MATES Motorcycle Blog Gold Coast Gold Coast Motorcycle Safety Working Group

www.aroundthecorner.org.uk/

Interesting reading and seems like a site with good resources

The inaugural Australian Road Safety Awards have highlighted top programs around the country.

Gold Coast City Council won the Local Government Award and the Founder’s Award for Outstanding Achievement (Overall Award) for its SMART Motorcycle Training Program.

SMART is a road safety initiative that offers professional instruction for licensed motorcycle riders to help improve rider skills and knowledge of local and hinterland roads and reduce riders’ chances of crashing when faced with challenging road conditions.

Across Australia, motorcyclists are 20 times more likely to be killed in a fatal road crash than a car driver or passenger. In Queensland, fatalities from crashes involving motorcycles increased by 71.4% between 2003 and 2008 with 72 fatalities resulting from crashes involving motorcycles in 2008.

Gold Coast City Council started its Safe Motorcycle Advanced Rider Training (SMART) rider training courses in 2007, when there were 19 biker deaths in the hinterland region. While biker deaths have dropped by about a fifth around the nation over the past five years, deaths in the Gold Coast region have been more than halved with only four riders killed so far this year, one of which was due to a medical condition.

Earlier this year, Sgt Ian Birkbeck from the Gold Coast traffic branch acknowledged that since the SMART course began the fatalities in the hinterland have plummeted. ”I put it down to this program,” he says. “You can never have enough skills.”

Council senior road safety officer Karen Burton, who started the SMART course, said the $45 courses were subsidised 50 per cent by council but were open to all riders who use the region’s roads, not just ratepayers.  She said they did not knock back any riders, with some coming from northern New South Wales and the Sunshine Coast - and even a request from a Perth rider to participate. ”People come from far and wide to ride our beautiful hinterland roads,” she said.

Rather than just teaching riding skills, the courses which are held every fortnight from March to September, focus on road craft and mental approach to riding. Recent course participants Delvene Read, 32, and James Turner, 30, from the Lockyer Valley, said they learnt a lot from the course even though they have been riding for 13 years. ”I’ve learnt proper cornering techniques and feel like I’m much more in control and comfortable,” Read says, while Turner says the course highlighted the bad habits he had picked up.

The billboard campaign is kicking off in Nielsens Road, Carrara and will then be placed in various residential locations on the Gold Coast and in Logan until the end
of February 2012.

The billboard message is deliberately an emotive one – “Mummy, when’s Daddy coming home?” – RIDE SMART – STAY SAFE

Why so? Because the evidence shows us that the motorcyclists who are losing their lives in motorcycle crashes are predominantly in the age group in which they are
likely to have young children.

Hopefully, this message will pull on the heart strings of some of our fellow riders out there and they will live to see their young kids grow up.

We’d love to know what you think. Let us know!

MATES has become a finalist in the community programs awards category.
Award winners will be announced at the Awards Gala Dinner Event which is being held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney on the 23 November 2011.
The event is being hosted by Mark Berretta and will acknowledge,recognise and applaud all winners as well as finalists for their outstanding efforts in promoting road safety action.

We congratulate members of the MATES Committee for getting into the finals and will update everyone on how we go

A MOTORCYCLE rider yesterday became the second young man to die in as many days on a Gold Coast road.

Just before 2pm a Toyota Hilux ute collided with a motorcycle at the intersection of Mount Nathan and Beaudesert-Nerang Roads.

Fire crews were the first to arrive at the scene, performing CPR on the motorcycle rider until ambulance services arrived.

Paramedics then continued CPR en route to the hospital, however the 28-year-old died of his injuries.

The driver of the ute did not sustain any injuries but was treated for shock at the scene.

Police are investigating the cause of the accident and forensic officers have closed off parts of the road.

Courtesy of Gold Coast Bulletin

Please take care on the roads.  We are again coming into the warmer weather where motorcyclists will again be enjoying the great roads we have to offer in South East Queensland.  Remember to travel at a speed that is appropriate to your location and ride safely and defensively.  Our thoughts are with this young man’s family

Tragedy has again struck motor racing with celebrated Italian rider Marco Simoncelli killed in a horror crash that led to the cancellation of the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang on Sunday.

