With motorcycle usage growing in popularity and motorcyclists being more vulnerable to injury than other road users, saving riders’ lives and preventing injuries remains a critical road safety challenge.
This morning I was pleased to make a member’s statement as Chair of the Motorcycle Community Engagement Panel, raising awareness of motorcycle safety for Motorcyclist Awareness Month.
What is Motorcyclist Awareness Month?
The initiative, developed in collaboration with the Transport Accident Commission, Department of Transport and Planning, and Victoria Police aims to remind motorists that road safety is a shared responsibility and that everyone has a role to play in keeping the roads safe.
Why is it necessary to have an awareness month?
Traditionally, motorcycle rider travel increases during the warmer and daylight savings months, with more recreational riders on the roads. The increase in rider numbers and distances travelled brings a greater risk of crashes involving motorbikes.
What is the Motorcycling Community Engagement Panel?
We’re working with a community-minded motorcycling panel to more deeply understand the key issues for riders as we tackle road trauma across Victoria. Members from a range of backgrounds are on the Motorcycling Community Engagement Panel as a representative cross-section of Victoria’s motorcycling community, who work to address, discuss and understand the issues riders face across the state.
What can riders to do protect themselves?
Motorcyclists are among our most vulnerable road users and the stakes are so much higher when mistakes happen. That’s why it is so important that drivers and riders share responsibility for keeping each other safe. Riders wearing the correct protective gear have a better chance of avoiding serious injuries. Motorcycles with safety technologies like ABS braking have a better chance of avoiding a crash altogether. Road positioning, slow down, plan your trip, etc etc
What should drivers be doing to make roads safer for riders?
It is critical that drivers are always on the lookout for motorcycles, and riders can help by ensuring they are visible to drivers through correct road positioning. Whether we are on two wheels or four, whether it’s our daily commute or a road trip, we all must slow down, look out for each other and do everything we can to be safe.
What is being done to keep motorcyclists safe?
The Victorian Government has supported a range of initiatives to improve motorcyclist safety including:
- MotoCAP – a world-first protective gear star rating program
- Introduction of the world-leading motorcycle Graduated Licencing System
- Motorcyclist safety campaigns
- Rider packs for newly licensed riders
- Safer infrastructure projects
- Motorcycling Community Engagement Panel
- Introduction of an Australian Design Rule (ADR) for mandating anti-lock braking systems
- Introduction of motorcycle lane filtering legislation.
- Motorcycle Crash Card
- On-road abrasion testing of motorcycle protective clothing
What initiatives have resulted through collaboration with MCEP?
Importantly, the panel members collaborate and work closely together using their individual experiences to provide government with a genuine and robust contribution to improving rider safety.
- The TAC’s latest protective gear campaign
- How to improve the safety of riders working in the gig economy
- The Gippsland Trail Bike Pilot Project currently planned at Neerim
- Infrastructure improvements in inner city Melbourne
- Input into the Victorian chapter of the Australasian College of Road Safety’s Motorcycle forum
- Assisting DTP and Regional Roads Victoria to identify popular motorcycle riding routes so that these can be prioritised for upgrade and maintenance
- Expansion of motorcycle access on bus lanes in metro Melbourne
- The design and development of the Motorcycle Crash Card