President's Report April 20

President’s Report - 20^th April 2021

 In this report:

• April Guest Speaker

• Vice President’s Health Issues

• Safety Officer Resigns

• New Safety Officer

• MRAWA Policy Statements

• MRAWA Constitution

• Motorcycle Safety Week

• Travels to South Australia

April Guest SpeakerToday’s guest speaker is Edward Rose who is the Australasian College of Road Safety Treasurer and the Technical Services Coordinator in Urban Development who will talk about intersections and their design in an urban environment.Vice President’s Health IssuesGary Pontifex, our Vice President has suddenly been hospitalized and has undergone open heart surgery yesterday.  I will be in contact with Gary soon to get an update on his condition.  I hope all went well and hope to see him happy and healthy very soon.Safety Officer ResignsSteve Fish, our (former) Safety Officer who was due to take over from Dave Wright after the next AGM has resigned due to ongoing ill health.  Steve is also a former President and Vice President of the MRAWA.  I would like to thank Steve for his outstanding service and wish Steve a full and speedy recovery.  I hope you return sometime in the near future.New Safety OfficerChris Cobain will step into the vacancy left by Steve and will complete the year up to the AGM as the new Safety Officer.  Thankyou to Chris for stepping up to this challenging role, although I know you will excel as always.MRAWA Policy StatementsThis section was in the March report and is included to retain relevance.Our senior Safety Officer has offered a suggestion that the MRAWA should have policy statements on our website roughly aligned (updated to suit the MRAWA) with those from the Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC).  The purpose is to let MRAWA members, and the general public know what the MRAWA stands for and how we operate, which in my view will help to advance people’s understanding of us.MRAWA ConstitutionI have been working on the new constitution which is nearly ready for presenting to the membership for voting.  I will continue to work on the document for the next week to finalise it and send to the committee for comment once I am happy with it.Motorcycle Safety WeekThe Motorcycle safety week began on Sunday the 11^th April with the York Motorcycle Festival.  It was good to see the safety message on the electronic freeway signs, although only one was displayed that I saw.11^th – It will be remembered as the “soggy” day as the rain was continuous until shortly after arriving in York.  A cyclone that had come down through Kalbarri was to blame although it was not windy where we were.  Unfortunately, the number of riders for the Beyond Blue charity ride and the crowds at York were down due to the media promising wild weather.  There was a lot of interest in the MRAWA stand, videos and our safety messages. We had a board to display the new Lane Filtering regulations which was well received by the public who usually commented something like “about time!”.14^th – #irideamotorbike day to raise motorcycle awareness went really well with large numbers of participants.  The webmaster’s report will detail interest from the members and public.17^th – The fully booked Free Ride Right advanced motorcycle skills course was run by Dave Wright.  Details will be in the Safety Officer’s report.18^th – MRAWA sponsored a safety ride with coffee and donuts for all riders from the E Sheds Fremantle to the Safety Bay foreshore.  The ride coordinator will provide further details.A big thanks to all who helped out during the MSW, good work was done by all.Travels to South AustraliaI will be in South Australia from the 22^nd April to the 15^th May.  I will still be able to take telephone calls and reply to emails as required. That is all for now, the next general meeting will be on the 18^th of April 2021.The date for the next Committee meeting will be announced in the soon. Jeffrey ThomasPresidentMotorcycle Riders Association of W.A. Inc.Mobile: 0409 293 320president@mrawa.org 

Ride Like Your Life Depends on It.