POLICE RIDER DIES

https://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/news/orbost-fatal-collision

TAKES DRIVERS' PHONES

Victoria Police confiscating mobile phones from drivers caught using them while driving is supported by the Motorcycle Riders Association in Melbourne.

Damien Codognotto OAM
MRA

I'VE BEEN AWAY

STURGIS 2018

One month, ten states, 5000 miles on a Harley. Hard ride. Great trip.

Damien Codognotto OAM
The Motorcycle Riders Association
Melbourne

CORONER'S COURT (Vic) DAMAGE CONTROL

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
THE SATURDAY AGE

REPUTATION DAMAGE CONTROL (1/9/2018) 

In my opinion, the Victorian Coroner’s Court is dysfunctional. That is, it does not function as it should.

Bullying, bad taste videos and grossly expensive parties at tax payers expense make the Coroner’s Court in Melbourne a toxic work place.

It’s mission to improve public safety by investigating deaths has been well and truly undermined. 

This is terribly true where road deaths are involved. One of the results is that Police and VicRoads have too great an influence on outcomes and recommendations from the Coroner after fatal crashes on our roads. VicRoads is virtually immune to criticism where dangerous road environments are involved.

Contributing factors to the dysfunctional state of the Victorian Coroner’s Court seem obvious.

Police conduct fatal crash site investigations. These investigations are too often carried out by experienced highway patrol officers with little or no relevant scientific training. A 2012 Parliamentary Inquiry recommended that a crash data authority be set up independent of Police, VicRoads and TAC.

Police are official advisors to the Coroner which can lead to serious conflicts of interest.

Fatal crash victims' loved ones too often lack the emotional and or financial resources to have meaningful input to inquests or to challenge bad outcomes.

Fatal crash victims loved ones can be bullied by officials more concerned with mitigating reputational damage to the Court than with the Court’s mission to improve public safety.

Damien Codognotto OAM
The Motorcycle Riders Association
Melbourne

NEW VICROADS CEO

The Melbourne Herald Sun. July 25, 2018.

MOTORCYCLE FOOTPATH PARKING CLUTTER?

Send an email to the Melbourne Herald Sun regarding motorcycle parking and footpath clutter. Ian Royall did a good job today.

hsletters@heraldsun.com.au

Damien Codognotto
MRA

LACK OF RESPECT

A Tasmanian Government refusal to brief  independent MP Ruth Forrest on the Prohibited Insignia Bill was seen as a lac k of respect for the Upper House of Parliament.

AGAIN IN 2018???

1995

SHOULD WE DO IT AGIN?

NO MENTION OF MOTORCYCLES OR SCOOTERS AGAIN

MELBOURNE TRAFFIC REFORMS???

FOOTPATH FREE MOTORCYCLE PARKING IN DOUBT?

The Melbourne Age. June 23, 2018.

The Melbourne Herald Sun. June 21, 2018.

FOOTPATH PARKING THREAT IN VICTORIA

PLEASE SHARE THIS EMAIL. SEND IT TO AS MANY RIDERS AS YOU CAN.

The Melbourne Herald Sun on Thursday, June 21, 2018 published the contents of 2 Melbourne discussion papers. It made three points clear ... to me at least.

1. The City of Melbourne wants motorcycles & scooters off footpaths after 30 years of virtually trouble free footpath parking regardless of the benefits to car drivers interms of parking space and traffic flow.

2. The City of Melbourne developed the anti motorbike policy outlined in the 2 discussion papers without consulting all stakeholders. No motorcycle or scooter group I know of had input as these papers/policies were developed.

3. The RACV is pro bicycle and anti motorcycle.

The Melbourne City Councillor responsible for transport is Nicolas Frances Gilley. Cr Gilley emailed me today.

"As a motor bike rider I care about their role in the transport mix."

Perhaps. .... Perhaps as much as the RACV care about us.

If the City of Melbourne, as a whole, had any good feelings about motorcycle & scooter riders why wasn't the Motorcycles In Melbourne Committee involved in developing these papers? Why were motorcycle organisations not invited to have input?

Maybe because motorcycles & scooters are not recognised by the City of Melbourne as a legitimate form of transport with more in common with pushbikes than with cars in the CBD and inner suburbs.

