Motorcyle group responds to proposals from Transport Minister Steven Joyce
Bikers Rights Organisation of New Zealand (Bronz) contacted Superwheels on the back of an article published last week.
In a column piece, it was suggested that Transport Minister Steven Joyce, under the guise of changing the right-hand turning rule, was sneaking in even more draconian rules for motorcyclists.
"The actual details of Joyce's proposed laws have not yet been released but once they are, Bronz [Auckland] will certainly be making representations variously of the official variety, or of the noisy variety, depending on the details," says Bronz Auckland president Les Mason.
At this stage, Bronz's position is as follows:
* Disappointed that the totally discredited 70km/h limit for learners is not to be removed. This limit is admitted to place learners in danger and even the MoT recognises (or did under the last government, anyway) that it should go;
* Support the Learner Approved Motorcycle proposal as being more realistic than the present 250cc limit but consider that similar restrictions should be introduced for novice car drivers;
* The present rules regarding time at each stage of the licence should not be altered until there is a fully working alternative in place.
Question the logic of requiring a person who may have 30 years of road experience to be assessed under the same regime as someone who has never driven on the road.
Object to the removal of the reduced period for over-25s because it is discriminatory - if over-25 riders should be on the same probation period as younger riders, then the same should apply to over-25 probationary car drivers. One rule for all.
* Have reservations about the introduction of a Competency-Based Driver Training and Assessment scheme based on the way in which the trial scheme was misused in some cases;
* Motorcyclists have a strong incentive to ride safely: they get hurt if they don't. Other road users too often see themselves as having little need to worry about safety and are likely to end up hurting a motorcyclist while suffering no injury themselves.
Yet the proposed changes (same old, same old) place all the restrictions and burden on the motorcyclist.
Bronz would prefer to see some rules that encourage (or enforce) a minimum degree of competency for car drivers - if they drove more safely, fewer motorcyclists would be injured.
Mr Joyce seems to be saying that it is motorcyclists' fault that car drivers knock over bike riders and that they should be better at dodging car drivers and compensating for their inability to drive.
Clearly, the more skills motorcyclists have at idiot-evasion the better, but should not the four-wheeled drivers bear some part of the responsibility?
Bronz is a non-profit incorporated society with branches throughout New Zealand and represents many hundreds of motorcyclists.
It wants to promote road safety through road-use education rather than legislation to save lives. It also wants to protect and promote the rights of motorcyclists to decide their own futures as road users. In a nutshell - let those who ride decide.
The organisation meets twice annually and has as its executive a national president and vice-president, as well as a secretary/treasurer.
Each branch selects two representatives who attend Bronz meetings with full voting rights.
While Bronz is essentially a political organisation concerned with the politics of motorcycling, it actively supports its branches to raise the perception of motorcycling and in their charitable works, namely their Annual Toy Runs and Easter Egg Runs, which raise donations for charities such as the Salvation Army.
Bronz is self-funded through its branches, receiving no government funding or assistance at all, unlike their Australian counterparts or Motorcycling New Zealand.
* For more information on Bronz, visit www.bronz.org.nz.
