Motorcycle, Scooters and Two Wheel Supporters

The Queensland Government proposes to make changes to the current licensing system. Queensland Transport plans to introduce an enhanced graduated licensing system, to review engine capacity restrictions, and to identify holders of motorcycle licences that no longer own motorcycles.

It is my view that the moves are based on selective interpretations of available statistics, and shift the consequences of road accidents on to a group frequently the victims of other road users carelessness or inattention.

Statistics can be manipulated to support any cause or to achieve a required outcome; in this case it appears to be to constrain motorcycling.

The Parliamentary Travelsafe committees investigations and comparisons were conducted between 2003 and 2007 and have led to the current proposals.

Mopeds

There is a recommendation that moped riders who currently ride on an open car licence be required to attain an automatic motorcycle licence.

There is, in fact, no body of evidence to support the idea that the current arrangement is demonstrably unsafe. Fatalities on mopeds, a very popular form of motorcycle transport, number just two in the last ten years; a woman who ignored advice not to ride her 50cc scooter from the Gold Coast to Toowoomba on the M1 and was struck by a car, the other a tourist on the north coast, riding a moped drunk with no helmet.
It is hard to see how being licensed would have made any difference to the outcome in either case.

The vast majority of moped and scooter riders use them as everyday transport in the city and are content to blend safely with traffic flows. Riders of 50cc scooters are not over-represented in the data, and have very low rates of scooter write-offs in non-fatal accidents.

Motorcycle casualties

In 2007 there were 75 motorcycle rider fatalities. This is, of course, extremely regrettable and my condolences go to the families, friends and loved ones who have lost someone close to them.

The Government chooses to paint a picture of escalating accident and fatality rates to justify its actions to clamp down on motorcycling. It also chooses to ignore other road users whose fatality rate exceeds that of motorcyclists, but about whom no action is being taken.

Listed below are statistics that have been drawn from different years, compared with pedestrian fatalities. These statistics, for Queensland only, are from the Australian Governments Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Motorcycle fatalities
Year Deaths 2007 Up Down
1982 105 75 28.5\%
1988 25 75 200\%
2001 29 75 160\%
2003 42 75 79\%
2006 58 75 30\%
Total 259
Pedestrian Fatalities
Year Deaths 2006 Up Down
1982 71 47 51\%
1988 78 47 66\%
2001 51 47 8.5\%
2003 50 47 8\%
2006 47 47 N/A
Total 297

Is the government taking any action into licensing pedestrians and how they walk? After all, there were 38 more fatalities among pedestrians than motorcyclists over the same years.

For the same years listed above, there were 70 cyclist fatalities compared with two moped fatalities. So, if you based a safety strategy solely on an interpretation of statistics all cyclists should be encouraged to use mopeds, and we would have an extra 68 cyclists alive today. A five-year-old child or teenager can ride their pushbike with no protection at all down the road with absolutely no training, no understanding of road rules or motor vehicle licence requirement. Yet the government encourages use of its million-dollar bikeways that not many people use. At least moped riders have had have done a road skills test in order to drive a car.

The consultation paper presents valid points for improvements, such as requiring holders of old motorcycle licenses to take refresher courses, wearing proper safety gear, and making sure the Q Ride and Q Safe rider training are working within the guidelines to ensure that they are not licensing motorcyclists who can not ride.

The 250cc graduated licensing system has proved ineffective in the past because some of the high-powered 250cc bikes available are unsuitable for learners. Some people simply dont fit comfortably on 250cc bikes, as their physical size or weight may make a 250cc a more dangerous proposition than a larger capacity bike. In this regard, a system like the LAMS arrangement in NSW, based on power to weight ratio rather than engine capacity, would be a better option.

Rules or solutions?

I encourage each and every one of you to put forward ideas or thoughts you may have to help encourage changes for the better.

