The smell of bacon is fresh...

[sunhuntin]

Bollocks.

From the road code:

# you can stop in the length of clear lane you can see in front of you on a road with a centre line or lanes.

As for the car - yep, it was a f-wit place to stop - but why were they stopped? Sometimes vehicles stop. In crap places. Because they've BROKEN DOWN! (Got caught by that at the top of Ngaraunga Gorge once - nearly missed it, but didn't quite. And the insurance paid...), and sometimes because the driver is just a dick.

yeh... i come across someone yesterday, stopped about a meter up a 2 lane bridge... the reason? there was a cop coming the other way. wankers. cop wasnt in a hurry, and was behind other cars anyways, no reason to stop on a freakin bridge.

[Morcs]

Lucky bastard.

Ive just paid $1,606 worth of fines for doing less wrong overall.

[Disco Dan]

Lucky bastard.

Ive just paid $1,606 worth of fines for doing less wrong overall.

hahaha!!

So when we going to hit the twisties again bro? I'll let you stare at my tail light....

[Morcs]

hahaha!!

So when we going to hit the twisties again bro? I'll let you stare at my tail light....

Twisties Im just gone.

[Jimmy B]

Is it really the case that a significant proportion of fatal single-bike crashes happen to people riding big bikes while still on their learner or restricted licence conditions?

Personally, I would not expect to see a statistically significant difference. If, say, 5% of the > 250cc bikes out there are being ridden by riders without full licences, I would simply expect to see 5% of the fatal single-vehicle crashes of > 250cc bikes involving such riders.

Was an interesting question JR and got me thinking, I found this pretty interesting:

July 1997. This Fact Sheet is based on research conducted by the Injury Prevention Research Centre, Department of Community Health, Te Puu Taki Aukati Whara, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, The University of Auckland, Private Bag 92 019, Auckland, New Zealand.

Tel. +64 9 373-7999 Fax. +64 9 373-7503 http://www.auckland.ac.nz/ipc/index.htm

Motorcyclists in New Zealand suffer a disproportionate
number of road traffic crashes.

In 1995 motorcycles accounted for 2.1% of all registered motor vehicles, but 8.9% of reported injuries and 13.3% of all fatalities from motor vehicle crashes occurred in motorcyclists (drivers and pillions). This represented 77 deaths and 1496 injured motorcyclists (Land Transport Safety Authority 1996).

Data from the 1991 National Travel Survey (Land Transport Division, New Zealand Ministry of Transport 1992) on the number of kilometres travelled by motorcyclists, showed that motorcyclists travelled only 1.4% of the kilometres driven on New Zealand roads in motorised vehicles.

The University Motorcycle Injury Study conducted in the Auckland region over a three year period from February 1993 and involving over 2000 motorcycle riders showed that:

of the drivers and pillions injured:
• 80% received an injury to the leg or foot
• 66% received an injury to the arm or shoulder
• 30% received an injury to the head
• the average length of stay in hospital was five days and one in ten of those hospitalised was admitted to an intensive care unit for an average length of stay of
four days.

of the drivers who were killed or injured:
• 94% were male
• the average age was 28 years
• the average length of time spent regularly riding a motorcycle on the road was 8 years
• about 10% had completed a motorcycle training course
• 20% reported drinking alcohol 12 hours or less before riding their motorcycle

Which factors put motorcycle riders most at risk of injury?

Age
• Motorcycle drivers aged from 15 to 19 years had the highest risk of moderate to fatal injury as a result of a motorcycle crash. They were at more than twice the risk of those aged 25 years and over.
• Risk was lowest in those aged between 35 and 50 years.
• For motorcyclists aged from 20 to 24 years the risk was intermediate between the two groups.
• There were not enough motorcyclists aged over 50 years (7% of the random sample of motorcycle riders) in this study to assess whether there was a changing pattern of risk for motorcycle riders aged over 50 years.
• 2.3% of all motorcycle injuries in this study occurred among 15 and 16 year olds increasing to 18% for those aged from 15 to 19 years.

Gender
• There was no evidence of any association between gender and risk although there were only a small number of females in the study.
• Most motorcycle injuries and fatalities involve male motorcycle drivers because most motorcycle driving is done by males. In contrast males comprised only 23% of pillion passengers.

