Footpath Parking comes under threat

This photo was taken back in 1985 and shows just what Melbourne's streets would look like if motorcycles were not allowed to park on the footpath.

Melbourne leads the world and is probably the only city anywhere which allows motorcycles to legally park on the footpath.

Motorcycle riders throughout Victoria were left aghast last week when a Melbourne City Councillor took it upon himself to ban motorcycles from parking in some areas of the Melbourne CBD. This set off a chain of events of which the MRAA Board became involved:

On Wednesday night the Board received an early warning from a jounalist at the Age.

On Thursday the Board contacted local radio 3AW and ABC Radio and gave comment which was widely reported. Also that day a TV interview was done with ABC TV News.

Meanwhile, another member of the motorcycle community (not an MRAA Member) started to spread alarm within the motorcycle community alleging that a "total ban" was on the cards. Surprisingly this went against all the "inside information" possessed by the MRAA Board. As a result the Board issued a Media Release to quell what was in all cosequence - " a storm in a teacup."

The MRAA position is that no ban is required. What is required is an education campaign aimed at riders - from riders.

Footpath parking reduces traffic and parking congestion. To ban it would only create further problems.

Board Activity

There are may issues which the MRAA Board deals with on a monthly basis, which are rarely documented. Here is a list of things which various members of the Board are dealing with at present and over the last month:

Melbourne Motorcycle Expo - The MRAA stand was set up by Membership Secretary Anton Lange and Vice-President John Karmouche and manned on Sat/Sun of the Expo by members of the Board and several other MRAA volunteers.

TAC Rider's Tips Competition - Vice President John Karmouche and Ordinary Board Member Detlef Lamp spent a day at TAC HQ as part of the judging panel for this competition.

MRAA Oz GP Run - After many long months of concerted meeting with City of Casey, who host the event, Ex MRAA Vice President, supported by Membership Secretary Anton Lange and his team of MRAA Marshalls participated/supported this year's MRAA Oz GP Run. Work started for these people at 5.30am that day! Special mention must be given to volunteer Rose McCarthy who organized this year's Oz GP Run Badges and who with her husband (Ex MRAA Treasurer) DJ manned the MRAA Tent at the Oz GP Run.

VMAC - Vice President John Karmouche attended a VMAC meeting at VicRoads on Thursday 11th November. Most of what takes place at VMAC is confidential and can not be generally discussed here. Needless to say the MRAA view on motorcycle issues and TAC levy expenditure is being heard.

4Bs - Ordinary Board Member Michael Dabbs has taken on the responsibility of organizing the 4Bs.

Marshalls for Pink Ribbon Ride - MRAA will be providing marshalls for the Pink Ribbon Ride which is being held this weekend on Sunday 21st October.

Toy Run - Planning and preparation continues for this year's 30th Annual Toy Run.

Other Issues - President Dale Maggs continues to receive dozens of calls every week from riders and other organizations in relation to matters which concern riders and from organizations who want involvement from MRAA.

Great Ocean Road Motorcycle Hazards

The Great Ocean Road quite often sees Rider's come to grief, and such was the experience of one rider who brought his accident to the attention of the MRAA recently.

This set the wheels in motion, whereby the MRAA immediately raised this with its contacts at Vic Roads.


From Vic Roads came the following response:

Further to our discussion last week, please find below photographs taken by VicRoads Surveillance Manager Gary McCormack on Thursday last week.
The photos clearly show that this is a slow moving landslip site, that has been regulated in the past. It would seem that with the recent rains on the Great Ocean Road the pavement has slumped causing the ridge.
As we discussed the Great Ocean Road is inspected weekly, and the ridge in the pavement was not evident in the inspection that occurred in the week prior to the accident on 23 September 2007.
We attempted to regulate the pavement last Friday but it was too wet, all we could do was make the site safe with some premix.
I am advised that the regulation work is being carried out this morning (1 Oct 2007).
VicRoads has also been in contact with Mr Harrower and a "Notice of Incident" form has been sent to him.
If you have any questions, or more to the point if you have any other locations in south western Victoria that you are aware of that present a hazard to motorcyclists please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards
Bryan Sherritt
Manager Program Delivery
South Western Region

Please Look Twice - MCC of NSW Video Competition

From the Motorcycle Council of NSW:

The MCC of NSW would like to invite all clubs and individuals to enter the 2007 competition "30 Second video for Motorcycle Awareness Week".
{a bottle of red to the person who comes up with the best name for this event}.

Here are the only Rules:
Target audience: The general public.
Content: The message must be Motorcycle Awareness (not necessarily a safety message).
Length: The advert must be no more than 30 seconds
Video Quality: Is of secondary importance to quality of message.
Entries Close: Wednesday 17 October 2007
Submitting: Entries are to be submitted by uploading directly to our YouTube account or by email to mccnsw@gmail.com

Anyone can enter. Multiple entries are allowed.

There are no other Rules. There are no other Rules. There are no other Rules.

Peter Thoeming (the Bear), Editor of Australian Road Rider, has agreed to be Chairman of our judging panel.

More Shame File

Here is another roadside hazard just waiting to catch another unsuspecting rider.


The star pickets here should not have been left as exposed as they are seen here. It apears that at least one vehicle has already had a "near miss" by striking one of the plastic bollards errected as the only warning to oncoming traffic.

Yet another concern for motorcycle riders is "driver blindspots". The question that the MRAA poses in this instance is - just how much is this drivers rearward vision affected by the signage adhered to the windows on this vehicle.

Further Support for Signs Campaign

The City of Casey has written to the MRA supporting its aim to have motorcycle friendly signage on Victorian Roads.

The Text of the letter is as follows....


23-1
CB/ch


26 June 2007




TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

I fully support the initiative of the Motorcycle Riders Association of Australia for the replacement of non-frangible road signs and furniture at selected high crash rate black spots within the Victorian road system.

This initiative has come about as a result of the number of fatalities and serious injury crashes involving motorcyclists within Victoria, in particular on the South Gippsland Highway in the City of Casey.

The installation of ‘motorcycle friendly’ signs made of plastics and polymers would allow them to be hit or run over with very little damage to people or vehicles.

I hope this initiative by the MRAA will be given considerable consideration.

Yours faithfully
Cr Colin Butler
Mayor
City of Casey

More Shame file stuff

The Black Holes of Brunswick

The Secretary was out and about in Brunswick last weekend and took some photos of some of the nasty holes along the tram and train tracks.

These holes seem to fall through the cracks (sorry) when it comes to the responsibility for repairing them. As you can see, some of them are almost big enough to swallow our vice-president and his Harley...

Lygon St - just north of Brunswick Road

This one is of the Railway crossing in Albert St close to the Railway Hotel - if anyone is riding to the Noise Bar on the 1st of July to hear Gavin's Band play, watch out. There's actually a series of 3 large ridges there and if you are in a line of traffic you won't see them until it's too late.

Here's some more from various spots on Lygon St Brunswick between Victoria St and Brunswick Road.

And finally, one that looks as if it goes all the way to China...