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Home > Club Info > Public Liaison
Public Liaison
Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Summit - the road ahead A landmark event occurred in Canberra last week with the running of the two day Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Summit. Even to have such an event is a triumph of cooperation of riders and industry organizations and Government authorities.
The Summit was as a result of members of the Motorcycle Safety Consultative Committee (MSCC) working closely with the Road Safety Division of the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (ex ATSB) and we are especially indebted to the Road Safety Manager, Mr. Joe Motha.
The MSCC comprises representatives from the MRA(Qld), MRA(Vic), NSWMCC, FCAI ( Industry), a women’s rep from MRA(ACT), the Australian Motorcycle Council and the Ulysses Club. We meet at regular intervals in Canberra to belt out actions that will make motorcycle riding safer on Australian roads, not always with a lot of success.
At the most recent meeting with the Federal Government, it was mooted that this Summit be organized and run in April 2008. We grabbed such an idea with both hands and ran with it. There was not a lot to time available to organize this event so all decisions were made in a series of long teleconferences in the past few weeks.
Of great significance was the fact that the riders reps. on the MSCC were charged with coming up with the agenda, a list of possible high profile speakers, the key issues to be looked at and the most important of all, a list of attendees that we wished to invite to the Summit. Of great importance was the need for each attendee to be in the position to actually make a difference at the end of the Summit. A few people who though that they should have been there missed out but we were limited to 110 attendees.
Conferences like this need money to run and sponsorship was garnered from the Federal Government and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, the industry people. The local ACT Government latter also joined the list of valued sponsors.
In the end the invitee list was a who’s who of motorcycling in Australia with a balance between riders, industry and Government bureaucrats.
The key issues were agreed to and these were:
Data and Analysis
Rider Protection
Training and Licensing
Risk Taking
Education
Enforcement
Road Infrastructure and road side hazards
Guest speakers were asked to target these items in their presentations.
There was a buzz of expectancy in the room at the start of the Summit as we all knew that this was the one chance we had to grapple with the problems and come up with do-able solutions that we could own and implement. The feeling of goodwill was outstanding – this was it!!!
Many have since commented that this was the very best conference ever attended – I have been to scores now and I can only reiterate this sentiment. The presentations were all brilliant and thought provoking. Two speakers were from Europe and one from the USA.
We were able to line up our safety performance here in Australia against that of the UK and America. The main differences were in the ability of the overseas researchers to obtain real and relevant data to find out exactly where the problems were – we have a long way to go here. I will not go into great detail here but will be placing a more comprehensive report in the August Riding On magazine as the dead line for the May issue has been unfortunately exceeded.
Where to from here? The MSCC will be meeting in June some time after the dust has well and truly settled to consider all possible ways forward. It’s all very well having a so called ‘talk fest’ but the important stuff comes after the event to review the outcomes and get some real strategies in place. High on the list is an urgent need for a National Motorcycle Strategy not only containing safety and attitudinal stuff but how motorcycles can be integrated into the transport plan. One great thing coming out of the Summit was the notion that motorcycles were green vehicles that must be included in all Governments transport planning so these initiatives must be also included in any future strategies.
Already I have received reports of many meetings being planned between riders and Government Officials as a direct result of the Safety Summit – how good is that!
One of the outstanding memories for me personally was the significant number of Ulysses Club members in attendance not only as riders’ reps but as heads of Government departments, service and committees, motoring organizations and motorcycle manufacturers. The Ulysses Club sure is in a powerful position to help make a difference. Another perception from the Summit was that the Government reps all had their listening ears on. Listen to what motorcyclists have to say and get to the real issues much quicker!!!
My colleague Tony Ellis, Secretary of the MRA(Vic), has already written a great report on the Summit and I will include it here, I am sure he will not mind.
Tony’s report:
There was some first rate stuff there. I [Tony from MCC, Vic] was sitting with Stuart Strickland (Honda MD) most of the time and he said it was the best thing of its type he's ever attended. The interest (and the goodwill) was astounding. We split up into workshops on various topics and came back with recommendations to the group.
The outcome from the recommendations now flows through to the Motorcycle Safety Consultative Committee to develop stuff for the national safety strategy for 2010.
The MSCC has various state and other reps, Adrian Toscarno (Qld), Guy Stanford(NSW), me (Vic), Neville Gray(Ulysses Club) Shaun Lennard (Tas & WA) Robyn Majors (ACT & Women riders) chaired by a rep from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
We're meeting again in a month or so once we've digested all the input and the recommendations from the workshops. Some of the stuff was brilliant and very challenging for a lot of the state bureaucrats etc. there. Program below with my personal comments:
Keynote presentation – Motorcycle safety – the road ahead: an international update – Dr Nick Rogers, Secretary General, International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association
Brilliant presentation on the MAIDS (Motorcycle Accident In Depth Study) data from Europe and how they acquired the data - real solid information on crashes is still sadly lacking in Australia.
Keynote presentation – Improving safety through engineering and integration: the IHIE guidelines for motorcycling – Mr Tony Sharp, Vice President, UK Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers and Chair, UK National Motorcycle Council, Traffic Management, Planning and Transportation Policy Sub Group
Spoke about the work he's done in the UK developing the Guidelines for motorcycles which feed into the National Motorcycle Strategy- read the travel plans section and weep! It's just so good...
