1) Because then it's answering the question asked (regarding NZ accidents) where if they had replied with 'across Australasia...' as a response then they would have been accused of using irrelevant data and not answering the question? In regard to the fatatlity per KM then you'd need to adjust for the conditions as different types of barrier are used in different circumstances, and so there would be bias-wire ropes are generally on roads with less width, and potentially more curvature than some other types of barriers. Also
2) They aren't. In some countries with very different road conditions (remember, NZ is unique which is why we can rant about tourists, but sadly means we can't then claim to apply selective decisions as being directly applicable.
3) Because having barriers saves more. The point of that response was to highlight that 200+ riders hit roadside 'features' (trees, signs, etc) where if there had been wire ropes by the side of the road they wouldn't have hit. Sure, a proportion would still have been killed as they hit the wire rope, but not all. What you can't have data on is how many motorcyclists didn't get hit head on by a car / truck / other biker when travelling on a road with a central wire rope.
And finally, whilst clearly going to get me some not great rep here, the barriers aren't just installed to save motorcyclists. In pretty much every location where the barriers are there are more cars, and often more trucks than motorcyclists. So even if it were to be accepted that the wire ropes were less effective at saving motorcyclists than other barriers, or even no barriers, the ability to install wire rope where no other barrier can be installed, or where the cost differential meant that 3-4 times the distance can be installed for the given budget, then more people are being saved. And even for the majority of people on here, a biased sample of transport users, how many KM per year do people travel on two wheels vs 4 wheels? So overall, the safety benefits for the average motorcyclists from wire ropes exceeds any disbenefit. And I speak as someone that's done 12,000km on 2 wheels in the last 5 months.
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