5:00AM Sunday January 20, 2008
By David Fisher
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10487782&ref=rss
A quadbiker was hospitalised after a collision with another bike on Muriwai beach yesterday afternoon, sparking fresh fears about beach safety.
The man, in his 50s, was in critical care last night after being airlifted to Auckland City Hospital by the Westpac rescue helicopter.
Advanced paramedic Dave Grimshaw was told the man was doing about 40km/h when he was hit in the side by a trailbiker.
Grimshaw said the man, whose first name was Robert, was not wearing a helmet and was not paying attention to his surroundings as he searched for a fishing spot.
He fractured his collarbone and a bone behind it, suffered several fractured ribs and bruising to a lung. The trailbike rider was not seriously hurt.
The injury comes less than three weeks after the death of Daisy Fernandez, the Tauranga teen hit by motocross rider Nikita Kneebone, at Ripiro beach, south of Dargaville.
The 13-year-old's death revived debate about vehicle access to New Zealand beaches, which are treated as roads with a speed limit of 100km/h unless covered by bylaws.
The Auckland Regional Council's Rodney representative, Christine Rose, said the southern part of Muriwai was covered by a bylaw banning vehicles.
But access to the beach north of an area known locally as the cutting, about 1km north of the Muriwai surf club, was essentially "open slather".
She said major problems were caused by the "extreme conflict of different users who are incompatible at the best of times".
Northern Muriwai and neighbouring beach Te Oneone Rangatira were popular with everyone from motorbikers to horse riders.
Rose said identifying the biggest troublemakers was subjective but she believed four-wheel-drive users were the biggest threat to public safety.
Earlier this month ARC group manager for visitor services and assets Jane Aickin said Daisy Fernandez' death highlighted that authorities had been doing "too little, too late".
Rose agreed yesterday's incident was "an accident waiting to happen".
She said a draft report going before regional councillors next month suggested the organisation should take a lead role and pour more cash into tackling the problem.
Options include closing access or beefing up enforcement, but the large number of parties involved made the process tough, she said.
Yesterday's accident heaped more pressure on overstretched lifeguards watching over about 4000 beachgoers.
Trainee nurse Gemma Shepherd, 20, was one of three lifeguards who raced to help after being alerted about 2.45pm.
The lifeguards arrived at the same time as the rescue helicopter and a St John ambulance.
About a dozen people were clustered around three cars, with the quadbike and motorbike involved already loaded on to trailers.
The quadbike driver was on the sand "just lying in the position he had come off the bike", said Shepherd.
"He was conscious when we got there but he had been unconscious for about 10 minutes. He could tell us what day of the week it was and what his name was. He was responsive but he was in a lot of pain."
Lifeguards and paramedics worked together to check the man's vital signs and fit him with a neck-support collar.
The man's wife, who was also on the beach, flew with him to hospital.
So the two recent events involving death/serious injury have been caused by trail/quadbikers but the biggest threat to public safety is 4x4ers??
