Why do the Tragedies Continue?
Tourists are warned against hiring quad bikes or scooters, after hundreds of accidents and deaths on the Greek islands.
The hiring of quad bikes and similar vehicles is not usually covered by travel insurance, with the cost of repatriating a seriously injured patient to their home country costing up to 36,000€.
Island Police Departments have stated in the past that in their view, holidaymakers should think twice before hiring quads, unless they are experienced at driving and controlling this type of vehicle.
From August 2018 to August 2022, 22 people were killed riding quads in the Dodecanese islands alone.
The first reported death in 2026 occurred on May 19, on the island of Corfu, when a British father lost his life, and his 14-year-old son was seriously injured. The accident occurred on the main northern provincial road in Corfu when a rented quad, driven by the 42-year-old father with his son as a passenger, for unknown reasons veered off course, entered oncoming traffic, and crashed into a tree in a roadside olive grove.
Yesterday, Sunday, August 9, the island of Thassos saw one of the latest serious accidents involving a quad when a couple driving dangerously lost control of the quad on the dirt track leading to the island’s Saliara Beach. The couple were both seriously injured, but a report on their condition has not yet been published. A Romanian tourist who was one of the first on the scene was horrified at both the severity of the accident and by the screams of agony of the male driver.
Several years ago, the Greek government proposed stringent controls on the use of quads due to the number of serious accidents each year, mostly involving tourists. However, demonstrations by those who had a vested financial interest in keeping the status quo managed to get the bill quashed.
For many years, ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, has been warning holidaymakers about the risks posed by the large number of accidents involving quads each year.
An alternative are ‘Buggies’ (photo below), which compared to quads are safer as their centre of gravity is much lower (making them harder to turn over) and most models have a ‘roll cage’ and safety belts, as well as other extra safety features.
Many hire companies are now offering this alternative to the quad and at a similar, if not the same, hire price.
