Widow of top NI entrepreneur Denis Lynn campaigning for new law to tackle “quad bike death traps”
It's hoped a change in the law could save lives
The widow of late Finnebrogue founder, Denis Lynn has launched her campaign to have quad bike safety laws changed in the United Kingdom.
Mr Lynn died in May 2021 following a quad bike accident on his Finnebrogue estate in County Down.
Following the second anniversary of Mr Lynn’s death, his widow Christine has called for a law change introducing mandatory roll bars on quad bikes.
Roll bars are designed to stop the single-person quad bike from coming down on top of the rider and crushing or asphyxiating them beneath the bike.
Mrs Lynn told Downtown/ Cool Fm it is a measure she thinks would have saved her husband’s life.
She said: “I feel very strongly that that night of the accident if there had of been a roll bar on his quad bike his life would have been saved.
“Whenever you sit and listen to the pathologist explaining the internal injuries that Denis had, it is just, it just really breaks your heart.
“320 kilos to land on his chest, he had now hope.”
Mrs Lynn has also called for mandatory helmets, licences, and training.
She has penned a letter to the UK transport secretary, Mark Harper, and authorities in Belfast asking them to consider her proposal.
Her campaign has already started to gain traction and has received backing from local politicians and community groups including support from the former First Minister for Northern Ireland, The Rt Hon. Dame Arlene Foster and Labour peer, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick.
“But one thing we would all like to ensure is that nobody else suffers Denis’s fate"
The latest backing comes from the Alliance Party and SDLP as well as the DUP’s Jim Shannon.
Mrs Lynn said following the passing of her husband’s second anniversary and the conclusion of the inquest into his death she thinks now is the time for her campaign to gain momentum.
She said: “My late husband Denis, a regular user of a quad bike on our Finnebrogue estate, died in May 2021 following an accident at low speed. I now deem it my responsibility to do what I can to stop an accident like this happening again to another family.
“Denis was a loving husband and father. He left behind me and his four daughters, including Ciara, who was 17 that Spring Sunday evening on the farm when she witnessed her dad have his accident.
“Nothing will bring Denis back; not to us, or the Finnebrogue family which he left behind. We will forever remember the extraordinary achievements which established him as one of the UK’s leading entrepreneurs and changed so many lives for the better.
“But one thing we would all like to ensure is that nobody else suffers Denis’s fate. I know if Denis were still here today – and it was one of his daughters who had been in an accident – he would not rest until we strengthened health and safety rules for quad bikes and increased public awareness into the risks they pose.
“I have been shocked to learn of the number of other similar accidents on quad bikes. I have also been shocked to learn the UK has slipped behind other developed nations such as Australia, where roll bars are mandatory on quad bikes. If there were roll bars on Denis’s bike, he would still be with us. It also seems scandalous that anybody can ride a quad bike off road without a licence – and that in England, Scotland, and Wales you don’t have to wear a helmet.
“I do not want another family to go through what me and my family are going through. If I can turn something positive out of what happened to Denis, I think that would be a good think. But, at the end of the day I need help and I can’t do this alone.”
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