September 2010

Road User CoordinatorWe now have a new Vulnerable Road User representative to carry on with all the good work that Rebecca Horlock started. (Rebecca has left us to start her new career as a mother and I wish her all the best for the future) Our new representative is Marianne Carey. I have known Marianne for many years and she has been involved with road safety through her involvement in Roadwise committees and her work with W.A. Local Government Association. Marianne is based at the RAC but her position is funded by the Road Safety Council through the Road Trauma Trust Fund and her job is to look after the safety of motorcyclist’s cyclists and pedestrians. We have had several meetings together and I am looking forward to progressing some of the idea’s that we have for motorcycle safety.Good Gear GuideAs I mentioned in the last edition of The Edge the Good Gear Guide has now been printed and the distribution is now completed. If I could just quickly run you though how we got to this point and how Government Departments and agencies are working together with the Motorcycle Riders Association on this and other issues for the benefit of all riders. First the MRA and RAC met with Liz De Rome (the author of the Good Gear Guide) and over dinner worked out how we could go about getting the license to have bulk copies of the book printed. Rebecca Horlock (RAC Road User Rep) then started work on the license and we met to discuss funding for the printing. The Dept of Transport through our work with Luke Wardell heard about the book and had the funding available so the license was worked out between the RAC and DOT. The DOT had enough funding to print 20,000 copies that were to be distributed state wide and free to all riders. DOT sent them out to their licensing centres throughout the State but there were still many places and riders that would not have access to the booklet, this is where the W.A. Local Government Association became involved. They sent out bulk copies to every shire council in W.A. (156 in total) so now we have a situation that all riders have relatively easy access to the Good Gear Guide no matter where you live. From my position during this whole process the thing that impressed me the most was just how happy and willing all the various organizations where to volunteer their services to complete this important project. This was originally a MRA project as part of our commitment to the Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Advisory Group but many of the group contributed to its success but the Department of Transport deserve a huge thank you for the massive effort that they put into producing this booklet for all of us.Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Advisory GroupWe have our final forum in the OLAF (Outcomes, Lists, and Actions, Follow‐up) on October 23rd at the University Club. In this forum we will look at what actions have been completed, where the remaining actions are in relation to progress and if there are any further actions that we need to look at that mayhave been missed in the other forums. We will also be looking at what individuals can do to improve rider safety. All of the actions arising from the forums are on the MRA web site www.mrawa.org or the Office of Road Safety web site www.ors.wa.gov.au The Motorcycle and Scooter Advisory Group have now been set up as a permanent working group that will continue to meet at regular intervals to see the actions of the forums through and to continue to work on new issues and actions for the benefit of all riders.Graduated Rider Training and LicensingWestern Australian Rider Training - I attended a workshop organized by the Department of Transport in September to look discuss the W.A. proposed Graduated Rider Training and Licensing. The workshop was attended by rider trainers, riding assessors, police, MTA, MRA, and members of the riding public. Many issues where raised including LAMS, scooter licensing, rider handbook, returning riders, enhanced rider specific theory questions to obtain your learners permit, hazard perception test for riders, competency based training and assessment  and different models to graduate to a full license. We have since received a request for feedback on the content of a possible W.A. rider handbook and motorcycle specific theory questions.  This project looks like it is progressing well and I will keep you informed. National Graduated Rider Training – I attended a meeting in September in Canberra for the National Motorcycle Safety Consultative Committee to start work on a National Graduated Rider Training Scheme. The meeting highlighted the vast differences in how all the states tackle what they see as the best rider training. We did agree on some issues but we all thought that we need to hold a workshop with rider trainers and assessors from all the states to further investigate what could be the best model for a national approach. Once again I will keep you posted.Australian Motorcycle CouncilI attended the AMC Annual Conference in Adelaide on August 14th – 15th It is always interesting to hear the reports from the other states to see what it is that they are doing that we might pick up on and I must say I think we are progressing very well compared to some of the other States. One thing that I believe we need to concentrate on is a long term motorcycle and scooter safety and transport strategic action plan to cover up to ten years with clear targets and objectives. Victoria have a road safety and transport strategic action plan for powered two wheelers 2009 – 2013 and would be a good place to start a W.A. version.  Shaun Lennard also covered some of the issues at the International Motorcycle Safety Conference that he recently attended in Brussels. There is a lot of information that come from that conference so rather than me skimming over the many topics covered you can go to their web site www.fema.online.eu/imc   There was also a National Road Safety Conference held in Canberra last month  (it will be in Perth next year) that a number of AMC delegates attended and many motorcycle issues where raised and you can view these at  www.rsconferance.com/RoadSafety/browse?check=1 The AMC has also been very fortunate in Ray Newland accepting the position of technical advisor to the AMC. Ray was the representative of the Federal Chamber of Automotive industries and was responsible for developing Victoria’s Rider Training Program and will be a huge asset to the AMC. For more on the AMC visit their website www.amc.asn.auMotorcycle and Scooter Awareness WeekA Motorcycle and Scooter Awareness week will be held this year from November 14th – 21st this event is being supported by the Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Advisory Group and will have a major contribution from all the agencies. We will kick off the week with an official launch and invite the media to cover it. We will have motorcycle and scooter safety messages on the electronic signage on the freeways for the entire week. We hope to arrange some newspaper and radio coverage. We will conclude the week by encouraging riders to take part in the Make a Difference Ride (MAD Ride) to The Toodyay Motorcycle Festival on 21st November. The MAD Ride is to raise funds for spinal injury patient at Shenton Park Rehabilitation Hospital. At Toodyay we will have a motorcycle safety display set up in the main Street where there will also be trade displays, market stalls, live music, food stalls and motorcycle displays. Best of all this festival is free. This is a great opportunity to make this week a start of what we hope will become a bigger event each year we put it on. If you feel you can volunteer some time to put up some static displays in your area or help with the motorcycle safety display ay Toodyay please give me a call.Dave Wright