Motorcycle Safety Report April 2018
This Motorcycle Safety Report has been written by Mr Dave WrightMOTORCYCLE SAFETY REPORT APRIL 2018I am now producing these Safety Reports as an independent rider and motorcycle consultant, as I am not only the Safety Officer with the MRA WA and Ulysses Club but also have associations with many other clubs and try to represent as many motorcycle groups and individuals as possible without linking myself to any one organisation. If you do not wish to receive these reports in future please contact me and let me know and I will remove you from the email list. Meeting with Hon Michelle Roberts MLA Minister for Police/ Road Safety 23rd March 2018.I arranged a meeting with the Minister to discuss the lack of updated information and detail on the progress of the actions coming from the Western Australian Strategic Direction for Improving the Safety of Motorcyclist and Moped Riders 2016-2020. This will be rectified by the reintroduction of the Motorcycle Safety Subcommittee a branch of the Vulnerable Road User Action Group (I sit on both of these groups)I also raised the holdup on getting the motorcycle lane filtering regulations finalised and was advised that the public consultation period is in the pipeline and this should be finalised soon.Motorcycle crash investigation was also raised by me as I don’t think we do a great job of identifying the cause of motorcycle crashes and if we don’t fully understand all of the causes of a crash how can we ever hope to have solutions to reduce fatal and serious motorcycle crashes. I suggested that a dedicated Crash Investigation team be set up that would include Police, Main Roads Dept., Department of Transport, phycologists and a specialist independent motorcycle rider with extensive riding experience. Meeting with Department of Transport to discuss the rumour on the scraping of the R class assessment.After many email and letters to the DoT I finally got a meeting along with Dale Hill to try and get some confirmation that the stories going around about the automatic transition from a Re class motorcycle licence to the R class.Both dale and I aired our concerns of just handing over the open class licence without any details of how it was to be implemented if it was to proceed, and the total lack of any stakeholder or public consultation on this matter. As an example of this I was sent an email from the DoT telling me that, and I quote, (Once regulatory amendments have been finalised and an implementation date agreed, details will be communicated to all affected parties.)I did point out that this is not even close to any form of consultation and showed in my opinion the contempt that the Department hold the motorcycle community.In the lack of any detail on a transition I suggested that if this was to go ahead then a one day motorcycle safety riders skills enhancement course with the curriculum set by Dot and paid for by the riders would be a way of giving the riders some additional skills before the granting of the full R class of licence. This course would not necessarily be a pass or fail, but rather a compulsory attendance. This would also have the effect of giving the motorcycle trainers an opportunity to set up these courses at centres throughout the State.I have another meeting scheduled with them later this month to continue with discussions and hopefully this time we will get some details to pass on to you. Motorcycle Safety Forum I am in the process of arranging a Motorcycle Safety Forum for 23rd June with the support of the City of Stirling and the Road Safety Commission. It is two years since we help the last one and we need to get together with the relevant Government departments to see what progress we have made for motorcycle safety and what more we can do going forward. We will have some presentations on the actions taken to date and we will then hold a workshop to see how we can progress the safety into the future.I will be sending invitations out in the next week or two, if your group does not receive one and you would like to attend, then please contact me. Motorcycle Skills MasterclassA Motorcycle Skills masterclass has been arranged with the fantastic support of the City of Stirling. This will be held on 28th April 2018. The cost is $60.00 for the day and consists of a theory course on rider safety and riding technics, Practical training on the set course and first aid training just in case it all goes wrong for someone on your ride day.If you are a Ulysses Club member then you will receive a 50% refund from the Club.For more details or to register go the Facebook of Motorcycle Skills Masterclass or contact me. Numbers are strictly limited so get in quick. Australian Motorcycle CouncilWe are currently working with Federal and State authorities to get the Design Regulations in to a workable format. As it stands at the moment all motorcycles are required to comply and be approved for sale through the Australian design Rules, However once sold they can also come under the individual state regulations and in some instances these vary, such as mufflers and sound levels, mirror regulations. Although I have never heard of this being a problem in WA, it has caused some issues in other States and it would be good if we could all work from the same book and not tinker with the accepted regulations.Australian Road RulesThe AMC has also been working to achieve acceptance of the National Road Rules by all states to have just one rule regardless of which state or territory we are riding in and we have done that eventually with helmets, and now have a national regulation on lane filtering, however not all jurisdictions have adopted this as yet. (Below is a exert for the AMC) “The AMC congratulates the National Transport Commission (NTC) for managing the process to achieve national agreement on Road Rules for the wearing of motorcycle helmets and for lane filtering,” AMC chairman Shaun Lennard said.“We are pleased that parochialism has been put aside in order to achieve an excellent result for all road users.”“Motorcycle advocates in every state and territory have been quietly working with their local road authorities in order to help them understand the specific problems with lack of uniformity and defects in the old rules that disadvantaged riders.”“Motorcyclists look forward to each jurisdiction endorsing the nationally-agreed Rules, by immediate adoption into local Road Rules.”“Many Road Rules have had unique variations between states that rely upon ‘another law of this jurisdiction’. As a result, what is legal in one State is illegal in another.”“Consistency was the whole reason behind the agreement to, and adoption of, National Road Rules in 1999. The new rules covering these aspects of motorcycling need to be adopted unchanged, as agreed under this process.” Participate in research investigating motorcycle social club membership and wellbeing.Researchers at Queensland University of Technology are studying how motorcycle social club membership contributes to wellbeing. The project is being undertaken as part of a Masters study for Annalise Foster and is being supervised by Professor Narelle Haworth. The research team is asking people who currently belong to the Ulysses Club to complete an online survey which should take no more than 15 minutes. If you choose to participate, you will have the chance to win one of six $50 Coles Group and Myer gift cards. If you would like to participate in this study, please follow this link to the survey, or follow the link: https://survey.qut.edu.au/f/191127/3c30/ Motorcycle Safety WeekAs part of Motorcycle Safety Week I was asked to help the Road Safety Commission to produce a series of short videos on basic rider safety and got a couple of real riders to give their experience and stories on how to stay safe on the road both in the metro area and in country riding. These will be on the Road safety Commission website from Monday of this week.Just a reminder that Wednesday 18th April is Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day. So please get out on the road and let the public and Government see us as a legitimate form of transport and a solution to reducing cars on the road and congestion. With the winter just around the corner it is a good time to remember that our roads can get slippery and we all need to give extra stopping space and also be supper alert as car drivers will have an even harder time seeing us with bad visibility during rainy days.This is also a good time to have a good look at your tyres and get them replaced if they are getting low on tread.If you would like to download and read this report then click here for the PDF Safety Report April 2018 REMEMBER TO RIDE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Dave Wright Motorcycle ConsultingEmail: davmar08@bigpond .comPh. 0418 954 424