Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Financial Review has put their foot in it.

Read and spew.

Refer to http://www.roadsafety.mccofnsw.org.au and look under "Safer People" for the real statistics.

He decries risk - so where do we stop? With investors and financial risk too?
The public purse argument won't wash - what about youth suicide - one a day for heavens sake

Maybe if he asked "WHY is motorcycling dangerous, he may discover that it receives virtually no funding and hasn't for 30 years.

The first ever motorcycle safety programs run were from October 2002, funded by your Greeenslip money from the MAA, who handed the money to RTA for implemeting - resulting in the Cow, the drinking helmet, the car mirror advert appearing on bus backs and more recently, the bus backs of "Blind Spotted" - this is NOT RTA money, but YOUR greenslip money coming back via MAA.

That first advertising program followed the release in June 2002 of "Positioned for Safety" the motorcycle road safety Strategic Plan from the MCC of NSW. i.e. it is riders who are dealing with safety and government is starving us for funds and Alan Mitchell is blaming us.

Removing motorcycles is the same lazy argument as banning young drivers - it avoids the problem instead of dealing with it.

Direct your letters to
mailto:edletters@afr.com.au


Please write, everyone. The more letters, the greater we can use this opportuinity to turn it to our advantage and pressure the government for more funding.

This bloke is one of the most influential economics journos in the country, so we need to make a point loud and large by volume of letters and the paper will run with it.

Respond to someone elses letter and keep the ball rolling for as long as we can

Guy

Cath wrote:

In the United States, the average total cost (including medical costs, lost earnings, lost quality of life) of motorcycle accidents is about 11 times that for motor vehicles as a whole. A similar ratio is likely in Australia.

No a similar ratio is NOT likely in Australia, you sub-normal heap of steaming feaces. Because if your skull was able to crack open wide enough to soak up a fact or two, and if your learning skills hadn't been so dulled by your habit of crapping on a sheet of paper and calling it an article, you would know the following:

- the differences between the American and Australian hospital + health systems
- the differences between the American and Australian welfare systems
- the differences between the American and Australian legal systems
- the differences between the American and Australian laws regardisng helmet use

All of which have a DIRECT bearing on things like medical costs, lost earnings and lost quality of life. Australian conditions just CANNOT reliably be extrapolated from American data for this topic, and any half-competent semi-sentient blob of life would realise this.

You would also realise the benefits of research before shooting your mouth off, to avoid getting your arse handed to you by a bunch of angry bikers.

Jesus, if I handed that fetid pile of festering pus-ridden puke into one of my lecturers for marking, they would reward me with scathing commentary and embarrassing amounts of red pen. And deservedly so.

And your editor should be spanked, too.

aardvark wrote:I reckon this is a great idea!!!! I'm gonna sell my bike and buy a bumper car, wrapped in cotton wool, and then get the government to wrap every road side object in bubble wrap!

I will encourage every one I know to purchase one of these vehicles as well.

I've said it before, I'll say it again:

If the government were serious about "saving lives", they would be putting the money towards the mental health system, and doing a shit load more to prevent suicide. More people commit suicide each year, than have accidents, and it's something that is entirely preventitive.

Unfortunatley the government havent found a way to use speed cameras with stationary cars in garages, and they haven't yet worked out that they could impose a hanging tax on rope sold in hardware stores.

(A little insensitive? Maybe, but it's dumb arsed articles like this that get me worked up!)

I'd be interested to see how good a driver this clown is....

mfzx6r wrote:
I'm selling my bike and buying a monkey/minimoto bike.
As a "toy" and as long as I obey the road laws I can ride it anywhere pay no reg dont need a licence dont need a helmet.

mario

Sir,

I refer to the article in your publication in which Alan Mitchell calls for motorcycles to be "taxed off the road," and provide the following for your consideration.

Mr Mitchell appears to think that the use of express and transit lanes is proof that the NSW government is encouraging motorists to ride a motorcycle. Is this an inducement or a recognition that motorcycles meet the intended function of these lanes? Perhaps he could be reminded that (in NSW) the registration charges for motorcycles are very close to, if not equivalent to, passenger vehicles? I wonder if he believes this is encouragement to utilize machines with the obvious social benefits he has recognized.

It was contended in the article that a reduction of crashes in the last decade and a half is a corollary of there being less motorcycle usage. This is patently untrue. Statistics from NSW show that since 1995, the number of motorcycle registrations has INCREASED by 42%. This has NOT led to an equivalent (or close) increase in crashes. Since 2000, crash numbers have DECREASED by 11%. While it is true that motorcycles are over-represented in the number of reported crashes, it is also true that in approximately 60% of cases involving other motorists, the other motorist is at fault.

In view of this, perhaps we should tax cars off the road, as they are much more likely to cause personal and property damage? You would rightly say that this propostition is ridiculous, as is Mr Mitchell's contention. Perhaps we should rather put our energies into suggesting more effective methods of reducing loss of life.

These are by no means the limits of the points I could raise. However, I have wasted enough time on Mr Mitchell's diatribe. Unfortunately, it appears that the writer of said article is particularly poorly informed or is maliciously misrepresenting the facts. I find the article to be reprehensible in the extreme.

Yours sincerely,

Unfortunately, people forget, and motorcycles and motor scooters have come back into fashion, including among middle-aged men, who should know better.