And those who own the machines are only too aware of the dangers posed given the high susceptibility to roll-overs.

But despite this, the death of a farmer because of a quad bike rollover is also a common-enough event.

It can be difficult to understand why this is the case, given how the issue is regularly in the media focus and also with the work done by group such as the VFF to highlight the risks to farmers.

Often though the awareness is not translated into action, into a farmer investing the time to install rollover protection.

Bethanga farmer David Elder calls it the "she'll be right" attitude that means falling short of a safe work environment.

When it comes to quad bikes he's identified himself as a "near non-survivor" after suffering an acquired brain injury six years ago in a rollover.

Indeed, he truly was fortunate to survive. Such were his injuries that he had to be placed in an induced coma.

And that was all from what was supposed to be a quick ride back home from his neighbour's place.

The consequences though are now with him every day.

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"I still suffer tiredness and have some balance issues," he says, "and my short-term memory; if I put a set of keys down, or some pliers down when I'm fencing I'll forget where they are."

But he also knows just how fortunate he is to be left with the physical impact of his accident, given the alternative could quite easily have been death.

Mr Elder's story is one that needs to be heard by as many as possible across the region's farming sector.

Thanks to him becoming the face of a Victorian government and Worksafe safety campaign, he has made sure he is doing everything he can to do just that.

We would urge all farmers to do what should be the basics - install rollover protection, don't let children use quad bikes and always wear a helmet.