April 2017
- Motorcycle Safety Week
- Vulnerable Road Users Group
- RAC Survey
- Bunning Sausage Sizzle fund raiser
- B Street Smart
Motorcycle Safety WeekWe have our Motorcycle Safety Week happening on 23rd -29th April and have secured funding for this through a grant from the Road Safety Commission (RSC)April 23rd Launch at the York Motorcycle FestivalRun a series of safe riding demonstration throughout the day with the opportunity for participants to practice using a MRA 250cc motorcycle. This will be on a closed and fenced off section of road in York and will involve counter steering through witches’ hats and emergency braking at a maximum speed of 40 km/hr this will be conducted using qualified trainers.I hope we will see you there.Run a series of short First Responder First Aid Courses, 20minutes approx. (basic stop the bleeding and keep them breathing) each hour throughout the dayWednesday April 26th_ Ride Your Motorcycle or Moped to work DayPromoted to make people more aware of the number of motorcycle riders on our roads and that we come from all walks of life, family, friends on bikes.Sunday April 29th – Motorcycle Masterclass (a collaboration of three courses- Ride Right/On Yer Bike/Rider Down First Aid. (Full day course) Vulnerable Road Users GroupWe now have our Vulnerable Road User Advisory Group up and running. This group is chaired by the RSC. I have secured my position on this group representing the Ulysses Club; We also have two other motorcycle representatives on the group with Dale Hill representing the MRA WA and Nic Hill representing WAWMR, so we do have a good representation at the table. At the last meeting it was decided to form a Motor Safety Sub Committee and we are scheduled to meet next week to review the 39 actions from last year’s Government Motorcycle Safety Strategy and some new actions that we have raised. I am sure Nic will have more details in her Safety Report.RAC SurveyI had a meeting with the RAC a couple of weeks ago and they asked me to review an on line survey that they are organising to gauge the riding and driving public’s perception of safety and behaviour to each other on our roads.The survey should be ready for you input in a couple of weeks and I encourage you to fill in the survey as this will hopefully help us to aim any advertising and education in the right direction.I will post the link to the survey on our website and Facebook page once it is released.Bunnings Sausage SizzleWe held our Fund Raiser at Bunnings Midland store on Sunday May 26th and raised just over $1,700.00 for the Club. Thank you to the 14 members that helped out on the BBQ. The weather was perfect and I had a heap of fun as I am sure the other did. We may look at doing these once per year as this is a great way to get extra funds into the MRA without raising fees.B Street SmartI was invited to this year’s RAC B Street Smart at the Perth Arena on March 29th this year they staged a fatal crash between a car and motorcycle in front of almost 9,000 year 10 to 12 high school students, this included the Police, ambulances, fire engines and major crash investigators going through their jobs of cutting open the car, treating the injured, arresting the driver and is all very realistic. It also has presentations from survivors of real crashes including Robert Pike who recounted a crash that he was involved that causes him to loose both legs (a very powerful story as he was the only survivor from the 4 occupants in the car) This is a great initiative run by the RAC who have been putting this on for 6 years now both in the metro area and regional WA. Over that time 45,000 students have witnessed the real cost of road trauma and will hopefully become safer road users.The RAC really do deserve a big pat on the back for this.I have been in touch with our new Minister for Road Safety Hon. Michelle Roberts MLA office to arrange a meeting with her to discuss issues that we as motorcyclists I am sure would like to get her thoughts on, such as our use of dedicated bus lanes, Lane filtering for motorcycle riders, motorcycle friendly roads etc.I have not had a reply so far however the government is still finding its way around the issues at the moment and feel sure I can get a few minutes with her, after all I do live in her electorate and I feel sure she would like to know the thought of someone she represents. That’s about it from me for now.Please remember.RIDE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Dave Wright