From data to strategy – Ms Liz de Rome, LDR Consulting
excellent as always - Liz spoke about strategy development and implementation
Accuracy of data analysis and evidence based research – Dr Michael Kremmer, Lecturer, Griffith Business School, Griffith University
This guy was absolutely fascinating - he's an Economist & Statistician (with several bike and a fellow Ulyssian) By far the hardest to follow (but an entertaining speaker) he's too difficult to sum up easily. He has the ability to tear some of the arguments used to absolute shreds. I had the opportunity to chat with him for a couple of hours at the airport and my head is still spinning with his enthusiasm and ideas. :lol:
Road infrastructure and roadside hazards – Mr Nial Finegan, Regional Director, Metropolitan North West Region, VicRoads
Good talk about some of what is needed and the difficulties of fixing it -
Training and licensing best practice – variations among jurisdictions –
Mr Ray Newland, Motorcycling Manager, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI)
Moped licensing – Ms Hollie Black, Chair, Australian Scooter Federation
A couple of good presentations about the fairly silly mish-mash of systems we have in Australia and how everybody seems to think theirs is the best. Also about what sort of training do we actually need - skills, attitudinal, perception etc.
Protective clothing – Ms Liz de Rome, LDR Consulting
Liz again talking about standards for clothing and the inadequacy of a lot of what's sold as protective clothing. Something that came out of the workshops included the takeup of european standards rather than re-inventing the wheel with our own. (Helmets are a prime example here; Cameron Cuthill (BMW Motorad GM) commented on a new helmet they've released in Europe that weighs < 1kg but won't be sold here because it's not economic to even get it assessed for the Australian Standards)
Victorian Black Spot Program – Dr Bruce Corben, Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC)
Bruce spoke on the black spot treatments that the levy has paid for in Victoria and how the treatments have genuinely prevented crashes - these can include things like edge sealing, alignment etc. etc
Psychological and social factors influencing risky motorcycle rider behavior – Associate Professor Barry Watson, Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS–Q)
not what I expected from CARRS-Q - a motorcycle sympathetic study of risky behavior. Not particularly about speed but the psychology of riding unlicensed, unregistered and pissed among other things. Fatigue got a serious mention as well. He spent time talking about methods other than enforcement to reduce risk taking behavior.
Keeping motorcyclists safe: a behavioral approach – Dr Patricia Bryant, Principal Behavioral Scientist, NSW Centre for Road Safety, Roads and Traffic Authority of NSW
One of the best (as John said) - Patricia is responsible for the latest ads in NSW about cornering. You'll note there's not a single reference to speed in these adverts. She talked about how a successful road safety campaign needs serious input from riders.
Keynote presentation: The United States Action Plan to Reduce Motorcycle Deaths – Mr Steve Kratzke, Associate Administrator for Rule Making, US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Very interesting but I think he learned more than he gave - what we learned was how much further ahead we are in many areas They've had a 75% increase in bike numbers over 10 years and a 210% increase in fatalities.
Here is something that came out during a presentation on Thursday (and surfaced in the media Friday):
[quote]Speeding not the real cause of motorbike accidents
Richard Blackburn, drive.com.au, April 11, 2008
An international expert says that targeting speeding motorcyclists is merely a distraction from more relevant road safety issues. By RICHARD BLACKBURN , drive.com.au, April 11, 2008.
Speed is not the big killer for bike riders, according to experts
Speeding is “a distraction from other issues” that contribute to the motorcycle road toll, according to an international expert.
The secretary general of the International Motorcycle Manufacturers’ Association, Dr Nick Rogers, says that on its own, speeding is not a major contributor to the road toll. “Research in Europe shows that the vast majority of accidents occur below 50km/h, so speed is not the issue; it is an aggravating factor when something else goes wrong. “It is not true to say that because people are going fast, that is why they have an accident. Speed is just a distraction from other issues such as perception failures by riders and other motorists,” he says.
Dr Rogers is in Australia to address the inaugural Australian Motorcycle and Scooter Safety Summit, held in Canberra on April 10 and 11, 2008.
The summit brought together politicians, motorcycle riders, police, road authorities and injury prevention experts from around Australia and the globe.
The co-organiser of the summit, Australian Motorcycle Council chairman, Shaun Lennard, agrees with Dr Rogers that speed is too often blamed for motorcycle fatalities. He says road authorities need to concentrate less on speed cameras and more on rider education if they are going to make a meaningful reduction in the motorcyclist road toll. He argues that speed cameras have not been the “silver bullet” promised by authorities. “If speed cameras were going to be the answer, then why haven’t we progressed further towards the (toll reduction) targets set when they came out,” he says. He agrees that enforcement still has a place in reducing the toll, but would like to see a bigger police presence on the road, rather than the current covert measures. Mr Lennard called for more research on the factors that contribute to motorcycle accidents. “In the past we’ve been focused on the ‘what, where and when’ of motorcycle accidents, but we need to look more at the ‘why’ and the human element,” he says.
Part of the answer was to co-ordinate research and findings between different State authorities, the police and the motorcycle community. “The blame game has to stop. All of these people are largely working individually on motorcycle safety and not sharing ideas,” he says. “We’ve addressed the big ticket items like speeding, drink driving and wearing helmets, but now we need to look at training and education,” he says.
Neither Lennard nor Dr Rogers believe technology, such as anti-lock brakes (ABS) and stability control is the answer to reducing the toll. “The number of accidents where ABS could have had an effect is extremely small,” Dr Rogers says.
He says stability control, vaunted as a “silver bullet” for car safety, was not the answer for motorcycles. Stability control acts by braking individual wheels to bring a car back under control when it starts to skid.
“If you try to control lateral stability on a motorbike you will throw the guy off,” he says. “That technology is not really transferable to bikes; physics are against you,” he says.
Blind spot technology for cars was more likely to help reduce the motorcyclist toll.
Lennard agrees. “Very few crashes are caused by a loss of rear wheel traction under acceleration,” he says. Last year, 15 per cent of all road fatalities in Australia involved motorcyclists. Lennard claims 40 per cent of those involved single vehicles, 20 per cent involved two vehicles with the cyclist at fault and 40 per cent involved two vehicles, with the driver at fault.
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