Issues

MAIB Premiums

A long contended issue and, infact, the issue the Tasmanian MRA was formed in the first place.

Despite the fact that to become a licenced rider you require more training, and there are less accidents per rider, motorycle riders are still charged a higher MAIB premium.

Not only do motorcycles cause less wear and tear on the roads, they also cause less traffic congestion, but still cost more to register.

MRA Tasmania aims to keep the pressure on to keep premiums down, and single out discrepancies between cars and motorcycles without good reason.

Motorcycle Parking

The provision of free motorcycle parking within towns and cities is an important benefit of riding motorcycles. A number of councils support motorcycle parking and have provided .

Here are links to The motorcycle parking around Hobart:

http://www.hobartcity.com.au/Transport/Parking_in_Hobart/Motorcycle_Parking

 

Road Infrastructure Issues

Tasmanian road infrastructure is largely focused on car safety and because of that, motorcycle friendly developments are few and far between. We want to keep the pressure on the relevant authorities to remove road hazards that are unique to motorcyclists. Including:

  • Either banning or strictly enforing guidelines in the placement of wire rope barriers
  • Smoothing off the edges of round abouts to allow motorcyclists extra escape avenues to avoid hitting someone who pulls out in front of us.
  • Implementing more motorcyclist friendly double levelled armco railings.
  • Fixing roads properly rather than creating a sea of tar snakes.

Let us know via the contact form of black spots or issues. We can let other members know and also lobby relevant authorities to proactively fix the problem rather than reactively once someone has been hurt.

Laws and Legislation

Motorcyclist’s Rights

We want to push for road rules which allow more freedome to motorcyclists. Allowing motorcyclists to travel in bus lanes and filter through stationary or slow moving traffic would help decrease conjestion and also reduce the travel time for the rider; motorcycles currently take up the same space as a car on the road.

Demerit Points

We are against Double demerit points in its current proposed form. While we feel the demerit point scheme is already punishing enough to regular motorists, for learners and p platers it is even harder. At two demerit points for not displaying a plate, on a double point day it would be instant loss of license. As a lot of motorcyclists know, L and P plates regularly get chewed up in the wind and on the rear tyre, instantly losing your license for something that isn’t related to your driving behaviour, we feel, is not the right message to be sending out.

The lowest speeding fine now comes with 2 demerit points, can you imagine an L or P plater on the midlands highway, doing 83 in a 110 zone? Do you think this should be grounds for instant license suspension? We don’t think so.

Shifting the focus onto damage to your license rather than the actual risks of dangerous driving does nothing for road safety and the result will, at the very least, be lives being severely and unfairly impacted by disqualifications and penalties that are simply not proportionate to the offences they are assigned.