perspective

“…Another study ( 4 ) had the focus on parents' risk acceptance and attitudes toward the use of ATVs by children living in rural areas . Major findings were that parents were aware of the risks and had a strong commitment to children's safety, but risk acceptance was a common issue, due to risk normalization.…”

“…However, nowadays, often one parent works away from home and small children go to daycare or stay with one parent on the farm. There are no official statistics on child injuries on farms, but there is reporting by the media on time to time serious injuries and fatalities among children as well as adolescents by farm tractors and machinery, ATVs, horses, and other large animals ( 4 ).…”