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The Motorcycle Riders' Association of South Australia |
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| Archived Articles for 2019 | |
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Welcome to the site of the Motorcycle Riders' Association of South Australia. This page is an archive of selected articles from our home page during 2019. | |
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| 41st MRASA Toy Run - 8 December 2019 | |
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The MRASA would like to thank all the public, supporters, volunteers and members who together made the 2019 MRASA Toy Run
another great success. St Vincent de Paul were delighted with the number of riders and the amount of toys. An amazing
effort and contribution by the riders and public of South Australia to participate on such a hot day. Our thoughts
are with the children that are able to celebrate Christmas this year because of the kind donations. The aim of the community event is to celebrate motorcycling with a strong focus on assisting the children of families in need during the festive season. We have traditionally chosen St Vincent de Paul as a beneficiary of the thousands of toys and gifts which are distributed to families in need. Thanks to all who joined in the spectacle that is the Toy Run and thank you for the generous donations. | |
| Changes to Road Rules - 1 December 2019 | |
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The South Australian Government has announced amendments to the road rules. Two amendments relate to motorcyclists. These are: Motorcycle Helmet - Requirement of a motor bike helmet to be in good repair and proper working order and condition, while recognising considerations of normal wear and tear. Riders should note that cameras are only able to be fitted to a motor bike helmet when approved by the helmet's manufacturer. Lane Filtering - The pre-existing law in South Australia has been amended to introduce nationally consistent Rules relating to motor bike lane filtering. The MRASA has sought clarification on this item, and it appears there is fundamentally no change to our states existing legislation. Details on the announcement can be found on the My Licence website. Details on the helmet law can be found on the DPTI webpage. | |
| National Office of Road Safety - 1 July 2019 | |
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The Australian Government announced the establishment of the Office of Road Safety in April 2019 to
provide greater leadership and coordination of road safety efforts at a national level. Its role will
be to reduce deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads. The Office commenced on 1 July 2019 within the Surface Transport Policy Division of the Department. It will initially be focused on establishing the functions needed to perform its lead agency role while delivering priority government commitments to new and continuing road safety programs. The key objective of the Office of Road Safety is to provide national leadership in eliminating road trauma in Australia. The Office will operate as the primary policy advisor to the federal ministers for road safety on matters related to delivering safe roads, vehicles, speeds, and people, and will draw together interdisciplinary expertise and experience to learn, share and channel effort towards proven approaches to reducing national road trauma. To achieve its objective, the Office will work collaboratively with counterpart agencies across the states and territories, as well as expert agencies such as Austroads. For more information on the announcement, visit the Australian Government website. | |
| ACRS Seminar on Motorcycle Safety - 19 June 2019 | |
| The MRASA would like to thank the Australasian College of Road Safety for inviting us to present at the recent motorcycle safety seminar held in Adelaide. The presentation discussed riders attitudes towards perceiving hazards and looked at some road rules and safety mechanisms that endanger motorcyclists. Improvements in motorcycles and rider gear were compared with the level of rider training and current infrastructure. Other distinguished presenters were Matthew Baldock (CASR) and Amit Dua (DPTI). | |
| MRG Meeting - 17 May 2019 | |
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DPTI announced and held this year's first MRG meeting on the 17th May and it was well attended.
The minister was not present but sent a representative. Proceedings were conducted by Gabby O'Neill, Director of Road Safety.