If you are not happy about this situation email the Herald Sun and Cr Frances Gilley and let them have your opinion.

hsletters@heraldsun.com.au

nicolas.francesgilley@melbourne.vic.gov.au

If the City of Melbourne bans motorbikes from footpaths the ban will go statewide and no other state or territory will introduce free footpath parking for motorcycle & scooter riders.

Damien Codognotto OAM
The Motorcycle Riders Association
Melbourne

NOTICE

From JUNE 1, 2018 the Independent Riders Group (IRG) is the Motorcycle Riders Association (MRA) in Victoria.

The original MRA was founded on Tuesday, May 16, 1978 in the lounge of the St Kilda Inn Hotel in St Kilda, a Melbourne inner suburb. The MRA grew rapidly and spread across Australia. 

The MRA grew rapidly. It was the right concept at the right time. There were seven branches, 52 sub-branches or registers and around 16,000 members in the late 1980s.

The Victorian Branch was closed in the 2000s. The IRG took over. The IRG was an informal group of concerned motorcyclists connected mainly by the internet. In 2018 the IRG had attracted over 500 members. The IRG membership included much of the original MRA's experience, expertise and contacts.

In May 2018 a survey of IRG members and associates was done to see if the majority wanted to go back to the MRA name which had far more brand power that the IRG. The survey indicated that the overwhelming majority wanted to be members of the "new" MRA in Victoria. 

The MRA in Victoria differs in many ways from the original MRA but the original aims are the same.

1.     Road Safety. 
2.     Fair and sensible laws. 
3.     A better image for riders.

Like the IRG the MRA in Victoria will not charge membership fees but it reserves the right to refuse a membership application or terminate a membership without explanation. Unfortunate but necessary given what white ants did to the original MRA. 

People who support the aims and work of the IRG/MRA and who want the IRG/MRA to represent them can join via the face book page or my email address or the PO Box in Doncaster Heights. We do not want a lot of detail. Just name, post code and email address.

The team that make the IRG/MRA work are not paid. These volunteers pay for events and activities out of their own pockets. Proceeds from sales of memorabilia and donations go to pay some expenses like stationary or venue costs. If there is a surplus it will go to the Father Bob Foundation to further Father Bob's work for the less fortunate in our community.

The new/old MRA has based its' logo and patch on a design from the 1980s. The patch is a circle 8cm across. It features a Tasmanian wedge tailed eagle in MRA colours, black & white. It also features the Australian colours, green & gold.

Patches will be available from July 16, 2018. They cost $25 each. Add $2 pack & post for up to five patches. Send your order the old fashioned way for now with a cheque or money order made out to The Independent Riders Group. Post the order to:

 PO Box 4330, Doncaster Heights, Vic. 3109.

Damien Codognotto OAM
Spokesman
Melbourne

Email: damienkcodognotto@gmail.com 

www.facebook.com/independentridersgroup

Mobile: 0419 846 855.

BAD ROADS RALLIES MAY 8 & NOV 18 2018

Channel 7 Melbourne - Nick McCallum report including interviews with victims relatives.

https://www.facebook.com/7NewsMelbourne/videos/10156565209019301/

Prime 7 News Border - Albury/Wodonga - Interview with Bill Tilley, Member for Benambra

https://youtu.be/iWK3sL-CncU?t=138

BENDIGO SAYS NO TO WIRE ROPE BARRIERS

https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/5432145/wire-rope-barriers-not-preferred-for-sedgwick-black-spot-works/

VIC RIDERS TO BE TOLLED

THE AGE

MELBOURNE

Peter Baulch and the VMC/AMC do not speak for me!

For many years Victorian motorcycle & scooter riders were exempt from road tolls due to an agreement with toll companies that goes back to the Kennett Government.

Riders were sold out in the early 2000s by people claiming to represent all riders. They said Victorian riders were happy to pay their way. This rider is not. We already pay much more than our fair share of road costs. 

Toll companies were assured by pseudo bike representatives like Baulch, that there would be no opposition to the companies sorting out their technology so they could toll and pad their profits. The profits do not go back into safer roads, they go to shareholders. A significant number of shareholders and company accounts are not in Australia.

Let’s get one thing absolutely straight, so there is no misunderstanding. Neither Peter Baulch nor the Victorian Motorcycle Council speak for, or represent me in any way. And, there are many other riders who feel that way.

Road registered motorcycles & scooters pay too much already and should be exempt from all road tolls.

https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/motorbikes-free-citylink-ride-to-end-20131015-2vk39.html

Damien Codognotto OAM

IRG/MRA

Mobile: 0419 846 855.

