There are a number of key issues that need to be addressed to improve the attractiveness of motorcycle and scooter commuting in order to realise the key community benefits of reduced congestion and lower environmental damage. These include;
- Enforcement of Transit Lanes
- Opening up Bus Only Lanes to motorcycles and scooters
- Fairer Tolls
- Increased motorcycle & scooter specific parking
- Improved safety for motorcycling commuters
- Improved funding for motorcycle awareness
Some of the changes are simply to enforce current regulations, others will require a change in current rule, regulations or legislation. All require a modicum of common sense.
Ride To Work Incorporated will continue to work with other motorcycling advocacy groups to pursue these changes which encourage widespread motorcycling & scooter commuting for the benefit of all.
Enforcement of Transit Lanes
One of the common sense rules regarding motorcycle commuting is the concession to allow motorcycles and scooters to utilise Transit Lanes. This reflects a recognition of the congeston reducing benefits of this mode of transport.
Benefit provided to and arising from this is sadly undermined by cars and trucks that illegally utilise these lanes. For example, on any given morning on the M4 at Mays Hill (western Sydney), >95% of vehicles using the transit (T2) lane have a single passenger. This means that the transit lane travels as slow as all the other lanes due to this illegal activity, providing no benefit to those that do the right thing.
And whilst teh NSW Police are happy to enforce the Bus Only lane on the M2 (see below) by infringing motorcycles and scooters in that lane, absolutely no enforcement of transit lane integrity is applied on the M4.
This is a pattern repeated across Sydney and presumably across the entire country.
The illegal use of transit lanes has a three fold effect on the commuting motorcyclist.
- Advantages in commuting times are lost by being forced to travel at the lowest common denominator.
- Safety is compromised by either mixing with additional traffic in the transit lane or by being forced to change lanes unnecessarily.
- Any likely advantage to a motorcyclist that could convince other to commute and therefore further reduce congestion is lost.
To see speed enforcement in the relatively safe western lanes during morning peak-hour whilst single occupant cars and commercial vehicles clog up transit and bus lanes reinforces a negative stereotype that the law enforcement fraternity allegedly wants to overcome.
We support enforcement of transit lanes to provide the benefit for which they were implemented.
Opening Bus Only Lanes to Motorcycles & Scooters
Bus lanes are specially marked lanes that can only be used by buses, taxis, emergency vehicles, motorcycles and bicycles. They are located on roads which have high frequency bus services.
Bus only lanes are a special form of bus lane restricted to buses.
Why then would you create a Bus Only lane, and then make exceptions for Taxis & Hire Cars but not Motorcycles and Scooters. Only if the government agency in charge of roads in NSW had a bias against Motorcyclists and wanted to penalise that segment of commuters.
This is exactly what happens on the M2. Bicycles have a dedicated Bicycle Lane. Buses, Taxis and Hire cars can use the Bus Only lane. Motorcyclists can sit in the gridlock with single occupant cars and diesel smoke belching trucks, or utilise their superior manouverability to move between lanes, but at the same time increasing the risk of an inattentive car driver crashing in to them.
So whilst a singlebus only lane effectively sits empty, Motorcyclists and Scooters are forced to mix with cars, at a near standstill. Dare use common sense? Frequent enforcement of the no motorcycle tyranny will see you reaching into your pocket by the highway patrol officers up ahead.
It’s nonsensical and it’s outright discrimination. The RTA has done it on the harbour bridge (but reversed that under lobbying) and they continue to extend the reach of Bus Only lanes where Motorcyclists and Scooters could otherwise work in harmony with public transport to reduce congestion.
Ride To Work Incorporated intends to work with leading Motorcycle Advocacy groups to see this stupid and discrimatory behaviour reversed and the all but empty Bus Only lane on the M2, and elsewhere, opened up for use by the Motorcycle & Scooter commuter.
Fairer Tolls
Motorcyclists should pay a toll one quater of that of an automobile. This was the historical approach until the advent of the sell off of infrastructure by the NSW government, amongst others.
Motorcycle riders are happy to pay the correct rate of toll.
Cars are smaller and lighter than trucks and this is the reason given for the lower rate of toll applied to them. Why then is a similar logic not applied to motorcycles and scooters?
Prior 1992, the motorcycle toll for the Sydney Harbour Bridge was capped at one quarter of the rate for automobiles. When the Sydney Harbour Tunnel opened for traffic on 31 August 1992, the separate classification for motorcycles disappeared. This was direct result of the “Private-Public Partnership” (PPP) funding arrangements entered into by State government.