Experience
• There is evidence of an association between increasing risk of moderate to fatal injury and increasing years of regular on-road motorcycle riding.
• Motorcyclists with more than five years of regular on-road motorcycle riding had about a 60% greater risk compared to those reporting less than two years.
• The apparent adverse effect of experience was especially evident among motorcycle drivers aged from 20 to 24 years with a 150% increase in risk for this age group.
• Motorcyclists who had ridden their current motorcycle more than 1000 kilometres had about a 40 to 50% lower risk compared to those who had ridden their motorcycle less than 1000 kilometres.
• There was no clear protective effect observed for the other measures of experience examined, including offroad motorcycle riding in the previous year, total years of off-road motorcycling, years of regular motor vehicle driving, motor vehicle driving in the previous year and familiarity with the road.

Training
• There was some limited evidence that motorcycle drivers who had attended a motorcycle training course were at a lower risk, but no clear evidence of benefit for reducing risk if a motorcyclist had completed a training course for another type of motor vehicle.

Alcohol
• Alcohol consumption was associated with an increase in risk of injury with a 50% increase in risk for riders who reported consuming any alcohol in the 12 hours before riding a motorcycle.
• While objective blood/breath alcohol measures were available for a limited proportion of motorcyclists, this information showed evidence of increasing risk of injury with increasing blood alcohol. For those riding with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) over the upper legal limit of 80mg/100ml there was a four times increase in risk and for those riding with a BAC between 30 to 79 mg/100ml there was still a doubling in risk.

cc Rating
• Motorcycle riders on a motorcycle of 250 cc or greater had double the injury risk of those on a motorcycle of 250cc or less.
• There was no evidence of any marked increase in risk with increasing cc rating above 250ccs.

Pillion passengers
• For a motorcycle rider carrying a pillion passenger there was no evidence of an increase in risk for carrying a female pillion, but a possible increase in risk if the pillion passenger was male.

License status
• Unlicensed riders (those who have never received a licence or have lost their licence) had twice the risk of licensed riders
• There was no evidence that riders with learner or restricted licences faced greater risk.

Wet roads
• There was about a 50% increase in risk if the motorcyclist was riding on a wet road.

[scracha]

of the drivers who were killed or injured:

• the average length of time spent regularly riding a motorcycle on the road was 8 years
• about 10% had completed a motorcycle training course

Can you sit the test here without doing a motorcycle training course?

[jrandom]

• Motorcyclists who had ridden their current motorcycle more than 1000 kilometres had about a 40 to 50% lower risk compared to those who had ridden their motorcycle less than 1000 kilometres.
• There was no evidence that riders with learner or restricted licences faced greater risk.
• There was about a 50% increase in risk if the motorcyclist was riding on a wet road.

So new bikes and wet roads are the two biggest single risk factors, and learner or restricted riders are not more likely to suffer a crash serious enough to be reported.



Thank you for that very informative post.

[Patrick]

So new bikes and wet roads are the two biggest single risk factors, and learner or restricted riders are not more likely to suffer a crash serious enough to be reported.



Thank you for that very informative post.

The stats were from last century, mind......

[jrandom]

The stats were from last century, mind......

Do you think a lot has changed over the last ten years?

[scumdog]

Do you think a lot has changed over the last ten years?

More bikes and cars on the roads??

And possibly a different way of gathering stats.

[Jimmy B]

More bikes and cars on the roads??

And possibly a different way of gathering stats.

Very true SD but I thought enough of it seemed to sound right. I also read through the Hurt Report and that’s 1981 California. Still interesting stuff. Do you have access to any later NZL studies?

[Jimmy B]

So new bikes and wet roads are the two biggest single risk factors, and learner or restricted riders are not more likely to suffer a crash serious enough to be reported.



Thank you for that very informative post.

It would appear so.

Cheers

JB

[Patrick]

Do you think a lot has changed over the last ten years?

Where do you start....

HP, 10kmph tolerance, offenders rights, PC Bullshit, Labour Govt, Home detention, Police promoting the "squeaky clean" image with a vengance.... just to name a few....

As for motorbikes? Faster? More of them? More "imported" drivers too, who can't see an oncoming car, let alone a bike....

[The Pastor]

I liked dooing wheelies on my gpz 1000

[Edbear]

More bikes and cars on the roads??

And possibly a different way of gathering stats.

Yup! There's ALWAYS a different way of gathering stats!