$30m set aside for road safety

Photo / Christine Cornege

The Government has ring-fenced $30 million from motorcycle levies to spend on a road safety programmes modelled on those which have achieved successful results in Victoria, Australia, over the past several years.

ACC Minister Nick Smith last year proposed annual increases in levies for large motorcycles almost triple of what they were, while moped owners were to face even higher proportional increases, but the increases were pared back following a groundswell of opposition from motorcyclists.

The increases were made to address increasing costs of ACC claims resulting from motorcycle crashes.

"Claim numbers are up from 871 in 1998 to 5044 in 2008," Dr Smith said.

"Deaths and serious injuries have increased 68 per cent over the past five years. These increases cannot be dismissed on the basis of increased motorcycle numbers as the number of claims per registered motorcycle has also increased."

As proposed late last year, the funding will involve $3m a year being spent on injury prevention programmes based on the Transport Accident Commission's programme in Victoria.

The programme has been attributed to a marked fall in serious injuries and fatalities, despite the number of motorcycles being registered increasing. The statistics in that state have gone against the grain of those in other Australian states.

Dr Smith is in Melbourne this week getting briefed on the Victorian motorcycle safety programme, and is being accompanied by representatives from ACC, the Ulysses motorcycle club, Bikers Rights Organisation of NZ, AA and Motorcycling New Zealand.

He said motorcyclists were concerned over last year's levy hikes "but I am determined to find common ground in improving safety so as to reduce the road toll and the injury costs to ACC".

- NZPA