Between 7 and 9 am on Monday, May 26, 2014
the Independent Riders Group will protest against the proposed
compulsory high
visibility vest and lights-on laws for novice motorcycle & scooter riders and the
coming
compulsory boots for riders law.
It is short notice, but only VicRoads insiders knew the threat was imminent.
Consultation was an elaborate sham.
Most motorcycle & scooter organisations were taken by surprise.
The IRG supports improved road user education, especially for car drivers who
cause most of the injury and death on our roads. The Graduated Licence System
(GLS) makes it harder, and a lot more expensive, to get a bike licence while
doing nothing to promote car driver awareness of vulnerable road users, including us.
The IRG supports the
voluntary use of protective clothing and would consider a
ban on thongs/sandals/hi-heels for riders but NOT
compulsory boots, gloves,
jackets & pants which is what VicRoads/TAC/police are pushing for. In my opinion,
these long-term plans have nothing to do with our safety and everything to do with more
fines and making it harder to own a motorcycle or scooter.
The Motorcycle Advisory Group (MAG) at VicRoads failed to warn the motorcycle
community of the dangers hidden in the GLS and the planned boots law. These rider
restrictions are proposed while real road safety measures like driver awareness
campaigns, the use of bus lanes and legitimising traffic filtering were again delayed
by VicRoads.
On May 26 riders will gather ati VicRoads car park at 60 Denmark Street in Kew.
Melways map 45 reference C7.
The IRG will be there from 7 am.
Riders can join us for all or part of the protest. It is a work day so many may not be able
to make it but this is very important so riders should do their best to attend.
These laws will effect all Victorians. If introduced here, they will spread interstate and
expand to cover more and more riders. If you can't be there on May 26, go see your MP.
2014 is a Victorian election year.
www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members
Speeches are at 8 am.
The IRG will demand a meeting with Minister Mulder that morning.
For the latest information on the May 26 protest visit:
www.facebook.com/independentridersgroup
www.facebook.com/northernregisterirg
Damien Codognott OAM
Spokesman
Independent Riders Group
Melbourne
***********************************************************************
To the sitting members of Victorian Parliament.
I agree with Mr Codognotto's points and also warn that nobody in the
motorcycle community wants these foolhardy proposals to be made law.
(Why aren't cycle riders being targeted by this?)
As Damien points out there is an election coming and the Coalition is
a minority government.
Neale Brumby- EDITOR
HEAVY DUTY MAGAZINE
Published by: BONZA MEDIA PTY LTD
HEAVY DUTY MOTORCYCLE TOURS
LICENCED TRAVEL AGENCY #33002
PO Box 96 Ascot Vale VIC 3032
Tel: 03 9317 5004
Web: http://www.heavyduty.com.au
*******************************************************************
On 14/05/14 1:34 PM, "Damien Cognotto OAM"
<d.codognotto.oam@bigpond.com> wrote:
To all Victorian Members of Parliament especially members of the
Victorian Road Safety Committee.
In the interests of real motorcycle & scooter safety, please listen
to this radio podcast:
Mr John Voyage from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.
Grant Delahoy for the Victorian Motorcycle Council.
http://alive905.com.au/listen/listen-again/ride-cpod/
The Independent Riders Group strongly opposes conspicuity laws.
There is no evidence to suggest these laws work.
The 2012 Parliamentary Inquiry (PIMS) did not recommend
COMPULSORY conspicuity for good reason.
The "whole of government response" to the 64 PIMS recommendations is
not credible because it was mostly written by VicRoads/TAC/police.
The compulsory conspicuity and protective clothing agenda was
released by VicRoads/TAC/police in 2010, well before the PIMS research
and study of motorcycle & scooter safety in Victoria. In our opinion
VicRoads/TAC/police had no intention of taking the PIMS
recommendations seriously and see our elected representatives as
surplus to their requirements.
326,000 Victorians are licenced to ride motorcycles & scooters. They
vote. There is an election in 2014.
Damien Codognotto OAM
Spokesman
Independent Riders Group
Melbourne
Vicroads 'feeding the chooks' so they can say to Pollies ' we
consulted'
They keep on doing what they want, based on their 'consultants' opinion who
charge like wounded bulls.
State based 'road safety' organisations are a waste of space
Federal
Govt should take control nationally.
Regards S
James
Holgate
VicRoads
Dear Sir.
When we heard about bike forums in
recent years we asked to attend as
legitimate stakeholders. We were told it
was "invitation only". This
happened more than once, to more than one
of us. When one of our
members did manage to get in to one of these forums
it was described
by a panel member as "an information night". It was not
described as
an exchange of views or a chance for stakeholder
input.
At the one workshop we were finally invited to last March there
was no
mention of compulsory conspicuity laws. Or compulsory
boots.
These items were NOT recommended in the 2012 Parliamentary
Inquiry
report for good reason.
Many positive items have been
delayed by VicRoads. Examples: traffic
filtering & bus lanes and
abolishing the TAC antibike tax.
The whole of government response to the
inquiry was mostly written by
Vicroads/TAC/police so it is not credible. What
is the point of having
a tax payer funded, all-party committee inquiry
into motorcycle &
scooter safety if our public servants act as
public officials and
overrule our elected representatives?
