Welcome to the Bike Safe Newsletter 3/2009.

I would like to thank all those that attended the Australian Motorcycle Expo and came and had a chat. Over the three days I would estimate that we had several thousand people visit and ask a variety of questions. 90% of people were very receptive with the other 10% hopefully leaving with a better understanding of the QPS and its policing.
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In January I participated in the TeamMoto Advanced Rider Training Course. I went into the course with a very basic knowledge and skill set when it came to emergency braking and cornering.

During the emergency braking session with Rob and Mike I received valuable and encouraging feedback on my technique, and was quite amazed at just how fast I ended up being able to stop.

Cornering helped with my head and body positions and Johnny used comic visual analogies to make the concepts simple to grasp.
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SMART is a road safety initiative of the Gold Coast City Council that offers professional instruction for licensed motorcycle riders. The program’s overall objective is to reduce the incident of motorcycle crashes in the city and to promote safe motorcycle travel by improving rider skills and knowledge of local and hinterland roads.

The program has been running for 3 years and has won two Queensland Road Safety Awards for its contribution to road safety.

Five times 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan supports the program as its patron and wants to help motorcycle riders be the best they can be. He believes rider education and ongoing training are the keys to avoiding crashes.

The training is conducted on carefully selected public roads under the guidance of professional motorcycle instructors. With Council subsidy, one day’s tuition with HART (Honda Australia Rider Training) costs $45.
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Just an update on Bike Safe ….

I will have a stand at the Australian Motorcycle Expo at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, 19th-21st February 2010.  There will be a new Yamaha FJR1300 Police motorcycle on display as well as information in regards to Bike Safe.
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We all know that excessive speed, and also riding at a speed that is inappropriate for the conditions or our skill level, is a major contributing factor in many motorcycle crashes. But what about travelling below the speed of the surrounding traffic - is that dangerous too? Can you put yourself at risk by travelling too slowly?

Well, the short answer is a very definite “yes”.

Now before I get too far into this let me make two things very clear….
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Many riders have adequate skill when it comes to jumping on a motorcycle and turning the throttle. The difficulty comes when they are required to actually turn at slow speed. The Police Motorcycle Course dedicates a week to this technique so that riders can effectively turn a 300kg motorcycle on any angle and in all conditions.

Here are some key points.
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We are seeing more and more offenses in regards to the placement of number plates on motorcycles.

What the law says …
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Welcome to the Bike Safe Newsletter 2/2009.

I would like to thank all those that attended the first Bike Safe presentation on 25^th November 2009.  With over 30 people attending it was a great success.  I hope that even if you left with a small amount of information then it was a worthwhile experience.  My hope is that you leave the sessions with those prompts in mind and next time you are out riding they force you to think about some of the safety issues that occur.
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For those of us with little aspiring motorcycle champions the news that Honda Motorcycles and former National Motocross/Supercross Champion Lee Hogan have teamed up to launch “MotoKids” in 2010 is certainly good news.

The program is already gaining widespread coverage, and rightly so.
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Those people who have already expressed interest in participating in the BikeSafe program being organised by Sgt Bradyn Murphy would have received an email from him today with an update on the program.
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