Public warned not to buy lethal scrambler bikes as Christmas presents 

A mini-scrambler motorbike seized by gardai in Cork. 

Scrambler bikes are lethal in the hands of children and should not be bought as Christmas presents, road safety chiefs have warned as new figures show that gardaí have seized almost 260 quad bikes in two years.

More than half of those seizures were made in Dublin. The figure is expected to rise over the coming months once the Road Traffic Bill 2021 is signed into law.

The new legislation will give gardaí greater enforcement powers in relation to scramblers and quad bikes.

It covers public parks, green areas, waste ground, and beaches, and will prohibit the use of scramblers or quad bikes on public or private land without the permission of the landowner.

It will also give gardaí the power to seize the off-road vehicles or enter a premises with a warrant and confiscate them.

The new scrambler seizure figures are contained in response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Emer Higgins.

Seizures and injuries

They show that 258 scramblers have been seized nationally since 2021 — 178 were seized last year, with around 80 seized so far this year. Of those, 99 were seized in the capital last year with 44 seized so far this year.

Ms Higgins said scramblers present a real danger to users and she welcomed the crackdown.

“The anti-social behaviour often associated with scrambler use can be very intimidating for communities, which is why I welcome that a large number of scramblers have been seized,” she said.

Last month, it emerged that a woman in her 20s was knocked down and seriously injured by a scrambler bike, and that a two-year-old infant required hospital treatment after being struck by a scrambler in a separate incident. Both occurred on the northside of Cork city.

The renewed safety warning comes after research found that 38% of those injured in incidents involving quad bikes or scramblers, between 2017 to 2021, were aged 18 or under.

Provisional statistics released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA), gardaí and Mr Keith Synnott, a consultant at the National Spinal Injuries Unit in the Mater Hospital, showed that 88 people were injured in collisions involving a quadbike or scrambler on a public road between 2017 and 2021.

There were four fatalities involving quad bikes or scramblers on public roads in the same period.

Life-changing injuries

Mr Synnott said quad bikes are heavy, dangerous pieces of machinery that can cause life-changing injuries or death.

“Following a collision on these machines, riders risk serious spinal injury,” he said.

“This could result in paralysis, which can mean being unable to walk or perhaps use your hands to feed yourself and loss of bowel or bladder control. Sometimes, even the inability to breathe without the aid of a machine.

“Impacts often happen on areas of uneven ground or as a result of unstable vehicles, especially in the hands of children, leading to people falling and landing awkwardly or the vehicle landing on the rider. The dangers these machines pose means that they are not suitable gifts for children.”