In 2008 the steadily climbing numbers of bike riders losing their lives on the roads of South East Queensland had my attention. Seeing the fatalities and major accidents on the news, or reading their stories in the newspapers reinforced my belief that motorists were mostly at fault and the majority of bike incidents were caused by cars. Boy was I wrong.
When I heard that there was a community group that included not only government officials, but concerned riders and groups I decided to go along to the first couple of meetings to see what was up. I sat in the first meeting, knowing that we, the motor cyclists of the Gold Coast, were losing our lives on these roads and it had to stop. But it was the crash statistics that finally convinced me that the majority of the accidents involved only a single vehicle, the bike, and occurred in suburbia, close to our homes, and not on the open highway or country side.
After my initial disbelief I really felt I should be doing something to help lower the number of deaths on the road and as I had no way to do this as an individual I decided to become a member of MATES. I work with other likeminded people to come up with ways to bring out the bike safety message. We want to show our fellow bike riders that a simple change to their riding style could mean all the difference.
Stay Upright my Brothers & Sisters, Enjoy the Ride and end up back home safe and sound.
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