Road Safety Report May 18

Road Safety Commission meetings.I had a series of three meetings on Tuesday 4^th May 2021, with the Road Safety Commission, unfortunately Jeff Thomas could not attend as he was travelling and Chris Cobain had work commitments, so I attended these meetings as the sole MRAWA representative.The first meeting was with Mikhail Wong (Digital Project Officer) in regards to moving forward the Riding in Groups video that I will be putting together thanks to a grant from RSC and Ulysses Club. This was a very useful meeting as he has done many of these types of videos in the past and gave me some great contacts to start the process.The Second meeting was to review the actions from the 2020 Motorcycle Safety Forum and Survey.In attendance where Vicki Leavy, Doug Beard, Parik Lumb, and  Matt Samson (Acting Assistant Director)

• Improved MotoCap promotion -RSC are producing MotoCap posters for motorcycle shops.
• Improved data on crash statistics – RSC work progressing on this action.
• Bus Lane review – Dave Wright to organise a sub group to progress this action.
• Rider Conspicuacy – RSC ongoing project, awaiting additional funding for next stage.
• Target bad behaviour and a lack of consideration by all road users – RSC campaign ongoing.
• Lane filtering promotion and education – RSC education campaign has been actioned.
• Overseas licence drivers on WA roads – education material is already provided and is ongoing.
• Offer a free refresher course to new, returning and rusty riders – ongoing by RSC and MRAWA.
• Motorcycle safety media campaign - ongoing by RSC and MRAWA.
• Rider safety to be taught in schools – RSC and SEDERA and are supportive, ongoing.
• Motorcycle safety campaigns including roadside signs and billboards – RSC funding sought.
• Promote ongoing training for riders – promote skills course after gaining licence RSC and MRAWA.
• Education of current road rules – RSC Streets ahead campaign is ongoing.
• Better lights on motorcycle - RSC to investigate different colour lights on front of motorcycle.

I am still waiting for a reply for a meeting with both the Department of Transport and Main Roads Department to progress the actions in their agencies. (I will chase them up on this)The third meeting was to discuss Lane Filtering and changes to the legislation as proposed by the MRAWAThis was attended by Matt Samson and myself.The issues raised were filtering between heavy vehicles, filtering on road edges on country roads (as is the case in Queensland) and finally the 30km/hr speed limit on lane filtering.

• Lane filtering between heavy vehicles – this is under review in both NSW and Victoria to change the regulations in those state to make it illegal to lane filter between heavy vehicles following a motorcycle fatality during this manoeuvre in Victoria. https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/on-the-road/nsw-government-encourage-motorcyclists-to-lane-filter-legally/news-story/823153bd3b764695c73cf4244b252dddThe RSC are not willing to change the current WA legislation at this time.
• Lane filtering on the road edge on country roads – I raise the situation were a riders has to remain in stationary traffic on a country road for an extended length of time whist wearing full protective clothing and the effects of fatigue on the rider and the resulting increase in the likelihood of a crash in these circumstances. The RSC advised me of section 25 of the WA Road Traffic Act (Extraordinary Emergency) that allows a road user to take an out of the ordinary action to remove themselves from a perceived dangerous situation, and this would include lane filtering on the road edge if the rider was feeling faint to get to shade or water in the case of being dehydrated. I am waiting for this to be confirmed by the WA Police Dept.
• Maximum speed limit of 30km/hr while lane filtering, – I raised the question of if this was the safest speed to lane filter. The RSC responded that this was the speed chosen as the safest speed to protect pedestrians in the case of a collision and also to reduce injuries to riders during lane filtering of vehicles changing lanes, and this speed is not on the radar to be changed in the near future.

A similar request for a meeting has been sent to the WA Main Roads Department covering roads and roadside and a request to the Department of Transport to cover training and licencing.I have also requested a meeting with our new Minister for Police and Road Safety Hon. Paul Papalia MLA to discuss the future of motorcycle rider safety.Rider TrainingI have been invited to be part of a group from the University of WA who are looking at the current training of motorcycle riders, and if there is any scope for improvements. I am looking forward to being part of this group as I am sure there are some major improvements that can be made in this area.Riding in Groups video ( Ulysses Club initiative)The Road Safety Commission have given me the go ahead to produce a Riding in Groups video with funding up to the amount of $10,000.00. I have started discussions with three production companies for quotes on the work and to ascertain who I believe will give us the best outcome on this action.  The initial talks with video producers has been on making them so they can be easily viewed and shared with the correct message.My plan is that They will be produced as a series of short messages that can be used and shared throughout motorcycle groups and through social media.Although the grant for this project has been awarded to the Ulysses Club Inc.  I am still hoping to get support for many clubs and individuals for video footage that can be used in the videos as this will reduce the production cost and help with some real world riding.My request for some quality footage of group riding has so far been underwhelming, I hope to receive some footage from groups on the East Coast that I can use in the absence of any WA footage.