The smash occurred just minutes after the race began, when the mop-haired 24-year-old Honda rider lost control and veered across the track into the path of riders Colin Edwards and Simoncelli’s compatriot Valentino Rossi.

TeamMoto will be participating in a Rider Survivor event to be held on Sunday 16 October 2011 at Canungra (next to The Outpost Café).

Rider Survivor will be hosted by MATES (Motorcycle Awareness Training Education Safety)

Rider Survivor days are a great opportunity for motorcyclists to combine their Sunday ride with the chance to talk to police, emergency services and others about the safety issues faced when riding.

Fire and Rescue, Ambulance and Police officers will be on hand to answer questions and profile what happens in the event of a serious crash.  Attendees will also have the opportunity to see radar detection equipment, police motorcycles and a mobile car camera first hand.

Also there will be the HART (Honda Riding Simulator) to allow you to test out your riding skills and the Department of Transport and Main Roads Databike which gives you engineering feedback on rides you may have done.

Riders will be able to take a break, enjoy a sausage sizzle and check out information on hazard perception, braking distances and scanning techniques, as well as have an opportunity to have their say on road safety.

There is currently a review being undertaken in regards to the incidences of lane splitting/filtering.  In essence the study is looking at What is Lane Splitting and What is Lane Filtering.  It is commonly agreed around the world that Lane Splitting (where a rider moves between other moving traffic, often to either side of vehicle on the shoulder or between 2 line of traffic) is a dangerous practice that has resulted in numerous injuries and even fatalities.  Lane Filtering (where a rider moves between and around vehicles that are stopped and then positions themselves back in the line of traffic when it starts moving) however is legal in some countries.  At the present time there are various pieces of legislation that cover both Lane Splitting and Lane Filtering.  It is a possibility that legislation will be made to create a specific offence of Lane Splitting.  We will keep you informed.

Most of us take day to day things for granted, but the result of a crash can be devastating on our lives and the lives of those around us.

For 4 tough Aussies, what happened to them was never going to keep them from doing the things they loved.

These four guys have completed a 5,000km journey on quad bikes from Perth, across Australia and through the Simpson Desert to Birdsville.

The thing is, 3 of them are paraplegics, and one is a quadriplegic.

Craig is a quadriplegic. He was a motocross champion when he was injured at sixteen.

Anton was a budding pro golfer and became a paraplegic when he was 17 years old. He let his unlicensed 15-year-old girlfriend drive and she flipped the car on a dirt road.

Jim became a paraplegic when he overtook a car in a motorcycle race from Birdsville.

And Terry became a paraplegic at the age of 15 while riding his bike on the outskirts of country town Collie.

Now aged between 40 and 50, the guys took on the trip to visit the crash sites where they were injured as young men.

And for one of them, to get married along the way!

Their journey has been filmed, and the result - Quad Squad - is an inspiring documentary that tackles some serious social issues in a fun way. Issues such as disability, living with spinal injuries, road trauma and risk taking behaviour.

Unlike any outback road movie that you’ve seen before, Quad Squad is a heartfelt story of survival and accepting the reality of a life interrupted.

And their stories make us realise just what can happen as the result of one moment when something goes horribly wrong.

The film’s producer Sandra Cook is no stranger to road trauma either.

She created “Journey Beyond Road Trauma“, an online social network for those affected by road trauma.

With this film Sandra hopes to go even further, and create an educational tool that can be used to raise awareness of the effects of spinal injury and road trauma.

This film needs to be made because these men make the impossible possible.

The film will also be used in hospitals and rehabilitation units worldwide to inspire those currently going through rehab.

She does need our help though, specifically in raising the necessary funding for the final production phase of the film.

Donating to this project can be a tax-deductible donation or they are inviting corporate sponsors to jump on board.

After lying on the ground broken they have picked themselves up and gone on to live inspiring lives.

We want to see how far they have travelled and find out how…

If you’d like to know more, or support Sandra in this project, please contact her through the form below.

It is sad news that a long time MATES member and Committee member Christine THACKWELL passed away unexpectedly on the 18th June 2011.  At the time Chris was undertaking an advanced motorcycle training course and it is believed that she suffered a medical condition whilst she was riding.  Chris will be greatly missed and our thoughts go out to her family and friends.