Ducati Monster Forum

Don't know if this has been brought up in the past couple of weeks but I thought I'd chuck it up here.

http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/Home/Safety/Road/Motorbike/Motorbike_safety_consultation/

It's just a pity that the pollies with all their resources don't give us more information and project a less biased attittuide towards motorcycling in general (eg. motorcycle sales figures, increases in licensing numbers and moneys already being raised from motorcyclists from taxes, fines and GST, accidents due to road conditions or design etc  etc).

Anyway, check it out no matter where you live in Aust. We need to try to get some good ideas across to these guys to make our favorite actitivity safer for everyone involved.

Thanks.

Thanks for that Rowdy. I checked out the site, and there is an online feedback form - submissions due by May 30th.

I'm not in Qld - just south of the border. So I don't know that I'm eligible to send in feedback. But this is what I would submit if I was:

Improving motorcycle safety:
1.  Improve the roads – there are known black spots. The particular problems are:

• Poor road surface – such as rough surface, potholes, gravel and other debris on roads
  Poor visibility – such as blind corners, tall grass on inside of corners
  Poor run-off areas – often with trees, fences, ditches etc. metres from the edge of the road
  Poor road camber, encouraging traction loss
  Dangerous intersections
  Slippery road markings
  Poor lighting

2.   Improve the competence of ALL drivers and riders – not just motorcyclists.

• Most motorcyclists also drive cars – they can see the road from both perspectives. Most car drivers do not also ride bikes, and seem to view bikes as two-wheeled convertibles. Bikes have radically different performance dynamics to cars, trucks and busses.
  ALL drivers/riders need to be educated about the different performance dynamics of ALL vehicles – this would lift the driving/riding competence of all road users.
  All drivers need to understand the common threats they pose to motorcyclists
  All motorcyclists need to understand how drivers respond to them on the roads

3.   Collect good quality data on crash characteristics so that the right variables are targeted, and the wrong people are not victimised by poor policy.

Case in point:
There was a motorcycle death on my road last week. It is a sealed road in a rural area. A bike had a head-on collision with a car on a blind corner. The road:

• had 2m high grass growing almost to the edge of the bitumen
  has no center line markings
  has no edge line markings
  has no advisory speed signs on any of the corners
  has an unrestricted speed limit
  has poor camber, rough surface and potholes in many places

This road is almost purpose-built for killing motorcyclists.

And I suppose the attending officer would have said that speed was the factor





                                                     Mmick

No Mick they always say speed was A factor (can't be faulted then). In other words if neither of the vehicles were moving the carnage wouldn't have been as bad