Following Gareth’s blog about the importance of wearing a helmet when riding an ATV, we spoke to John Yuille Jnr, Managing Director of ATV Services Scotland who shared his experiences of the challenges they face every day encouraging people to use their head and what they are doing to drive a change this Farm Safety Week.
“We sell helmets, but not nearly as many as we should.” says John. “The phone call normally starts “we have an HSE inspection coming and we need to get a helmet for the bike”. Once we ask what shape, colour, style and size is required the answer normally comes back to “what’s the cheapest?”. What this tells us is, that this helmet is for show rather than use.
“These small inexpensive items have been irrefutably proven to save lives, but only if you wear it.
“There have been campaigns before to try and encourage our type of customers to wear helmets by national charities, HSE and government and, although we appreciate the sentiment, we did not support these campaigns directly given that they suggested that the “bicycle type” helmet was the answer to the problem, this is something we simply do not agree with.
“The entry level ATV helmet is manufactured to EN1078:2012 which is the standard for bicycle and skateboard helmets, it does not take an ATV expert to know that an accident on an ATV that can travel up to 70mph and weigh up to 400kgs has a higher potential for life-changing / life-ending injury than a bicycle or skateboard. Yes they may help to tick a box but would you rely on this to save your life?
“If you are going to take safety seriously then buy a proper helmet. One that is suitable for the vehicle your staff, family or even you are operating.
“A customer once said to me “if you’ve got a 4 bob heid, buy a 4 bob helmet”, this might be lost on some of our younger customers but what he was saying is he buys and uses a quality helmet to protect his most valuable asset, and we want you to do the same.
“I strongly believe the industry must take a lead on this and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is so, this Farm Safety Week, we are launching our new “DON’T FORGET YOUR HELMET” campaign. ATV Services will encourage every single customer to wear a quality helmet that will offer superior protection and every new and used ATV will be supplied with a sticker to remind you to wear your helmet every time you ride.
In addition, every new Utility ATV we sell will come with a voucher that to cover the cost of one suitable helmet per ATV & UTV and a 50% discount with any used machine (retail sales only). The voucher can also be used to contribute to a higher specification helmet if the customer prefers.
To learn more visit www.atvservices.com