Changing the law to resolve these issues may not be the correct way to improve motorcycling. The Government needs to first put in place a quality assurance check list report, ask the questions they need to know, then make decisions based on their findings.

In this report it also states that between 2003 and 2007 the major contributing factor associated with motorbike riders involved in fatal crashes was speeding (34\%). The answer to deter this is apparently the fitment of front number plate or a Radio Frequency Identification Device. How this will help reduce fatalities is beyond me, as an RFID is purely for enforcement purposes such as levying speeding fines.
A speeding ticket in the mail 4 weeks after the event dose not save peoples lives.

The suggestion that riders should make themselves more visible has merit, but the diverse lighting and visibility conditions in which we ride makes an edict that we should all wear white helmets, colour vests and run with our headlights on during the day makes the situation much more complex than the proposed solution seeks to fix.

It also assumes that the onus is on the rider to be seen, not on the car driver to look. A campaign to this effect would seem justified by the Governments concern about bike riders getting killed or injured. If the unwelcome suggestion of a levy on riders is followed through, then it must be spent on awareness campaigns and advanced rider training, the latter a proposition notably absent from the published proposals.

The future for bikes

On a positive note, each and every motorcycle rider helps ease traffic congestion, Queensland is experiencing a growth in population never seen before in Australias history, infrastructure isnt keeping up, imagine if people currently on 2 wheels all drove cars, or filling an already over stretched public transport system, two wheels alleviate parking problems and minimise damage to roads and infrastructure.

The most important benefit is to the environment riding a motorcycle can cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to two tonnes per annum (one tonne is a cube of gas 9.5 metres x 9.5 metres x 9.5 metres). There were more than 130,000 two-wheeled motor vehicles sold last year, which equates to more than 260,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas savings and reducing oil dependence of society.

Government incentives encourage and pay house-owners to fit solar hot water systems and provide gas rebates for their homes and cars as well. Where motorcycles are concerned, it seems the Queensland Government wants to encourage all motorcyclists to use gas-guzzling cars. It has also spent million of dollars on underused push bike paths.

Has the motorcyclist ever been rewarded for purchasing a product that uses less fuel and occupies fewer parking spots? Considering all the redevelopments in the city and the limited space for parking, it is very unfair. As a group we need to lobby for cheaper registration, parking and greenhouse gas emission rebates for purchasing two wheel products!

Mortgage stress is a major issue for people wanting to save money. Transport costs can be a huge drain on a household budget, so people are weighing up all their expenses. If these laws are enacted, particularly the moped licensing which will deny this form of transport to many thousands of people, it will also have a major effect on the livelihood of thousands more. Dealerships, workshops, suppliers and importers will all suffer, including the tourist industry, which hires out motorcycles and scooters.

Risk versus reality

In a perfect world, if you could wrap everybody up in bubble wrap or cotton wool then I am certain this would enhance peoples chances of survival. Unfortunately, accidents do happen sometimes; it may be our fault sometimes and sometimes not, but we all have to live with it. People die in motor cars everyday!!

There needs to be a greater emphasis put on road users being mindful of the visibility of bikes on the road, a theme that has been explored in road safety campaigns here and overseas in the past. Riders, too, have their obligations to developing their skills, wearing protective gear, operating their machines safely, and behaving in a manner that ensures their own survival.

But these are matters determined by attitude, not by laws. For example, if law were effective then we would have far fewer unlicensed riders, and drivers, on the road. Similarly, no motorists would drive while using hand-held mobile phones.

I think all efforts should be channelled towards accepting the risk of being a road user but seeking to minimise it. We have a civil right to make our own decisions about personal risk and this should never be taken away from us.

What can we do?

I am asking for signatures to support, in principle, leaving the current licensing system in Queensland as it stands and adding LAMS eligible licensing, with the Government to introduce a better monitoring of the current laws, spend money taxed from riders and drivers to educate other road users about motorcycle awareness, and encourage and promote motorcycling in all its forms as safer and friendlier to the environment!