Fireworks - Home made bomb - explosion: 4/11/05

[MacD]

I've paid ACC a large sum of money from my motorcycle registrations over the years. And this guy, he had a "Fucking about with fireworks like a dumb cunt" registration and paid a massive fee to ACC as part of it? I think not.

Like all of us, his employer pays ACC and ACC levies come out of his wages but, as that's not enough for the greedy bastards, those of us who want to risk our lives and limbs in cages and on bikes have to pay extra - if he want's to fuck about with explosives, fine (I've done so myself in the past) but he should have to ante up the moola for the consequences, not have it covered by the rest of the taxpaying community.

Fuck him.

You do realise that the ACC contribution paid by motorcyclists is significantly less than the cost to ACC for rehabilitation following motorcycle accidents. Motorcyclists claim at about 10x the rate of other road users. We are being subsidised by other contibutors to the ACC scheme, but if you want a target for complaint, I'd look at the cost of sports such as amateur rugby to the ACC system rather than people doing one-off dumb things (as it seems people on this site are always virtuous and have never done dumb stuff(TM) in their lives).

[Wolf]

You do realise that the ACC contribution paid by motorcyclists is significantly less than the cost to ACC for rehabilitation following motorcycle accidents. Motorcyclists claim at about 10x the rate of other road users. We are being subsidised by other contibutors to the ACC scheme,

That's their party line and their professed rationale for increasing our ACC levy but I note that the "expense" of rehabilitating us after accidents has never prevented them from turning a staggering profit each year. And if they were so worried about expenses, perhaps they should stop paying out to crims who injure themselves in escape attempts and stop hiring PI's to poke video cameras through people's windows.
In the proud tradition of the person responsible for the accident having to pay (increased premiums to their insurer), in most cases, the car drivers should be paying more as the majority of motorbike accidents are caused by people in cars, not the bike rider.

but if you want a target for complaint, I'd look at the cost of sports such as amateur rugby to the ACC system rather than people doing one-off dumb things

Even the amateur clubs, as others have pointed out in previous ACC threads, charge dues and to their members and pay ACC money to cover accidents.

(as it seems people on this site are always virtuous and have never done dumb stuff(TM) in their lives).

I said in my post that I have fucked about with explosives myself in the past - but I took all possible precautions and if I'd blown my fingers off then it would have been my own dumb fault and I should have paid the costs. You try and get accident and emergency insurance that covers you for dangerous pastimes - the premiums are horrific if you can get it.

So, for that matter, are the ACC levies on businesses that engage in dangerous activities. When I was self-employed, I had to declare the nature of my business so that they could assess its risk level and charge me accordingly. Fortunately I was fixing computers, not blasting stumps...

[MacD]

In the proud tradition of the person responsible for the accident having to pay (increased premiums to their insurer), in most cases, the car drivers should be paying more as the majority of motorbike accidents are caused by people in cars, not the bike rider.

The majority of injury accidents to motorcyclists are single vehicle accidents involving loss of control while corning, not collisions with cars.

Even the amateur clubs, as others have pointed out in previous ACC threads, charge dues and to their members and pay ACC money to cover accidents.

And individuals (including ones who blow their fingers off with explosives or chop them off with a circular saw while doing d-i-y) pay for non-vehicle/non-work related accidents through the Earner's Account. Non-employed people (including children and students, not just beneficiaries) are funded directly by the government (yes, from your taxes)

I said in my post that I have fucked about with explosives myself in the past - but I took all possible precautions and if I'd blown my fingers off then it would have been my own dumb fault and I should have paid the costs. You try and get accident and emergency insurance that covers you for dangerous pastimes - the premiums are horrific if you can get it.

What you are really saying is that you disagree with the no-fault insurance system operated by ACC, but you are making an example of an individual because you happen to assess their actions as stupid. I suspect a lot of the non-motorcycling public think we are pretty stupid too.

However, ACC is the system we currently have and it probably benefits the majority of motorcyclists as motorcycling is a high risk activity. A private accident insurance scheme would assess the risk to the individual and charge accordingly, just as the vehicle insurance system currently does.

Be careful of what you ask for because you might just get it!

[Kickaha]

The majority of injury accidents to motorcyclists are single vehicle accidents involving loss of control while corning, not collisions with cars.

What a complete bastard you are pointing that out, how dare you try and apportion blame to the riders when everyone knows it's the nasty cage driving scum that are the cause of all motorcyclists hurts

Funnily enough when you actually think about all the "I crashed" posts on here most of them only involve a single motorcycle