Have your say on motorbike safety in Queensland

[Swoop]

"A licence to ride a moped"...

Hmmm.

[mazz1972]

Back to the Queensland stats etc....

We just spent two weeks on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

At least half of the bikers we saw were wearing shorts, t shirts and shoes. Almost no bikers wore gloves, and didn't see anyone with fluoro vest. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if many of the deaths would have been avoided if the rider was wearing adequate safety gear.

Overall I was very surprised at how few people we saw riding bikes considering the size of the population.

It was awesome to visit the bike shops over there though, heaps more bikes than here, far more demo models available, and they really really really want you to go for a test ride (as they get to ride with you). This is the biggest bike shop I've ever seen www.sunstatemotorcycles.com.au

[dangerous]

Now why is that?

Because scumdog asked work, he cheated.

No.. I meant "why are bikers hitting head on" it bafles me cos the roads generaly 8m wide a bike at 1m wide x 2 means 6 bloody meters left... and besides that thers a thing called a center line.

"A licence to ride a moped"...

Hmmm.

a good idea.. even them bloody stupid day glow electric scoots get along at speed, I watch school kids on them and they have no idea, death traps waiting to happen.

[Laxi]

hate to resurect an old thread, but its interesting that since may 2008 queensland changed its lisencing rules, you can no longer get a learners 1 day, do a q-ride course the next and get your full, but so far this year there have been 17 motorcyclists killed on north queensland roads alone, when you look at where these happen (5 kuranda ranges, 7 cook highway, both near cairns) you have to realise a patern, they are tourist areas and a lot of accidents are caused by people un familiar with the roads (both bikers and cagers) I had 2 close calls on the cook highway myself with cars on the wrong side of the road, it happens a lot, there is also a culture with bikers there of "keeping up with the jonses" the kurandas are the local race track on weekends (sound familiar?) queensland still has a long way to go on motorcycle safety

[scumdog]

Having lived there I would have thought that 75 was kinda low... hell Mt Glorious takes out a 1/4 of that on its own.

Id like to know the stats on the sort of bikes that they are diying on ie: scooters, tourers, sports... in town or on the open rd.

And what sort of protective gear they wore - apart from the usual sneakers, shorts and singlet of course...

[Pixie]

I don't ride in Queersland

[CookMySock]

Apologies quoting an old post;

The biggest killer was... Lost control / run off road, 50.

Can't steer? brain locks up?

Next was Intersections with 42.

What percentage was bike fails to give way, and what percentage was the car? It's easy to say it was all the cars' fault.

Then Head ons with 41.

Can't steer? brain locks up?

First is either too fast, or rider inexperience. Second is, well, a crash - thats how crashes happen. Last is, again, too fast or rider inexperience.

The way I see it is, it's just too damn tempting for a newbie to speed on a bike. The immediate rewards are enough for many to ignore the consequences.

So what to do? Government sponsored training and trackdays for restricted license holders, larger (exorbitant) fines for speeding on learner and restricted licenses, "steer or die" messages for bikers ?

Steve