Top: Barry Harris with his awardwinning farm safety device. “Every time I pick up the paper and see some bloke’s killed himself I think, ‘If he had my thing this would not have happened’,” he says.By Paul Dunlop
IF Barry Harris had a dollar for every farmer who rolled a tractor, he’d be a rich man.
Unfortunately, he’s not or he’d be able to do something about reducing one of the most common causes of fatality and injury on farms.
Mr Harris has invented Quick Stop, a transmitter inside an earmuff that when shouted to will turn off a tractor or any other machine with an ignition switch. It also sounds an alarm that can be heard more than a kilometre away.
Unfortunately, a shortage of funding has stopped Quick Stop from being commercially produced.
After receiving an interested but noncommittal response from government agencies, Mr Harris said he had almost lost the drive to continue with his idea.
But recent recognition of his invention has renewed the Clematis man’s enthusiasm.
Mr Harris last month won the inaugural Noll/Crocker Rural Safety Award which carried a first prize of $20,000. That award, presented as part of the Tamworth Country Festival, was followed by first prize at the Hamilton Sheepvention.
Mr Harris said he needed government assistance to get Quick Stop going.
“The hardest thing in the world to sell is safety,” he said.
“Farmers always say ‘it’s not going to happen to me’.
“I was on the verge of dropping everything. It’s already cost me about $30,000 and I wasn’t getting much response but this has fired me back up.”
Mr Harris’ invention can be used on tractors, rideon mowers, forklifts, ATV motorbikes, boats and aeroplanes.
The Quick Stop idea has been driven by the death of a friend whose tractor rolled.
It has taken two years to develop.
Mr Harris said he had received encouragement from Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato and was now planning to continue his efforts to lobby local MPs for support.
“I’ll keep trying, keep chugging along,” he said.
“I’m going to sit in their offices until they see me. Everything’s ready to go, it just needs someone to get behind it.
“It’s frustrating because it could save lives. Every time I pick up the paper and see some bloke’s killed himself I think, ‘If he had my thing this would not have happened’.”
