A RIDER'S POINT OF VIEW

Hi Damien,

Ken got a response today from Vic Police in reply to his email.  
He was quite pleased!

You can see what he wrote in his email under the police response.

Funnily enough, in today's snail mail was a letter from Vic Police 
telling him that an infringement notice for speeding has been 
withdrawn.  

He got a fine in the mail and went in to see the photo, because 
he was not even on his Honda on the day in question.

It turned out it was a NSW bike with the same rego, and all the 
guy at the counter said was "Um that's not right.  Don't worry 
about it".

Ken has been pissed off ever since because he got no letter of 
apology or recognition that there was a mistake!  I told him to 
get real, did he really expect all that?

Anyway, the withdrawal of infringement notice was better than 
nothing.

Cheers

G

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-------- Original Message -------- Subject:  Victoria Police - response 
Date:  Tue, 23 Apr 2013 23:04:35 +0000 
From:  Yates, Kelly <Kelly.Yates@police.vic.gov.au> 
To:   

Dear Ken,

Thank you for participating in our live chat about motorcycle safety in the lead up to Easter.

Apologies we weren't able to get to your question on the day. We had an overwhelming response
so it's taken us some time to get back to everyone.

Please find a response to your question(s) below.

"Many thanks for the opportunity to get in touch regarding motor cycle safety.

I have been riding motor cycles for just over 50 years and still ride into East 
Melb from Eltham four days a week during am peak  as well as the pm peak rain, 
hail or shine and have not had a crash in any shape or form in all these 
years of riding.

I'm  currently employed by a Melbourne based urgent Blood courier and drive 
six times a day up and down the Monash Freeway in peak hours both am and pm, 
which I've been doing for almost 9 years without a crash, sure there have been 
a few close calls by car and sometimes truck drivers who cut across in front of 
you, who either don't look or don't see the stop lights of the vehicles in
front of them, especially in wet conditions, and expect you to pull up safely as 
sometimes you will come across a vehicle without stop lamps and have drive 
accordingly.

I guess I learnt a lot about road safety from my father who when I was a small 
child would ride in an old 1938 fast back ford without stoplights, without blinkers, 
and had vacuum windshield wipers, no window demisters and the brakes weren't too 
crash hot either. Later he worked with the SEC and drove their vehicles until he 
retired and in all those years never had a crash. He used to say to me. "Treat 
everybody on the road as a B idiot and try to work out what they  were  going  to do, 
like have their right indicator on then turn left."

Travelling at 100 km and leaving a safe distance between yourself and the vehicle in 
front of you, especially in the wet, others see the gap and then you have to brake 
to avoid running into them.

Back in the early sixties the RACV of that era wanted everyone to get a motorcycle 
licence and experience  the  road conditions first hand for example; tram lines in the 
wet, slippery white lines, steel expansion strips and plastic delineators. But this was 
laughed out of the Government and by car manufacturers as they would lose too much  revenue.

To be quite honest I don't see any easy answers as so many of the younger generation of 
today have no respect for police, the law or other road users.  In the early sixties Vic 
Police use to issue motorists with rear window logos in blue and white saying COURTESY IS CATCHING.

I also see motor cyclists do things that I would never dream of doing for I ride with my 
head and not my hands. Also, for what its worth, the roads are not as good as they were 50 years ago 
what with more cars, more diesel spills more oil and oily air con. fluids all make the roads a death trap 
and yet we are slugged an extra $70 dollars (TAC antibike tax - DKC) a year levy for safer roads for motorcyclists.

In  parts  of  the  main  road  in  the  Templestowe area there are 17 different sections of bitumen in a two kilometer distance. There are also a lot more potholes, deep grooves, to contend with.

I also worked in the motor cycle industry for just over 20 years. Back in the early sixties we encouraged 
first time buyers to start off with a 125cc and work their way up from there making them appreciate the larger powered machines. Once again that ruling didn't last long as factories were building faster 125cc machines to make up for the reduction in big bike sales. Hoping some of these views will be of some help.

Ken"

Hi Ken,

Thanks for sharing that with us and for being such a conscientious and safe rider.

Safe travels,

Kelly Yates

Victoria Police Solo Unit