BICYCLE RESEARCH ON TV

WEEKEND SUNRISE
CH 7

Your item on bicycle safety & research this morning (Mat 26, 2018) was interesting.

From memory, the report claimed that in 63% of collisions involving cars and bicycles, the car driver was at fault. We think that research was done in and around Brisbane.

In Melbourne bicyclists have called for phone blockers fitted to cars to stop drivers being distracted by their phones, tablets, etc. See attached. The Independent Riders Group thinks blockers have problems, not the least of which is the cost of retrofitting the entire Australian car fleet. We would like to see more police motorcycles in traffic using helmet cameras. See attached.

The IRG accepts the 63% figure. We think that if the same research was done in Melbourne traffic the percentage of collisions where the car driver was at fault would be much higher. 

In collisions involving a car and a motorcycle or scooter the car driver is at fault around 70% of the crashes.

Why don’t car drivers see the two wheelers? The short answer is they do not look for bikes because they are not trained to look. Car drivers are conditioned to look for THREATS. But they don’t always look for threats either. They are also conditioned to say I did not see him/her on the bike. This avoids the responsibility of driving safely and being blamed/charged for the driver’s role in the crash.

A longer answer involves the dumbing down of the driving task, the lack of road user education in schools, the increasing isolation of the car driver in a comfortable shell and the huge increase in in-car distractions over the last two decades.

While VicRoads controls the so called "whole of government" response tp Parliamentary Inquiry recommendations, few recommendations will be adpoted regardless of road safety.

Damien Codognotto OAM

IRG/MRA

Melbourne

BLOCK CAR PHONE SIGNALS

The Victorian Government released a report which reportedly says car phones and like devices will contribute to an increased road toll if we do not do something to stop their use by car drivers.

I thought they were already contributing.

The issue got TV time on Ch 7's SUNRISE this morning. It got pages of print in the Melbourne Herald Sun.

Top traffic cop Doug Fryer got stuck in on the side of Bicycle Network Victoria who want car phone signals blocked to car drivers.

Four million cars in this state. Putting a blocker in each one would be a big job. Even if, for argument's sake, the blockers only cost $25 each, you are looking at $100,000,000 over a long time. I doubt it will happen.

A much easier, quicker and more cost effective way to crack down on distractions in cars would be more motorcycle cops with helmet cameras as in other states. They would also detect seat belt and child restraint offences. The bonus would be many more unroadworthy cars off the road or sent for repairs.

BUT, motorcycles & scooters never got a mention .... again. Not the RACV, VACC or FCAI or any of the major clubs or representatives mentioned motorcycles or scooters. The IRG got a letter in the Melbourne Herald Sun but that's all.

Damien Codognotto OAM
IRG/MRA
Melbourne

The Melbourne Herald Sun. May 24, 2018.

The Melbourne Herald Sun. May 18, 2018.

The NEWCASTLE TOY RUN is 41 years old. It is a seriously great motorcycling event. It is one of the few traditional TOY RUNs left in Australia and is by far the biggest attracting 10,000 machines each year.

https://mailchi.mp/5e506a5ad37f/2018-toy-run-exclusive-details-and-your-chance-to-support?e=3269019986

FATHER BOB NEEDS YOU

Father Bob will be at the Foundation office at 

91 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park
at 11am on Sunday, June 3, 2018. 

Father Bob helps a lot of people. To keep that up he needs your help. Mid calendar year, a bit before the end of the financial year the Father Bob Foundation has a cash flow crisis. 

It's winter. Some people really need hot food and warm shelter. Please help Father Bob to help them.

There are coffee shops, lunch places and pubs an easy walk from 91 Victoria Avenue and there's plenty of parking.  

Let's go everyone. Organise a group. Come and meet Father Bob. Drop a dollar in the tin. Every cent counts.  

Cash on the day is welcome. Donations over $2 are tax deductable. 

If you can't be there on the day, you can donate direct via the Father Bob Foundation website. 

