VACC MEDIA
Thursday 9 March, 2006 For immediate release
Industry push for new legislation for motorcycles
“Victoria’s flawed motorcycle licensing laws, Government policy settings and impoverished thinking on road and traffic management initiatives, increase risk to motorcyclists,” VACC Executive Director David Purchase said.
“Victorian motorcycle licensing laws need a top-to-bottom overhaul, are riddled with contradictions, fail on simple logic and lag behind the initiatives and clear-thinking approach of other Australian states,” Mr Purchase said.
Among the key contradictions of concern to VACC are:
1. A new licence holder in Victoria is restricted to a 250cc motorbike, irrespective of the power-to-weight ratio of the machine, or its design features. For many more-mature new licence holders, a larger, less-powerful machine is a safer choice.
NSW devises its motorcycling laws around power-to-weight ratios.
2. A scooter licence is not differentiated from a motorcycle licence. Victoria, unlike SA, WA and Queensland, lacks the simple understanding of the essential technical and design differences of scooters, and their use, in the framing of its motorcycling laws.
A scooter licence should be more easily obtained, at greatly reduced cost and available from age 16, to encourage people to gain experience on these low-powered machines before graduating, with additional training and testing, to a motorcycle licence.
3. A person who holds a car driver’s licence and then obtains a motorcycle licence is not required to display a P-plate nor any visual indication to other motorists that they are sharing the road with a novice rider, inexperienced in the use of the machine. Only new licence holders are required to display a P-plate. Victorian motorcycling laws lack the simple sense, and consistency, to identify all novice riders.
“Motorcycles and scooters are not going to go away. Sales are up 40% over the past five years.
“There appears to be a mind-set within Government, and the responsible regulators, of “bicycles – good: motorcycles - bad”. But motorcycles and scooters, like bicycles, hold a key to many of the problems associated with clogged roads,” Mr Purchase said.
“A scooter uses far less fuel, and has a far smaller footprint, than a car. These modern, highly efficient and environmentally-friendly machines may in fact hold the key to many of the problems associated with urbanisation, clogged roads, and pollution.
“We need to encourage their use, and make it safer for the growing army of new users - many of whom are young women on scooters – to share our roads, as has happened in more enlightened jurisdictions overseas.
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“This means a top-to-bottom overhaul of Victorian laws, and, to increase safety for riders, some creative new ideas for improved road design and traffic management.
A forum: Two wheels to the Future
“VACC is hosting a forum on Saturday 18 March - “Two Wheels to the Future” - to examine these issues, and to seek solutions.
“To be attended by motorcycle industry representatives, industry experts, representatives from Government and regulators, and convened by radio personality Jon Faine, it is hoped that this forum will provide the impetus for some new thinking about Victoria’s motorcycling laws, traffic management and motorcycling generally,” Mr Purchase said.
For more information, contact David Purchase on
(03) 9829 1105 or mobile 0438 417 416
Thursday 9 March, 2006 For immediate release
Industry push for new legislation for motorcycles
“Victoria’s flawed motorcycle licensing laws, Government policy settings and impoverished thinking on road and traffic management initiatives, increase risk to motorcyclists,” VACC Executive Director David Purchase said.
“Victorian motorcycle licensing laws need a top-to-bottom overhaul, are riddled with contradictions, fail on simple logic and lag behind the initiatives and clear-thinking approach of other Australian states,” Mr Purchase said.
Among the key contradictions of concern to VACC are:
1. A new licence holder in Victoria is restricted to a 250cc motorbike, irrespective of the power-to-weight ratio of the machine, or its design features. For many more-mature new licence holders, a larger, less-powerful machine is a safer choice.
NSW devises its motorcycling laws around power-to-weight ratios.
2. A scooter licence is not differentiated from a motorcycle licence. Victoria, unlike SA, WA and Queensland, lacks the simple understanding of the essential technical and design differences of scooters, and their use, in the framing of its motorcycling laws.
A scooter licence should be more easily obtained, at greatly reduced cost and available from age 16, to encourage people to gain experience on these low-powered machines before graduating, with additional training and testing, to a motorcycle licence.
3. A person who holds a car driver’s licence and then obtains a motorcycle licence is not required to display a P-plate nor any visual indication to other motorists that they are sharing the road with a novice rider, inexperienced in the use of the machine. Only new licence holders are required to display a P-plate. Victorian motorcycling laws lack the simple sense, and consistency, to identify all novice riders.
“Motorcycles and scooters are not going to go away. Sales are up 40% over the past five years.
“There appears to be a mind-set within Government, and the responsible regulators, of “bicycles – good: motorcycles - bad”. But motorcycles and scooters, like bicycles, hold a key to many of the problems associated with clogged roads,” Mr Purchase said.
“A scooter uses far less fuel, and has a far smaller footprint, than a car. These modern, highly efficient and environmentally-friendly machines may in fact hold the key to many of the problems associated with urbanisation, clogged roads, and pollution.
“We need to encourage their use, and make it safer for the growing army of new users - many of whom are young women on scooters – to share our roads, as has happened in more enlightened jurisdictions overseas.
…/2
- 2 -
“This means a top-to-bottom overhaul of Victorian laws, and, to increase safety for riders, some creative new ideas for improved road design and traffic management.
A forum: Two wheels to the Future
“VACC is hosting a forum on Saturday 18 March - “Two Wheels to the Future” - to examine these issues, and to seek solutions.
“To be attended by motorcycle industry representatives, industry experts, representatives from Government and regulators, and convened by radio personality Jon Faine, it is hoped that this forum will provide the impetus for some new thinking about Victoria’s motorcycling laws, traffic management and motorcycling generally,” Mr Purchase said.
For more information, contact David Purchase on
(03) 9829 1105 or mobile 0438 417 416
