Otago physiotherapy PhD student Lynne Clay presented a research paper, also including work by three university colleagues, on Friday, the first day of PhysioForward 2013.
This two-day scientific conference marks the 100th anniversary of the university School of Physiotherapy, which was founded in 1913.
Although it had often been suggested that ''gung ho'' or ''cavalier'' approaches contributed to quad bike accidents, that might not be the case, Ms Clay said.
Farmers involved in the study did not appear to have ''risk-taking personalities or fatalistic beliefs''.
They did, however, appear to have an ''It won't happen to me'' attitude towards their risk of accidents. But the stronger that attitude, the less likely farmers were to report quad bike ''loss of control events'' (LCEs).
Quad bike accidents resulting from LCEs had resulted in about five deaths a year, and many hundreds of injuries per year, over the past 10 years, she said yesterday.
The research paper was titled ''Quad bike accidents on NZ farms - `She'll be right, it won't happen to me','' and was based on a study involving 216 farmers from Otago and Southland.
Fifty-two farmers (24%) reported never having had an LCE and 81 (38%) reported having had one to two events, while 80 (38%) reported having between three and 50 such events.
Ms Clay said that given the continuing death and injury toll, quad bike safety issues were clearly important, and justified continuing research and analysis.
She had travelled about 20,000km and had drunk about 120 cups of tea in the course of interviews linked to her recent research.
''I met some amazing people and heard some incredible stories,'' she said.
One farmer had told her his son had been killed in a quad bike accident.
Her research was continuing and more analysis was being undertaken. Further investigation of the factors that contributed to an individual farmer's perception of LCEs was required.
This could lead to ''more targeted'' quad bike safety interventions, she said.