Motorcycles were not considered at all in the planning for private toll roads under “PPP” arrangements. Motorcycles do not exist in traffic counts, hence have been invisible to public policy. This affects road safety, parking and tolls. Motorcycles are currently lumped in with cars as an afterthought and required to pay as if they were a car. This failure of transport planning has been gouging motorcyclists since 1992.
Unlike NSW, the Queensland Government has recognised the benefits provided by increased motorcycle & scooter commuting, and this is reflected in the tolls charged for motorways in and around Brisbane.
Increased Motorcycle Specific Parking Areas
5 or 6 motorcycles or scooters can park in the same alloted space as a single car. For too long there has been an absence of sufficient motorcycle parking to meet demand. Worse, a dearth of motorcycle specific parking means that motorcyclists are ultimately charged the same as a car for parking fees. There is no sense in that.
Fortunately things are looking up. The City of Sydney released it’s transport plan which includes a significant improvement in the parking options open to motorcyclists. Recent media reportsd have also identified other local councils as beginning to expand parking opportunities, including Newcastle and Manly.
Unfortunately there is some way to go. Ride To Work Incorporated will continue to lobby councils and shopping centres as well as work with other advocacy groups to negotiate additional parking opportunities for motorcycle and scooter commuters.
Ideally, we’d love to see an initiative similar to Melbourne where motorcycle and scooter parking is permitted in non obstructive areas of footpaths. This is a sensible and useful approach that works well in that city. Whilst understandng that some parts of Sydney do not have sufficiently wide footpaths to allow this, there are areas that could easily reside a parked bike out of harms way. Right now, using such common sense may well result in a parking ticket by those super efficient parking rangers.
Improved Safety for Motorcyclists
There’s no shying away from it; motorcycle and scooter commuting involves higher risks to personal safety than commuting by car. This is driven by simple physics. An 1800kg car colliding with an unprotected rider on a 200kg motorcycle or 125kg scooter is no contest.
There are simple steps that each and every motorcyclist should undertake in the interest of their own self preservation.
- Always wear appropriate safety equipment
- Keep your motorcycle / scooter well maintained
- Increase your visibility
- Ride defenisvely (don’t put yourself where you really ought not be)
- Assume that others may not see you or, worse, do not care.
These are the steps we ourselves can take, however there are other issues arising which are outside our control.
Road Design & Maintenance
The methods used to repair the road surface affect motorcycle control and stability. The design of where roadside objects are placed has a major influence on the severity of injuries a motorcyclist receives in the event of a crash.
Little regard is given to motorcycle safety when roads are designed and repaired. This situation is exacerbated when insufficient funding is available to design or keep roads to an acceptable standard.
Road Design Guides currently give little consideration to what is good design in regards to motorcycle safety.
Design features of concern to motorcyclists:
- Slippery road marking paint
- Slippery steel bridge deck joints
- Crash barriers
- Guide posts that are not flexible
- Light poles, posts and signs that are placed close to the roadway
Road Defects of Concen to Motorcyclists:
- Potholes
- Cracks that are then repaired with slippery crack sealant
- Polished & slippery surfaces
- Loose gravel
Road repair practices of concern to motorcyclists:
- Steel plates without skid resistance treatment
- Rotomilling, the grooving of the road surface, without adequate warning
- Sidetracks with loose gravel surfaces
- Loose gravel when potholes are repaired
- Loose gravel when the surface is repaired using a sprayed seal
Most of these issues are described in the Austroads “Guide to Traffic Engineering Practice, Part 15 - Motorcycle Safety” and recommendations are given on how to rectify them.
Some states have Motorcycle Hazard Warning Forms that motorcyclists can use to advise road authorities of defects that are a hazard to motorcyclists. Use these forms; they work. Here is the link to the MCC of NSW Road Hazard Reporting Form.
Road Rage & Tailgating
Every year for one day, all licenced car drivers should be forced to commute by Motorcycle or Scooter. This would result in a step change in attitude towards motorcycle and scooter riders. Through either ignorance, or sometimes malice, other drivers put motorcyclists and scooter riders in life threatening situations.
Purposely squeezing into lanes or tailgating at speed are far more dangerous to the motorcycle or scooter rider. They literally are life threatening.
Ride To Work Incorporated supports higher penalties for road rage and tailgating incidents where a motorcyclist or scooter rider is involved, in order to reflect the increased risk to the road user.
If you are threatened with this behaviour, the recommended actions are;
- Defensively take yourself out of the situation.
- Do not retaliate, you’re still a vulnerable raod user if they decide to “play on”;
- Where appropriate report it to the police.
On point 3, we know that they are really unlikely to do anything. But, only through sheer numbers of complaints and your willingness to force them to record the incident will they begin to get serious. Your apathy or acceptance of that behaviourfeeds their apathy. Help them to do the right thing.