June 2015
SAFETY REPORT JUNE 2015IN THIS REPORT –Motorcycle lane filteringMotorcycles in bus lane trial2015 Motorcycle Safety WeekNew MRAWA websiteMotorcycle representative on Road Safety CouncilWA Government review into motorcycle safetyReview of previous actions LANE FILTERINGAt last week’s Motorcycle Safety Advisory Groups (MSAG) bi monthly meeting I raised the issue of legalising motorcycle lane filtering similar to the situation in New South Wales, Queensland and soon to be introduced in Victoria. The rules in NSW are a motorcycle can move between slow moving and stationary vehicles at no more than 30 km hr. cannot pass next to the kerb, cannot lane filter in a school zone during school restriction hours, and cannot be used whilst on L or P plates. Passing at a speed exceeding 30km hr is classed as lane splitting and carries a heavy fine and 3 demerit points. I believe this will clarify the confusing regulations that we have in WA at the moment and make the regulations consistent across Australia. This issue has now been added as an agenda item to the next WA Road Safety Council meeting asking them to advocate to the Minister to consider permitting lane filtering in WA. MOTORCYCLES IN BUS LANESAt the MSAG meeting last week we had a review of the trial of motorcycle using priority bus lanes on Beaufort Street and South Street. There have not been any issues to date, but I did note that the overhead electronic signage boards on South Street did not include motorcycles being included in the vehicles permitted in the lane. The trial concludes in November and we will be pushing at that time that all priority bus lanes be available to motorcycle riders. 2015 MOTORCYCLE SAFETY WEEKThis year’s Motorcycle Safety Week will run from October 30th – November 6th the launch will be the 2015 Perth Motorcycle and Scooter Show at Claremont Showgrounds, we will have our MRA rider safety stand for all 3 days and the charity ride to the show will be led by Danny Green and his campaign against coward one punch attacks. We will hold a ride your motorcycle to work day and breakfast in the city on Wednesday 4th November. We anticipate having a reserved area in the Perth CBD for motorcycles and are working with the Perth City Council on this with help from the RAC who will be sponsoring the breakfast. At the end of the week we will be hosting a motorcycle safety forum for all interested motorcyclist to attend. We will have guest speakers from the Main Roads Dept., Dept. of Transport taking on the current issues, and all attendees will have an opportunity to raise issues through group workshops. We will also have completed the motorcycle safety videos by then and will launch them along with other safety posters and literature. This is still a work in progress so I will keep you informed. NEW MRAWA WEBSITEThe Motorcycle Riders Association of WA (MRAWA) has a new website www.mrawa.org and is much easier to navigate around, we still have some safety videos and links to put up and this will be ongoing as new issues and safety materials and initiatives come along. Joining the MRAWA is also easier now as we have an online payment option through your credit or debit cards. Many issues are also covered on the MRAWA Facebook page. MOTORCYCLE REP. ON ROAD SAFETY COUNCILThe Browne Report into Road Safety Governance was completed last year and some of the recommendations from that report have been accepted by the Minister for Road Safety. The one that is of most interest to motorcycle riders is that there will be a motorcycle representative on the revamped WA Road Safety Council, it is anticipated that that representative will be the Motorcycle Riders Association of WA Inc. and we look forward to this as we have been pushing for a spot on the Road Safety Council on and off for about 8 years. Another important development is the appointment of a Road Safety Commissioner and the Office of Road Safety changing to the Office of the Commissioner for Road Safety from July 1st 2015. I will let you know how this all works but it does have the ability to improve motorcycle safety in WA. GOVERNMENT REVIEW INTO MOTORCYCLE SAFETYAfter last year’s horrific motorcycle fatalities and catastrophic injuries on our roads our Minister for Road Safety Hon Liza Harvey called for a multi Government agency in depth investigation into the causal factors of all motorcycle fatalities and catastrophic injuries over the past ten years. Members on this group include Office of Road Safety, Main Roads Dept. Dept. of Transport, Police, and Insurance Commission. The data has now been collated from those crashes including data that was not available in previous studies such as past infringements of the people involved in the crashes of both car driver and motorcyclist, past licence suspensions and cancellations. How long the motorcyclist has held a motorcycle licence for and what class of licence and how long they have owned their motorcycle for. (this will help identify returning riders) this additional data along with the Main Roads Dept. and Police crash investigation and information from the Insurance Commission of W.A. This will give us a much better picture of motorcycle crashes in W.A. All of this data will be analysed by Curtin Monash Accident Research Centre and a report sent to the Office of the Commissioner for Road Safety. We expect this to be completed mid-August and then the Motorcycle Riders Association of WA along with MSAG will be involved in consultation with the Office of the Commissioner for Road Safety to look at what actions need to be taken to reduce the number of motorcycle crashes. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS ACTIONSIt was decided at last week’s MSAG meeting that at the September meeting we would review all of the 50 completed actions from our previous forums to see if anything need refining or to be done again and any new actions added.Dave WrightPresident/Road Safety OfficerMotorcycle Riders Association of W.A. Inc.Email- davmar08@bigpond.com Phone 0418 954 424RIDE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.