December 2016
IN THIS REPORT –
- Motorcycle Safety Week outcomes
- Vulnerable Road Users Group
- Motorcycle Safety Week 2017
- Social day rides and overnighters
Motorcycle Safety Week We held our Motorcycle Safety Week this year from 22nd - 30th October.The launch of the events this year was a motorcycle and Scooter Safety Forum held in Tuart Hill with the much appreciated support of the City of Stirling The forum was attended by 34 people mostly motorcycle and scooter riders, however we did have a number of people from the Road Safety Commission, WA Police, Department of Transport, WA Local Government Association, Motor Traders Association.The forum was opened by the Deputy Premier and Road Safety Minister Hon. Lisa Harvey MLA Who announced that she had signed off on the regulations required to allow legal lane filtering in WA and once the legislation and regulations are in place we should have that finalised in 2017.Other presentations where from Chris Adams from the Road safety Commission to update motorcycle riders and road safety stakeholders on road safety relating to riders, including current statistics, the background and progress on actions from the WA Strategic Direction for Improving the Safety of Motorcyclists and Moped riders 2016 - 2020The last presentation was from Dave Wright, President MRA WA on the WA Governments Motorcycle Safety Strategy, and asked the questions-Have they got it right?Was anything missed?What else can we do?We then held the workshop component to discuss the issues facing riders and collaboratively identify potential areas for change within WA, as part of the Government’s overall review of motorcycling safety.The ideas from the round table discussions where very good and I will put all the ideas and initiatives on the website www.mrawa.org I believe this was one of the best Motorcycle Safety Forums we have held and we will be pursuing the actions from this forum with the necessary Government agencies.Vulnerable Road User GroupAs part of the Changes recommended in the Brown Report on Road Safety the Road Safety Commission has begun to set up a Vulnerable Road User Group to look into issues affecting our safety and come up with ideas and options to reduce the risks and dangers to us. The Group is made up of stakeholders from pedestrians, cyclists, disabled, aged and motorcycle riders. Dale Hill and myself have been asked to be a part if this group and we have a meeting scheduled for December 16th to discuss the terms of reference, code of conduct, and the frequency of the meetings. Although the group is made up from many different organisations I am sure we can work together for a better outcome for all of us. We will be able to organise sub groups to investigate options that we believe are specific to us as motorcycle riders and present our findings and ideas to the whole group for discussion.Motorcycle Safety Week 2017We will be holding our Motorcycle Safety Week on 23rd – 30th April 2017 to coincide with the York Motorcycle festival on 23rd April. There are several reasons for this; the first is there is some uncertainty as to whether there will be a Perth Motorcycle and Scooter Show this year. We have decided to launch the Motorcycle Safety week at the York Motorcycle festival to coincide with the official launch of the Avon Motorcycle Friendly region and also because this will be an annual event from 2017 onwards it gives us a constant event to start our Safety Week.It is early days on organising the event but we hope to have Rides out from York. Safety tips, demonstrations and courses, first aid tips and courses, along with our usual displays.We will be applying for a grant from the Road Safety Commission to fund this project.I will keep you posted on any new developments.Social day rides and overnightersJeff Thomas has volunteered to help coordinate all the MRA day rides and overnighters for 2017.Jeff has worked out a rides calendar for the year and allocated destinations and some ride leaders. We do however need more ride leaders to help spread the load, if you would like to help out please contact Jeff and let him know so that he can add you to our list of ride leaders, but please keep in mind that one of the MRA aims is rider safety and we only need riders that can run a safe days ride, taking varying riding skills and limitation that we all have.Have a great 2017I would like to give a big thank you to the MRA Committee and all of our volunteers who have helped to make 2016 such a huge success and on behalf of all the members of the MRA Committee I would like to wish all our members, associates, supporters and sponsors a Merry Christmas with your family and friends and a prosperous and safe 2017.Wishing 2017 is your best year yet. That’s about it from me for now.Please remember.RIDE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.Dave Wright