The main focus for the meeting was the future of rider training and education. The meeting had a different construct to previous meetings, we were divided into pre-allocated groups to discuss and document our suggestions. The topics were then combined from all groups and voted on by all attending. This focussed discussion and outcomes approach is a common and proven technique, avoiding the often negative, unproductive and single minded views evident from 'free-for-all' rant sessions. The MRA look forward to seeing what DPTI do with stakeholder feedback. | |
| GLS Media Release - 18 April 2019 | |
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Mr Corey Wingard MP announced today the Government is considering introducing new laws to
require having a motor vehicle licence for 12 months before applying for a motorcycle learners permit. The MRASA does not
support this latest proposal. The announcement was covered in an
article
in the Advertiser newspaper today. Mr Wingard advocated that new riders would benefit in already having an exposure through on-road experience in a car. He mentioned that it follows a recommendation in the CASR report of January 2018. This is not the case. The CASR report outlines the greatest safety benefit would be from delaying the exposure of new riders, together with a greater maturation. The report recommends increasing the minimum age for a motorcycle learners permit to achieve this, and says a minimum tenure with a car licence should not be a requirement when applying for a motorcycle permit (item 2.3, page 5 of the report). The ABC ran a segment on the radio today where Mr Wingard MP, Mr Lee Odenwalder MP and Mr Ebi Lux (RSO and VP, MRASA) were guests and discussed the various aspects of this proposal. The comments from motorcycling advocacy groups and the impending private members bill from the opposition should send a clear message to the Government, that we do not agree with lifting the minimum age of a learners permit to 18. In effect, Mr Wingard is proposing a minimum age of 17, reliant on the minimum age for a motor vehicle learners permit staying at 16. But this comes at a cost to the young riders who have a limited income and rely on a motorcycle as their only mode of transport for work, study etc. We also should not forget about the rural and farming community, who need to be considered when introducing an increased minimum age for new riders. Radio station 5AA also interviewed a number of guests at 10.30am today, including Mr Ebi Lux who re-iterated his earlier comments on the ABC. Providing quality training and relevant on-road experience to new and existing riders is important. Riders need to be in the correct mind-space and have the correct attitude for the safety of themselves and other road users. | |
| GLS Discussion on Coast FM - 10 April 2019 | |
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Coast FM radio show Motochat goes to air every Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8pm with
discussion of all things motorcycling. The list of guests have included Australian and
International motorcyclists, and many representatives from the SA riding community. For the radio show on 10th April, an invitation was extended to both the Minister Corey Wingard MP and the Shadow Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services Lee Odenwalder MP. Unfortunately due to other commitments Mr Wingard was be unable to attend on this occasion. Hopefully he can attend on a future episode. For those that missed the 10th April broadcast, here is a link to download Wednesday's Motochat as a zipped MP3 file. | |
| GLS Comparison across jurisdictions - 6 April 2019 | |
Here is a comparison of the minimum ages riders can achieve the various levels of a GLS in
Australia and New Zealand. It is difficult to understand why 18 years old has been proposed
by DPTI as the minimum starting age to get a motorcycle licence. No wonder it received
only 36% support from the riding community and the public in the recent survey.
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| Proposed GLS - Opposition Media Release - 3 April 2019 | |
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As a consequence of the current Government's inaction, the opposition are being proactive
with respect to the recent motorcycle fatalities in South Australia. On Wednesday 3rd April 2019 the Shadow
Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services Lee Odenwalder MP published their
Labor media release. In the release, Labor outlines an introduction of motorcyclist protection laws. Changes include raising the minimum age for gaining a motorcycle learners licence to 17, learners under 25 will have a curfew (subject to exemptions) and prescribed licence holders to have zero drugs, alcohol and passengers. | |
| Proposed GLS - Public Consultation Report - 4 April 2019 | |
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DPTI has published a 20 page document on the outcomes from public consultation on proposed
Graduated Licensing Scheme (GLS) changes. The document provides statistics and commentary
on the feedback given to the Government via the YourSAy survey on the CASR recommendations
for a proposed motorcycle GLS. Responses from members of the Motorcycle Reference Group
(MRG) were included in the survey. A number of recommendations received broad support
while others had mixed support. While a number of recommendations formalise simple changes such as no mobile phone use while riding a motorcycle, the recommendation receiving the most discussion is the raising of the minimum age to apply for a learners permit in South Australia from 16 to 18 years of age. The MRA published a response to the GLS recommendations when these were initially raised in January 2018, which is available on our website together with history behind the presentation of the proposed GLS changes. If you want to provide feedback on the proposed GLS changes, please email the webmaster via our contacts page on the MRA website. DPTI - Outcomes from Public Consultation Announcement on the Towards Zero website CASR Motorcycle GLS Report January 2018 MRASA GLS changes page. 
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