We strongly
oppose your compulsory conspicuity and protective clothing
laws because
they are not based on scientific evidence, stakeholder
consultation has
been selective (a farce) and in some cases your
rules/actions put us at
greater risk in traffic.
It is a bit late to be supplying this
information now. I suspect it is
only because of the backlash against the
media release written for
Minister Mulder.
We will look at the
information you have provided and give it serious
and fair consideration,
which is a lot more than you gave our
legitimate input.
The IRG
is certainly not against improving road user education for ALL
road users
and would probably support the GLS if the compulsory
conspicuity laws
had not been attached.
Damien Codognotto OAM
Spokesman
Independent
Riders Group
Melbourne
Dear
Damien,
Rodney Blythe has passed on to me your request for
information
regarding the new Motorcycle GLS. (See emails below. - DC)
1. Stakeholder consultation
VicRoads has
engaged in extensive consultation to inform the design of
the recommended
model.
On 2 September 2010, the then Minister for Roads and Ports
released a
public discussion paper titled ‘Graduated licensing
for
motorcyclists’. The public consultation phase concluded on 29
October
2010.
Tools used to inform the community about the
consultation activities
for the release of the discussion paper
included:
Ministerial launch (The IRG
was not informed nor invited - DC)On 2
September 2010, the then Minister launched the discussion paper
with
invitees from government, VMAC and motorcycle training providers.
A media
release was prepared and distributed at the launch.
. Direct
mailout to stakeholders (Not to IRG -
DC)
On 2 September, an introductory
letter, copy of the discussion paper
and a fact sheet was sent to the
following stakeholders (number in
brackets indicates volumes):
-
Accredited motorcycle training providers (13)
- Victorian Motorcycle
Advisory Council member organisations (25)
- Government stakeholders
(10)
- Road safety researchers (6)
- Other Australian
state road authorities (13)
- VicRoads customer service centres
(1030)
Advertising
In the week commencing 5 September 2010,
advertisements were placed in
the Herald Sun, Age, MX and regional
newspapers covering the areas
where the information forums were being
held. Advertisements were
also translated and published in ethnic
newspapers (Turkish, Arabic,
Cantonese, Mandarin, Macedonian and
Vietnamese).
Posters with details about the information forums and how
to obtain a
copy of the discussion paper and were distributed to all
VicRoads
customer service centres and accredited motorcycle training
providers
throughout Victoria.
Media releases were prepared in
the regions where the information
forums were being held.
Four
information forums were held between 20 September 2010 and 29
September
2010 at Traralgon, Benalla, Ballarat and Melbourne. A total
of 74 people
attended these forums. A report summarising the outcomes
of these forums
was published on the VicRoads website but I have
attached a copy, for
your convenience.
The GLS model developed following these
consultations was provided to
the Parliamentary Road Safety Committee's
Inquiry into Motorcycle
Safety in 2012 by way of a public supplementary
submission and the
matter of high visibility clothing and mandatory
headlight-on
requirements were raised by Vicroads in its verbal evidence.
2. Evidence that compulsory conspicuity measures reduce motorcycle
&
scooter crashes. The role of conspicuity measures in
improving
detection of motorcyclists in traffic was examined by Wells et al
(BMJ
2004; 328), who reported a 37% reduction in risk for riders who
wore
reflective or fluorescent clothing. In the recommendation
arising
from the Inquiry into Motorcycle Safety, the Victorian
Parliamentary
Road Safety Committee paid a good deal of attention to the
work of
De Craen et al (2011), published by SWOV. De Craen highlights
that
brightly colored high-visibility clothing is more effective in
an
urban environments which, in Victoria, is where 80 per cent
of
2-vehicle novice rider crashes occur (Victoria Police crash
data,
2009-2013).
(In my
experience, riders who volutarily wear hi viz clothing tend to
be carful in
nature and would be less likely to crash. - DC)
Research regarding the role of conspicuity can
also be found in
Motorcycle Conspicuity – What Factors Have the Greatest
Impact?
http://www.intrans.iastate.edu/research/documents/research-reports/motorcycle_conspicuity_ii_w_cvr.pdf.
This study found
a significant increase in detection distance of
brightly cloroured riders
in both rural and urban settings. This more
recent work may not have been
available to the Parliamentary Committee
when it made its deliberations as
the report was not published until
June 2012.
3. VicRoads plans
to study the before and after effects of the high
visibility vest law in
reducing novice rider injury and fatal
motorcycle & scooter
crashes VicRoads will monitor the effects of the
GLS measures on novice rider
safety as part of its general road safety
data collection.
(The 2012 Inquiry and several others criticised the
way crash data
was collected and assessed in this state and
recommended and
independent authority to take over that role. -
DC)
4. Definition of a high visibility
vest? Colour? Reflectivity? Areas?
It is intended that the
definition of a high-visibility vest will
align with Class D/N garments as
specified in AS4602, High-visibility
safety garments. Regulatory amendments
to implement this are currently
being prepared.
