Sean Lennard’s words on wire rope barrier (WRB) and motorcycle crashes sound credible but they are based on opinion. See the article in Motorbike Writer. The link is below.
Australian crash data is simply not reliable enough to say "there have only been a handful" of casualty crashes involving motorcyclists hitting WRB.
Studying the injuries caused by collisions with various roadside objects and the three most common barrier types is close to impossible, at least in Victoria in 2017.
Apparently Mr Lennard is again Chairman of the Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC)?
It does nothing for bike safety when a well-known motorcycle lobbyist speaks out in favour of a barrier that so many riders are afraid of and that common sense tells us is a threat.
COMMENT ON SEAN LENNARD’S QUOTE IN MOTORBIKE WRITER
There is no evidence of the number of motorcycle, scooter or bicycle riders killed or injured in collisions with wire rope barriers (WRB) in Victoria because police do not routinely collect data on the type of barrier or roadside object a rider collided with.
This fact has been documented in three Victorian Parliamentary Inquiries. That's with fatals as well as serious injury crashes. Cross referencing injuries from casualty bike crashes seems all but impossible. If it is done, it is kept very quiet.
The 2012 Inquiry into motorcycle safety stressed the lack of reliable road safety data and recommended that a crash data research authority be set up independent of VicRoads/VicPol/TAC. That is a fact.
We may know how many casualty crashes there are in this state each year but we do not know how many fatal and serious injury crashes involving a rider hitting a type of barrier, tree or fixed object happen because the data is not collected from crash sites. Mr Lennard's assertion that "there have only been a handful" of fatal bike crashes involving WRB has to be based on opinion and road authoritiies' spin.
Road authorities have a huge investment to protect.
Riders are being killed and horribly injured on our roads. There is a lack of reliable information about the crashes. The Independent Riders Group leans towards safety and assumes the worst case scenario. We fight for the removal of WRB because there is no evidence to show it is safer than other types, or safer than no barrier in most situations.
Certainly more run off areas would be preferable to WRB right next to the road for riders, drivers with a break down and our emergency services.
DAMIEN CODOGNOTTO OAM
INDEPENDENT RIDERS GROUP
MELBOURNE
MOBILE: 0419 846 855.
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