Riders: We'll stop riding bike, rather than pay

Mike and Lorraine Couchman love their motorbikes, but the freewheeling couple will have to put the registration of one of their machines on hold as they face a
big rise in licensing fees.
The cost of licensing a motorbike over 600cc has risen, due to an ACC levy rise, from $252.69 to $426.92. Combined with registration fees and petrol tax, this means the Couchmans will pay $517.25 a year just to keep each of their two bikes on the road, up from $321.24.
Mike is co-ordinator for the Far North branch of the Ulysses motorcycle club while Lorraine is the secretary. The Maungatapere couple say today's increases will hit their members, and all motorcyclists, hard.
Mike drives his Honda ST1300 up to 40,000km a year while Lorraine does just a fraction of that on her 675cc Triumph Street Triple.
With two petrol vehicles, a diesel ute and two trailers - all having licence fee increases from today - the Couchmans "are being hit from all sides" and the Triumph will be deregistered and only  re-registered when it will be used.
Mr Couchman said motorcyclists had been unfairly targeted by the ACC levy rises. 
And he doesn't think the increases will raise the amount  the Government thinks.
"There will be more who deregister their bikes when they are not using them, such as over winter for the fair-weather rider, while those that have more than one bike will cut back," he said.
"These rises could defeat the purpose the Government is trying to achieve."
ACC said motorcycle accident claims rose  from 871 in 1998 to more than 5000 in 2008, a greater increase than in any other class of vehicle, but Mr Couchman said those figures were misleading.
He said the number of motorcycles on the road had increased dramatically since 1998, the accident figures included off-road bikes and most of the accidents were  caused by other vehicles  hitting motorcyclists or the bikers swerving to avoid  vehicles that had strayed into their path.