Road safety research and information in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland effects road safety throughout Australia.
Papers by Grzebieta and Rechnitzer are approaching 25 years old. There has been massive change in Australian roads, traffic mix/flow and, to some extent, weather. In the last two and a half decades at least four Victorian Parliamentary Inquiries have documented the lack of reliable crash/traffic data available to define road safety problems and to develop reliable countermeasures. Read the more recent papers by MRAA Executive Steve Bardsley MBA.
Sweden’s Vision Zero never had credibility with the Australian public. It is a marketing slogan for tax-payer funded researchers and bureaucrats.
“The designers of the system are ultimately responsible for the design, operation and use of the road transport system and thereby responsible for the level of safety within the entire system. … Life and health can never be exchanged for other benefits within the society. … Whenever someone is killed or seriously injured, necessary steps must be taken to avoid similar events.”
Obviously, tragically, Australian road authorities mostly exclude motorcycle & scooter riders when considering steps to avoid people being killed or seriously injured in the road transport system.
Damien Codognotto OAM
Spokesperson
Motorcycle Riders Association Australia
Papers posted on academia.edu
Crashworthy systems – a paradigm shift in road design (part II) – Raphael Grzebieta
Motorcycle and Safety Barrier Crash-Testing: Feasibility Study – Claes Tingvall
Crashworthy systems- a paradigm shift in road safety design – George Rechnitzer, Raphael Grzebieta
Drinking, Riding and Prevention: A Focus Group Study – Les R Becker
A MOTORCYCLE ROAD SAFETY REPORT ANTI-MOTORCYCLE BIAS IN VICTORIA TWO DECADES OF ANTI-MOTORCYCLE BIAS HAS FAILED MOTORCYCLE RIDER SAFETY – Steve Bardsley
CREATING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES & PERCEPTIONS OF MOTORCYCLISTS – Steve Bardsley
THE BLAME GAME CONTINUES – Steve Bardsley
THE BLAME GAME CONTINUES (Motorcycle Riders as Victims) – Steve Bardsley
European road users’ risk perception and mobility – Anja Podlesek
HIGHWAY MEDIAN IMPACTS ON WILDLIFE MOVEMENT AND MORTALITY State of the Practice Survey and Gap Analysis – Anthony P. Clevenger
JANUARY 30, 2023.
Melissa Horne MP – Minister for Roads & Road Safety.
Jacinta Allan MP – Minister for Transport & Infrastructure.
Danny O’Brien MP – Shadow Minister for Roads & Road Safety.
David Southwick MP – Shadow Minister for Transport & Infrastructure.
Dear Ministers and Shadow Ministers.
A rumour has been circulating that the Department of Transport and/or VicRoads has made a decision not to renew contracts involving the purchase, installation, maintenance and/or repair of wire rope barriers in Victoria. Is the wire rope barrier rumour correct, partly correct or false?
Another 20 year old “road safety” paper. This one “ROADSIDE CRASH BARRIER TESTING” by Bruce Corben. 2002. In 20 years Victorian roads have changed. Vehicles have changed enormously. So has the mix and amount of traffic. Even the weather has changed. Fires, floods and strong winds seem to have increased. Roads have been neglected, particularly in rural areas. Massive amounts of our taxes have been wasted on wire rope barriers. We were told $4 billion was spent on WRB between 2015 and 2020. In 2023 the Department of Transport cries poor on funds for road surface and edge maintenance.
There has been little real road safety research done since 2000. The Laverton crash tests were more to show what Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) could do than to show what barrier type was safest. The cars crashed, Toyota Echos(?), did not represent the vehicle fleet then and certainly not in 2023. The report and edited video were ready in time for an international conference. MUARC attended. Parliamentary Inquiries recommend changes and document the lack of reliable crash/traffic data. Too many recommendations have been rejected by Victoria’s self-titled Road Safety Partners. Little has been done to improve crash data. This means in casualty crashes involving registered motorcycles & scooters the licensed rider is unfairly blamed for causing the crash in far too many cases. Papers by Steve Bardsly are current and credible. Read “TWO DECADES OF ANTI-MOTORCYCLE BIAS HAS FAILED RIDER SAFETY” on academia.edu
Damien Codognotto OAM
Spokesperson
The Motorcycle Riders Association Australia
