UK ministers in ‘embarrassing climbdown’ over claims quad bike roll bars increase injury risk

Government had rejected campaigners’ demands for new safety measures on basis of outdated research

The government is reviewing quad bike safety regulation in what campaigners described as “an embarrassing climbdown” after ministers repeatedly claimed that the introduction of roll bars could do more harm than good.

Ministers had previously said that research by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that roll bars could increase the risk of injury. But the HSE research was done in 1999, nearly a decade before the invention of newer devices that do save lives, according to evidence from Australia and the US.