July-August 2013

Hi Guys I hope you not getting too wet and cold on your bikes now that winter is here. Please remember to allow extra distance to stop in the wet conditions and that car drivers will find it even more difcult to see you in the cold and wet conditions.Since the last safety report I have had a meeting with Hon. Troy Buswell (Minister for Transport) to discuss several issues that we believe are important for motorcycle and scooter safety and improved travel times. The first issue discussed with him was the establishment of a separate motorcycle and scooter safety strategy to work alongside the existing Towards Zero strategy 2012-2020. We are now in discussions with the Ofce of Road Safety to make this happen and it has also been discussed and approved at the Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Advisory Group meeting. It will be in the form of an addendum to the main strategy.The second point raised with the Minister was the establishment of a funded motorcycle and scooter specific black spot with criteria specific to motorcycles and scooters. The Minister gave a very positive response to this idea, and said he would instruct his department to look into what would be required to establish this.Third item was for the appointment of a motorcycle and scooter safety manager. I am pleased to say this has now happened, (on a six month trial) the manager is based at WA Main Roads Department (MRD)The policy paper on allowing motorcycles and scooter to use bus lanes on a trial basis has been passed by the Road Safety Council and is now at the Ministers office awaiting his final approval.One the issue of lane filtering (moving slowly between stationary traffic) I have been given this information from the WA Police Department.Here is the related regulation for overtaking. You will note that reg 122(1) stipulates a moving vehicle so when the vehicles are stationary that reg doesn’t apply.122. Overtaking(1) When overtaking a moving vehicle, a driver of a vehicle (other than a bicycle) shall, except as provided in sub regulations(2) Where a carriageway is a one-way carriageway, or has 2 or more marked lanes for vehicles travelling in the same direction, a driver may overtake and pass in another marked lane to the left of a vehicle, if conditions permit him or her to do so with safety.I am pleased to let you know that we have now completed the DVD Safer Roads for Motorcycles that will I believe get the message across to the people who are responsible for our road network to better understand the special problems faced by riders that they may not have considered when designing, building or carrying out road maintenance. This was funded from the Road Trauma Trust Account (money raised from red light and speed cameras)This project was a collaboration of MRD, ARRB, Mills Productions and MRA WA. This will now be distributed to all MRD regional ofces and to all 135 local councils in WA to raise awareness of the challenges faced by riders on WA roads and what can be done to reduce the risk of a motorcycle crashes through road engineering, planning, design and maintenance.I am in discussions with ARRB and Main Roads to develop a motorcycle and scooter crash investigation course. This would be made available to road safety auditors and police ofcers to help better understand the unique causes of motorcycle crashes. It is still early days in this process but I believe it is an area worthy of pursuing.On the issue of motorcycle helmet safety, we have had three recent recalls by the ACCC of helmets due to safety concerns. This is the first time there has ever been a helmet safety recall since helmet regulation where introduced (I think all the pushing we have been doing has something to do with this) The ACCC is holding an inquiry into helmet safety and compliance but this is a long process. Our ultimate aim is to bring helmets into Australia that have been tested to the same standards as Australian standards overseas without having to undergo further expensive and unnecessary retesting here. The ACCC is holding an international consumer protection standards conference in October and I intend to be there with the AMC helmets committee team to push our case.I will be attending the National Road Safety Conference at the end of this month in Hobart this is a Federal conference backed by the Federal Minister for road safety and this year’s focus is vulnerable road users. Preceding that conference is the annual Australian Motorcycle Councils AGM also in Hobart so I will be attending both. Thesetwo meetings will give us the direction that we will be pursuing on a national level for motorcycle and scooter safety over the coming years. I can’t stress strongly enough how vitally important these will be for our safety and rights and for authorities to recognise motorcycle and scooters as a legitimate mode of transport that need special consideration in reducing fatal and serious accidentsAs always I will keep you informed on these and any other issues that arise through this newsletter and our website but feel free to contact me if you have any questionson rider issues.Dave WrightEmail- davmar08@bigpond.com Phone 0418 954 424RIDE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.