Important Survey for you all.

From the NSW Motorcycle Alliance.

The NSW Centre For Road Safety is the body that basically makes the road
rules in NSW. They have asked me to pass on to our members, and the
general riding public, a link to the following survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ARRBGroup_motorcycleriding

They've
asked me not to tell you what the survey is about specifically before
you do it, but it is about a very topical issue that we are still
working on with them regarding a law change. It will become obvious half
way through the survey what that issue is.

It should also be obvious what your totally honest answers should be.

It
will also be helpful if your POS driving friends and family could also
be asked to complete the survey after being reminded about what their
totally honest answers should be.

The survey should take you around 5 minutes.

Thank you

Nup, page took longer than 15 seconds to load. Tried twice. I gave up.

I'm an impatient old prick.

Sorry.

Took me one click to complete .Are you a resident of N.S W --- No. Then told to go away .

Well question 18 and 20 can only be answered faithfully by riders.
We're often thought of as unsafe or risk takers by drivers.
These two questions at least are loaded against riders in my opinion.

I didn't complete the survey but wanted to see what was asked.

I participated as (a) I own a NSW property that I pay rates on, and (b) I have one bike and one car registered in NSW at that property's address. There is definitely a Sydney/CBD centric attitude in the survey but I tried to make the points:
- Big invariably kills small on the roads, B-doubles kill 4WD, 4WD kills cars, cars kill motorcyclists, motocyclist kills cyclist, everything kills pedestians (it's a food chain, everything above you is a threat to your safety)
- Car divers have plenty of distractions (even the law recognises the mobile phone threat). But, as my wife found out the hard way the other day as a passenger in her friend's car, a GPS can distract a driver just as much - and these devices are now common but with no law around them. Other distractions include: car radio, make-up mirror, having coffee on the run (whilst driving), using the two-way in the fourbie, adjusting the iPod (my daughter lost control of her car doing this writing off the car but thankfully not hitting anyone else), texting whilst driving (I am still seeing this daily despite the law).
- Filtering is not about getting ahead, it's about maximising your chances of staying alive.

Yes, I am a car driver but I know what I've seem in 38 years of driving and riding. Car drivers are in the majority but they cannot be trusted to be concentrating on the sole job of driving the vehicle.

I probably didn't get heard as I said I was in a rural location. But at least I had a chance to make a point.

PS: Feel free to copy and paste any part of this into the survey.

The optimist in me says hurrah, for the trial.

The pessimist in me says yeah, right. If they were serious about it, it would have been a statewide trial, like it was withe 50kph in urban zones. That was "trialled" then left in place, such was the success of the trial.

I completed the survey, and even though I obviously biased my answers in favour of filtering, it is obviously designed with a bias against filtering and is very carcentric.

The problem with this trial is that it only included a few streets in the CBD where motorcycles filter regardless of what the law recommends (especially couriers). So other road users are unlikely to notice a "reduction in traffic congestion".

I filter all the time but I've never really bought into the argument that it is safer. Generally, pulling up behind the car in front is a better option than threading between gaps but I do it because it saves time. I also find it keeps me sharp and alert in heavy traffic and makes the morning commute a bit more enjoyable.

But trying to argue that filtering should be allowed because it reduces congestion and is safer for the majority of road users is total bullshit.

Well once again NSW lives up to its name. New Castle, Sydney, Wollongong ! The rest of us can get stuffed.

No, NSW Just means Sydney.
Regards
Paul

Would it have been naughty to complete the survey?
Will they post a chocolate fish to me?

Done it... well at least they've asked some questions. Don't know it if will change things though..

Government surveys (especially in relation to motorcyclists) are always a load of hogwash, it's a way for them to look good in the eyes of the public and probably as usual, they have already made their minds up about what they aren't going to do.
Regards
Paul

Making or amending road laws (any laws actually) based on popular public opinion is a dangerous place for all of us