5. Compulsory
boots for motorcycle & scooter riders
On February 28, 2013, The
Victorian Premier announced in the
Victoria's Road Safety Action Plan
2013-2016 that the Government would
"introduce a mandatory requirement
for motorcyclists to wear boots
that are at least ankle high to better
protect them".
A copy of the Action plan can be obtained
from
http://www.roadsafety.vic.gov.au/images/strategy/road_safety_action_plan.pdf.
As I advised you
during our discussion on this matter, last year, our
current plans are to
recommend a requirement that preserved the
ability riders to have a
free choice of the type of boot chosen to
comply with this requirment
with no specific performance standard
being imposed.
Work toward
implementing this policy is currently underway.
6. GLS Implementation
date
The GLS has not yet been made law. The various components will
be
implemented via legislation or regulation and the timing of these
will
be determined by the Government and Parliament. However,
the
Government's announcement regarding the GLS, on 1 May 2014,
indicated
that the first stages of the GLS are planned to be introduced
in
October 2014. You may also care to note that the new GLS
restrictions
will only apply to new learners or novice riders
from the
implementaion date, existing riders would not be affected (Yet. - DC).
Further changes will be introduced in 2015
to introduce the more
significant changes, including mandatory
training and on-road
assessment.
I trust that this
information is of help to you.
regards
James
Holgate
Director, Vehicle and Road Use Policy
VicRoads
60 Denmark
Street
Kew VIC 3101
From: DAMIEN CODOGNOTTO OAM
<d.codognotto.oam@bigpond.com>
To: motorcycles@roads.vic.gov.au,
Cc: james.holgate@roads.vic.gov.au,terence.mulder@parliament.vic.gov.au,
<luke.donnellan@parliament.vic.gov.au>, <robsalvv@gmail.com>
Date:
14/05/2014 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: GLS RESEARCH?
Rodney Blythe
Policy and
Programs
VicRoads
Dear Sir.
Thanks for your reply.
The
Independent Riders Group would like the answers to the specific
questions
about stakeholder consultation and detailed information
about
peer-reviewed research on the GLS itself and on the high
visibility
vest law and on the lights-on law in writing as soon
as
possible.
The IRG was NOT included in stakeholder consultation. The
IRG strongly
opposes VicRoads COMPULSORY CONSPICUITY measures.
The
IRG knows of no scientific research that provides evidence that
compulsory
conspicuity measures reduce motorcycle & scooter crashes.
A third
question. What plans do VicRoads have to study the before and
after effects
of the high visibility vest law in reducing novice rider
injury and fatal
motorcycle & scooter crashes?
A fourth question. What is the
definition of a high visibility vest?
Colour? Reflectivity? Areas?
A
fifth question. Is VicRoads or any other government agency working
on
making boots COMPULSORY for motorcycle & scooter riders?
Can you
please confirm that the GLS has NOT been made law to May
14, 2014 and
advise the date it will go to state parliament for a
vote?
Damien
Codognotto OAM
Spokesman
Independent Riders
Group
Melbourne
Hi Damien,
My
apologies for the delaying responding. I will endeavour to
update the M-GLS
webpage in the next few weeks to include the
information you are seeking or
send it through as an email.
Regards
Rodney Blythe
Policy and
Programs
03 9854 2713
From: DAMIEN CODOGNOTTO OAM
<d.codognotto.oam@bigpond.com>
To: motorcycles@roads.vic.gov.au,
Cc: terence.mulder@parliament.vic.gov.au,luke.donnellan@parliament.vic.gov.auDate: 06/05/2014 10:59
AM
Subject: GLS RESEARCH?
RODNEY I BLYTHE
SENIOR POLICY
ANALYST
VICROADS
POLICY AND PROGRAMS
Dear Sir,
Minister
Mulder's media release on the Graduated licence system
claimed that in
developing the Graduated Licence System there had been
widespread
stakeholder consultation and that there was
peer-reviewed
research.
Can we please have a list/schedule of the
stakeholder consultation
conducted in developing the Victorian
GLS?
Can we please have a copy of the peer-reviewed research conducted
in
developing the GLS?
Sincerely,
Damien Codognotto
OAM
Spokesman
Independent Riders
Group
Melbourne<Public forums final report.pdf>
Damian,
Agreed. We heard nothing of these sessions. Sound like window
dressing to make a predetermined position by Vicroads/Vicpol sound like one
reached through community consensus. Far from the truth.
Jenny
Traralgon
Date: Fri, 16 May 2014 16:02:13 +1000
From:
d.codognotto.oam@bigpond.com
To: James.Holgate@roads.vic.gov.au
Subject:
Re: GLS Research
James
Holgate
VicRoads
Dear Sir.
When we heard about bike forums in
recent years we asked to attend as
legitimate stakeholders. We were told it
was "invitation only". This
happened more than once, to more than one
of us. When one of our
members did manage to get in to one of these forums
it was described
by a panel member as "an information night". It was not
described as
an exchange of views or a chance for stakeholder
input.
At the one workshop we were finally invited to last March there
was no
mention of compulsory conspicuity laws. Or compulsory
boots.
and so on ....