Cate - Toy Run for Fr Bob Admin. 

https://www.facebook.com/events/981425932033842/

https://www.fatherbobs.com/take-action/

Donate using credit or debit card via PayPal 

https://www.paypal.com/donate/token=N7lBStTRsSnxRRFlurRXm6Z3pAzoz6idQGGQV0pRDiSqPioCzV_ZJI2M0E4uVUn0lKJSkm&country.x=AU&locale.x=AU

DIRECT DEPOSIT
NAB Account: The Father Bob Maguire Foundation
BSB: 083-004  Account Number: 56-488-7321 

SEND US A CHEQUE

The Father Bob Maguire Foundation
91 Victoria Avenue
Albert Park Vic 3206

ABN 23 715 381 965

DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT IT

2018 IS AN ELECTION YEAR IN VICTORIA. 

If you want better roads in regional Victoria:

1. Write to your local paper.

2. Ring talk back radio.

3. Go see your MP and the candidates trying to take his/her seat.  Their names will be in the local paper. They want votes from you and yours.

www.parliament.vic.gov.au/members

www.facebook.com/fixourruralroads

Damien
IRG/MRA

VILLIFICATION V SALES

THE INCREASE IN VILIFICATION OF MOTORCYCLISTS REDUCES THE NUMBER OF YOUNG AUSTRALIANS GETTING BIKE LICENCES.

The Hobart Mercury recently published an article on how evil outlaw motorcycle "gangs" were. One of many articles.

From memory, The Mercury wrote there were about 275 full-coloured "gang" members in Tasmania and about 5000 nationally. Tasmania Police are pushing for anti association laws which cover a lot more than just bike clubs.

Add associates and hangers-on to those with colours and there may be 10,000 Australians in and around outlaw motorcycle “gangs”.

Please note, not all of them have criminal records. In fact, there are a lot more police and X police with serious criminal records in Australia than bikies with records. But bikies are an easy target for professional, taxpayer funded spin doctors.

For argument’s sake, let’s say there are a million Australians riding road bikes regularly. In general the car driving public see them as bikies. So the 5000 patch wearing club members, who are not all violent crims, make up less than a terrifying 1/20th of a single sad and lonely percent of riders, unless my maths are wrong which is probable.

Anyway, the number of violent crims who ride motorbikes is way less than the teen/ethnic gangs doing car jackings and home invasions in Victoria.

Now, by coincidence, on the front page of Melbourne’s Herald Sun yesterday, the vilifiers struck again. The Herald Sun is, I believe, the second biggest circulation daily in this country.

First on the list of the most vile and malignant creatures our society suffers was us! Bikies! That’s all of us in the public mind. I really resent it. And, nobody says a word in our defence. Not the motorcycle clubs (IRG excepted), not the RACV, not the VACC nor the FCAI, no one.

80% of riders are not in any bike organisation and road bike clubs often work against each other.

It comes as no surprise then, that in spite of the savings in time and money and the simple pleasures of riding, young Australians are not getting bike licences. I mean, why would they? They know from the antibike propaganda in the media that they’ll be judged to be in the same category with "terror plotters, killers, big-time drug dealers, child-sex monsters and other violent criminals” by family and friends.

The cost and effort to get street legal on two wheels is another huge disincentive. 

The Victorian Graduated Licence System was a disaster. It made bike licences harder to get without necessarily improving rider skills over the old system. It was a Trojan horse too. The GLS hid enabling conspicuity legislation in its' bowels.

VicRoads/TAC/VicPol run a campaign that vilifies riders while increasing costs and restrictions. It’s been going on since the 1990s. The campaign might be mass hysteria in the public service fed by a sensation hungry media but it might be planned say "banjo playing conspiracy theorists" like me. No matter. The results are the same. Reduced numbers which is what the social engineers at VicRoads and TAC want.

The golden age of Australian motorcycling is ending.

Damien Codognotto OAM BPCT
IRG/MRA
Melbourne

YOU'VE READ THE PROPAGANDA NOW WATCH THE VIDEO

THE BAD ROADS RALLY

is on Tuesday, May 8, 2018.

https://youtu.be/Xn-Qye8OaBI

We need a big crowd outside Parliament House in Melbourne at 1pm.

All welcome. Bus, truck & car drivers, motorcycle, scooter & bicycle riders and pedestrians.

If you want Victoria’s country roads to be safer for you and your loved ones, be part of the BAD ROADS RALLY.

If you can’t make it on the day, collect signatures on for the petition. In ink. Nothing on the back of each petition sheet.

Please pass this message on to as many Victorians as you can.

Damien Codognotto OAM

Mobile: 0419 846 855.