To all VICTORIAN MEMBERS of PARLIAMENT March
20, 2016.
PREMIER
DANIEL ANDREWS MLA was in the media a lot last week. He was outraged at
brawlers in Melbourne during the Moomba Festival. Quite right too. The
Independent Riders Group (IRG) does not condone violence or illegal behaviour.
The Premier promised police would have the resources to prosecute these violent
law breakers.
Think about this. No one died during the Moomba violence. There were
comparatively few injuries and little property damage.
Now think about this. Twenty three motorcycle & scooter riders were killed
on Victorian roads in the first ten weeks of 2016! Many more were seriously
injured. Families devastated, children traumatized, breadwinners lost and
education and careers damaged or destroyed. The Independent Riders’ Group (IRG)
offers sincere sympathy to the victims and their loved ones. Most of this
trauma was caused by a car driver’s mistake and/or illegal behavior.
Just one
post from facebook:
WIN News Gippsland. March 14 at 11:43am · BREAKING:
"A person has died following a collision involving a motorcycle at the
intersection of the Princes Highway and Airfield Road, Traralgon. Traffic
delays in both directions. Avoid the area if possible. Details tonight at 7pm."
PG wrote:
“News tonite on 9WIN another fatal at Traralgon LOOKS LIKE HE (DC - the rider)
STOPPED FOR THE LIGHTS AND GOT REAR ENDED. No bloody excuses. Throw the book at
the driver responsible for TOTAL negligence."
This violence is not just suffered by motorcycle & scooter riders. Pedestrians
and bicyclists are victims too. The task of driving a car has been dumbed down
to dangerous levels and driver training has not caught up. BUT, the cause of too many road
casualties is a taboo subject. Car drivers’ excuses that “I didn’t see the bike” are too often accepted by police and courts as
a reason for road violence rather than an admission of negligence or
incompetence or both.
The WIN TV News promotion is typical of the way our society tends to blame the
victim when it comes to road use. The fact that a car was even involved in the
killing of this reportedly stationary rider is not mentioned in the news
promotion.
Car
driver error causes massive damage in our community but we are hardened to it
until it reaches into our lives and our homes. The cost is almost unbearable
but Victorians and their elected
representatives in Parliament bear it.
Brawlers
in the City Square caused howls of outrage. A body on a road in Traralgon, a
person killed by an allegedly negligent driver rates 30 seconds on the regional
TV news.
This
Melbourne Age article is a rare look at a real problem.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-motorcycle-deaths-really-disturbing-not-normal-20160316-gnk6he.html
Motorcycle
& scooter statistcs are part of the
problem. Powered two-wheeler road crash numbers are inflated with
unrider and off-road casualties. This distorts both the development of
effective bike crash countermeasures and motorcycle & scooter riders’ image
in the media. The vilification of Victoria’s 350,000 plus motorcycle &
scooter license holders contributes to road trauma and cost.
Parliamentary
Inquiries have time and again documented the lack of reliable crash data.
Governments have time and again promised to improve crash data collection and
assessment but don’t. Inadequate road crash data kills and maims.
Improved data saves lives and costs tax payers less. "Towards vision zero"
is an expensive farce if the blame for road trauma is put on victims while
public servants do nothing to address their own systemic shortcomings.
Victoria
claims to be a road safety world leader but crash data collection and
assessment fall far behind world’s best practice. Most car/bike safety
initiatives have come from industry initiatives NOT government. The recent
motorcycle helmet fiasco testifies to that. Delaying and avoiding acting on
reports from our Parliament's Road Safety Committees will increase road trauma
and cost, not reduce it.
2005 MARCH. CRASHES INVOLVING ROADSIDE
OBJECTS.
Executive
Summary. Page viii.
"The Committee noted a number of areas
where crash information was missing or could be more detailed. The difficulty
obtaining adequate data, in particular travel exposure information to better
assess crash risk and target safety treatments, is a continuing issue in
Victoria, coming up time and time again in Committee inquiries, Governments
agree to improve crash information, yet crash and crash risk information
continues to be an impediment to the improvement of roadside safety in
Victoria. Crash information recording and publications need to be greatly
improved."
2006 AUGUST. INQUIRY INTO DRIVER
DISTRACTION.
Chair's
Foreword. Page vii.
"One of the problems faced by the
Committee during the Inquiry was the lack of a clear definition and information
systems which measure distraction and its' role in crashes. The Committee calls on Victorian
road safety authorities to develop clear definitions, categories and suitable
crash data reporting in order to understand the extent of the problem and to
develop appropriate countermeasures."
Executive
Summary. Page ix.
"In view of the lack of suitable
definitions, categorisations and suitable data, Victoria and most other
Australian jurisdictions are not well placed to accurately assess the role of
driver distractions in crashes. Recent studies in the United States, together
with an ongoing study by the New Zealand Ministry of Transport, provide some insight into driver
distraction impacts. Development of comprehensive crash data is a vital first
step in guiding future Victorian road safety initiatives relating to drivers
distraction." (DC - in guiding ALL road safety
initiatives.)
2012 DECEMBER. INQUIRY INTO MOTORCYCLE
SAFETY.
Executive
Summary. Page xxi.
" ... The first, and arguably most
important, theme was the lack of accurate and robust data, both for crashes and
trauma. Many arguments, proposals and observations made in submissions and
witness statements were based or justified on crash and trauma data. However,
the significant data issues identified by the Committee meant much of the
evidence presented to the Committee was difficult to verify. ...
Addressing data issues is
the single most critical aspect of our future response to motorcycle
safety."
As
The Age said, current spike in motorcycle & scooter deaths and injuries is
not normal. A significant number of these casualties should not be included in
road bike figures at all. Government departments know it. Political will is
required on the part of our elected representatives to make the required
changed to data collection and assessment happen.
The
fact is, motorcycle & scooter road riding is safer than it has ever been on
Victorian roads in spite of increasing numbers and deteriorating road
conditions. Most of the improvements to bike safety in the last two decades
have come from better rider training and improved machines and gear, not
blitzes or shock horror ads.
GRAPH
The
fact is, motorcycle & scooter road riders are legitimate road users who
contribute both financially and by reducing traffic congestion and parking
shortages. Their numbers will continue to grow with our population.
Riders
also spend well as tourists in regional Victoria. Tourism Victoria says riders
spend more than $60 million on and around Phillip Island during Moto GP week.
That’s an old figure. And, riders go touring every weekend.
On March
23, 2016, the Motorcycle Advisory Group (MAG) will meet. The 2012 Parliamentary
Inquiry into Motorcycle Safety called for a review of MAG and more stakeholder
involvement. MAG, in its’ current form
is a serious impediment to real improvement in motorcycle & scooter safety.
VicRoads has repeatedly delayed the recommended review.
If you
haven’t already, please take a few minutes to watch these short video clips.
The TOY RUN for Father Bob will be on Sunday, December 11, 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/IndependentRidersGroup/videos/433810306813514/?video_source=pages_finch_main_video&theater
https://youtu.be/Cndn-VwL-bI?t=179
The IRG Ride to Work Breakfast 2015.
Spokesman
Independent Riders Group
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