This came through the MCC list. Tehre's about 3 days to get a reply. I have no idea what the MCC is doing involved in it But here;s a chance for all riders to do some "consulation" and be ingnored... there's two parts, "without regulatory change" meaning laws as they are, and then suggestions for law changes. The title is "role of motorcycles in the road system", which gives you an idea of where they are coming from. As I've no reall clue about where it came from or what it's about, I just present it... it's a long bugger, so those with short attention spans drop out now! For the rest of you, this is in 3 bits more or less. An intro saying pretty much "bikes are part of the road system, crashes cost a lot, we need to understand more about bikes" Then the first set of questions about changes that aren't about changing law. The consultant has spat out a set of suggestions, are there more? And which of the ones he says work for you and are most important? Then a set about changing laws. Again he's given some suggestions, add to them! grab some ideas of your own, or of his, and run with them. Think of how bikes should be used in the future, and what changes will be needed to accomodate them. This is likely the only chance most will have to get any say at all, pity the time's so short, and the language so dense. Anyone feel up to paraphrasing and re-writing to make response easier? I've divided them by ------------------ ---------------------- Post Consultation feedback follow up This document was used as a prompt sheet for a Computer Aided Consultation Process on 5 June 2004, but the prompting notes form a helpful framework for those who wish to contribute, but were not able to attend. As a result of feedback, one of the points made verbally are now included here: namely, if we consider the resource flows along a road, then they are made up of vehicle operating costs, time costs, police and administration costs, road construction and maintenance costs, and the consequences of safety failures- namely crashes. (Wigan 1982) found that these crash costs were approximately 10% of the overall road resource utilisation, and the other 90% was the transport, traffic and management resource flow. Subsequent calculations have not given significantly different results. The present consultation focuses on this 90%, not to the exclusion of the 10% or so of safety costs, but to get a better balance between the two broad areas. Consequently comments on traffic and transport issues are more valuable than those on safety, as there are far fewer opportunities to contribute for the former, but please don't hesitate to include your safety related issues as well. Your further input is warmly welcomed Marcus Wigan http://go/to/mwigan Reference Wigan, M. R. (1982). Accident valuation and indexation options. 11th Australian Road Research Board Conference, Melbourne, Victoria, Australian Road Research Board, Vermont, Victoria. Volume 5 pp250-271 Valuation of accidents has normally been done by tracing the details of identifiable costs occurring as a result of an accident, and thereby obtaining a (minimum) cost value. The methods and values used in Australia from 1969 are reviewed and the distributions of costs over lost output, medical and property damage headings examined for several other countries besides. The (minimum) costs so obtained are of the same order of magnitude as construction and maintenance costs over the same roads. Both are far smaller than vehicle operating and user travel time costs. A change from 'net loss of production' to 'gross consumption foregone' is advocated. Examination of distributional factors emphasises that there is a clear link between the valuation of lost consumption and of travel time, with special reference to those not at present in employment. The application of ex post costs such as those in present use towards evaluating future losses, is questioned. In order to reduce the distortions introduced by this and other aspects of ex post methodologies, a willingness to pay (ex ante) approach is advocated for an early trial ------------ Introduction - this is a research project, not for any targeted purpose other than a better understanding, or the role/s of motorcycles and scooters in/on the Victorian Road system The notes and ideas posed here have been written by the consultant simply to initiate discussion, and does not form part of any program or intent on the part of VicRoads) o what sorts of futures do you see for motorcycling in Victoria? Who will be riding what? What kinds of people in what kinds of households? And riding where for what purpose/s/ and when? What are the current problems for motorcyclists? What might be done about it? Prompts: - assume (initially) that the regulatory regime remains as it is now - if they were to change, what changes would be valuable from a motorcyclist perspective? Prompts to tease out more views after general debate What are examples of these? - traffic engineering options, intelligent transport systems, more active consultation with riders, employment of expert motorcycle/scooterist within VicRoads (equivalent to bicycle manager), informed support for Councils, local subdevelopment criteria, parking regulations and provision, road line of sight, provision for slip lanes on tollways perhaps, better information for motorcyclists, better training of traffic engineers and planners, and different treatments of runoff road areas are immediate thoughts- others please? Transport: the overall view of motorcycles as part of the transport system is not well informed professionally as the tools and data and training are either totally missing or extremely scarce, and is in most cases is generally neutral to negative: but what roles can you see them playing in future? Motorcycles include scooters and mopeds in this definition as well as on/off road and recreational registration machines Safety and Technology (safety-ITS), road treatments, signage, alignment guidelines, active speed warning systems, handling of the warnings of motorcycle proximity by ITS in other vehicles as well as mc, active information on speed environment, more external feedback on speeds of travel to allow speedometer corrections and allow more time for m/c to watch out for traffic head up displays, active alerts in other vehicles when mc sees they are not responding, crash dynamics recorders on the m/c, road surface warnings (frost/wet, on vehicle warning of poor conditions immediately ahead), active cats eyes with transponders for road surface info, memory of vehicle coming the other way? Live messages of warnings of blind corners or hazards ahead? Vehicle active ID for guidance (and enforcement and tolling), special training ? for whom? Infrastructure: have we the appropriate road structure and furniture standards and maintenance processes for motorcycles and scooters? ---------------------- Now let us remove the current regulatory constraints: First licensing age: what changes? why? Then differential access to different types of machines (examples include 'Lam'-Learner friendly motorcycles) Specialised training for scooters/mopeds, young riders? (would probably need Personal and professional Liability and Indemnity support) Changes in insurance from vehicle to PERSON (allowing wider use of one persons owned vehicles without the incentive to use all those registeredŠ Then different ways of accessing road space, advanced stoplines, lane access (bus, transit, cycle, emergency) under what conditions> Now change the transport environment - smart cards allow parking/pt and tolling in one card making things easier for mixed modes- what would this do for mc? General discussion of things that would help m/c on the road systems (NB include off road/recreational registration areas) ================== Zebee
