Motorcyclists won't take the proposed increases quietly. We do not believe that the ACC no fault system should target specific groups when it comes to vehicle-based levies. Job-type employment levies might be one thing, but as an organisation, ACC does not levy sports and recreation based on risk potentials. As always, the many subsidise the few. The founding ethos of ACC. But now...?
Claims that car-based levies 'subsidise' bike-based levies? Not so, when you take in the accident-caused-by stats.
Near 50% of motorcyclists injuries are not caused by the riders themselves, yet the levy hike appears based on the presumption that fault lies with the motorcyclist entirely.
The approx 100,000 registered motorcycles/mopeds do not equate to the same number of owners because of multiple ownership, and there are over 400,000 people with Class 6 licences...most of them also hold a Class 1 licence. So we 'subsidise' ourselves too. Plus, for many of us, our motorcycles are our recreation. We don't see horse riders/skateboarders/mountain climbers/cyclists being charged for their leisure pursuit.
As for bigger cc bikes being 'more dangerous'...I call bullshit to that. Size has nothing to do with rider injury. Personally, I have ridden 600cc+ bikes for some 35 years without accident or injury, and this class of machine is no different to small/er bikes in terms of injury-risk to a rider. Nor are these bigger machines necessarily faster than small bikes, when it comes to speed-related accident/injury. Legally, the fastest we can travel on any road is 100kph, and there are few bikes that can't attain this speed. In terms of potential speeds, there are 1000cc+ bikes that struggle to reach 180kph, but there are 250cc bikes that can surpass 220kph. The biggest factor is the rider him/herself when it comes to rider fault in an injury accident, and indeed it is also the rider's skill and roadcraft (or otherwise) that determines whether we are the victim of a car driver's inattention.
Either leave the system alone as no-fault, and everybody pays the same with the same entitlements, or if it's to be User Pays like insurance, then look at: -
1. Licence-based levies, with each class attracting its own amount, BUT only the highest levy applied in the case of muliple-class holders. This leads to the idea of rebates for those who have an accident/injury free record. And penalties for those who have many injury-causing accidents.
2. Mileage-based levies, rather like RUCs for diesel vehicles. Each kilometre travelled attracts x amount of risk-exposure, so levy according to mileage.
3. Fuel-based levies, paid at the pump. Fuel-hungry vehicles (like those horrible SUVs) will become less desireable, so the environment will benefit too.
4. Levy anyone who potentially has use of the road levy fund. Like cyclists. Or pedestrians.
Bookmarks