VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT

On 28/03/2016 6:03 PM, Samantha Dunn MP wrote:

Hi Damien,
          here's what I raised on Thursday (March 24, 2016) in the Victorian Parliament. I'll keep you posted with any responses I get.

Motorcycle safety

Ms DUNN (Eastern Metropolitan) -
My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Roads Safety.

The action I seek is that the minister implements recommendation 43 of  the inquiry into motorcycle safety of December 2012:

That the Motorcycle Advisory Group be expanded to include additional representatives from the scooter and moped, off-road and accredited provider segments of the motorcycling community and the length and
regularity of meetings be increased to allow for constructive engagement. Currently the Motorcycle Advisory Group (MAG) only meets three or four times a year, equating to approximately 16 hours a year of talk time for Victorian motorcycle riders.

Motorcycle rider advocacy groups have been waiting for more than three years for the implementation of the recommendation, which addresses the MAG review and reform and which would see increased stakeholder involvement. This matter has become more urgent with the news that of the road toll for 2016 - 77 dead in less than three months - 24 of them are motorcyclists.

There needs to be greater consideration and detail in relation to data collection around motorcycle crash data. Current road motorcycle and scooter data includes statistics for 'unriders' and off-roaders, so it is difficult to properly interrogate the data.

The December 2012 inquiry into motorcycle safety executive summary noted:

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.
Research quoted by Damien Codognotto, OAM, Spokesperson of the Independent Riders Group,
indicates that in 70 per cent of multivehicle road bike crashes riders are victims of motor car driver error.

Motorcycle insurers Swann Insurance found that in 40 per cent of bike crash claims the motorcycle rider was hit from behind.

The minister must act to implement recommendation 43 and provide details of the progress of its implementation.

Page 119: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/daily-hansard/Council_2016/Council_Feb-Jun_2016_Daily_24_March_2016.pdf

Samantha Dunn MP
Member of the Legislative Council for the Eastern Metropolitan Region