The National Farmers Federation (NFF) and the Rural Doctors Association are calling for a star safety rating system for quad bikes.

A total of 231 people have died in quad bike accidents in Australia since 2011, most of which were on rural properties.

Forty-three fatalities were children under the age of 16.

The two leading organisations want a clear five-star safety rating similar to the Australasian New Car Assessment Program.

“Earlier this year we saw four tragedies in four days. We've seen increasing numbers of deaths and tragedies over the last two years on quad bikes,” NFF president Fiona Simson said.

“Clearly we need to take these warnings very, very seriously.

“Although they don't always look like it, they [quad bikes] are an essential, but can be a very dangerous piece of farm equipment.

“We need to make informed decisions and we don't want to keep killing people.

“It is not speed that is killing people, it is actually the stability of the machines.

“A five-star safety system would actually help farmers make informed decisions about the machines as they purchased them.”

Rural Doctors Association president Ewen McPhee backed the call too.

“As a rural doctor I see the legacy of farm accidents all the time,” he said.

“My patients, my communities and those of many rural doctors see the tragedies that unfold because of accidents with quad bikes.

“Just in the last three weeks, we've lost a six-year-old and a 65-year-old to quad bikes. We need to understand this is a tragedy that cannot continue to happen.

“These are not toys, these are not for little kids. There's no quad bike that is safe for a child.”

Ms Simson said a change in attitude towards quad bikes would help reduce the death toll too.

“We certainly need to raise the awareness on farms and we need to raise the awareness in the community generally that these are not toys, these are not machines that are built for children,” she said.

“No child under the age of 16 should be riding a full-sized quad. They are not designed for that.

“We needed to actually have more studies be done to actually determine the cause, and it is the bike's design, the stability of the machine, as well as of course unsafe use that is causing some of these issues.

“So we do think that a five-star safety rating would actually help and go a long way to actually making some informed decisions, and having a good look at the safety of these different sorts of equipment.”