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Below is some feedback from students. Advanced Riding Skills Course
ROAD SAFETY ISSUES By Peter Goodrich MRASA Road Safety Officer Advanced Rider Training Two equally important issues are involved: Road Safety and freedom of choice. They are interrelated as the most efficient method of increasing road safety is to legislate and enforce which reduces freedom of choice. Our aim should be to improve road safety without reducing freedom of choice. This is a difficult task due to the personalities involved. Some people in positions of power and influence desire to take the easy option and legislate against bike riders. This we must challenge at every opportunity. How many times do we hear somebody telling us to slow down, bikes are dangerous or hear on the news of another bike fatality, but how many of us actually listen to it'' Not many. If we did, we wouldn't be riding. Every now and then some bright spark comes up with a new law rule or brilliant idea to force us to pay attention. The truth is we already know and cringe every time we hear of one of our mates getting killed, but to continually harangue us with well-intentioned controls just makes most of us want to go the other way. Two important issues affect our riding. One is law enforcement. Although many would argue to the contrary, if the cops weren't there a lot more fatalities could be expected. The other is our own sense that tells us what is safe. We know of the dangers on the road and adjust our riding accordingly despite the opinions of other road users. Knowing what is safe is the key element for us on the road. Bikers pride themselves on being better road users than drivers. However, when pride turns to arrogance we can come Unstuck. We can trust our abilities too much and start taking risks. Small mistakes whilst riding is an indicator. Getting booked for a traffic offence is a big indicator. Questioning one's own riding style and choices is good practice. This alone should be sufficient for most experienced riders and probably is normal practice. Could be a good reason why they are still riding. Many other riders don't have the experience. What do we do, continue riding and hope all will be well or seek information and advice on improving riding techniques? I'd rather the latter. I enjoy riding incredibly. If information or training can help me enjoy the ride more, then I want it. 1 recently attended an advanced riding course conducted by Road Skills at Mallala racetrack. Apart from learning valuable skills, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The course took me from being apprehensive to "really" enjoying the Great Ocean Road. OK, it wasn't that dramatic in one short day, but it did teach skills in such a way that for weeks after, on each ride, one could improve just a little more. How important is training when it comes to safety? To give some perspective, according to the "Motorcycling Road Safely Strategy 2005-2010" just released, (www.dtei.sa.gov.au/pdf/mcsafety2.pdf) a dramatic drop in road fatalities occurred after the introduction of the RiderSafe Program in 1987: from 42 in 1987 to 14 in 1992. It seems rider training has the greatest effect on road safety than any other initiative. Caution though as the numbers are increasing: 21 in 2004 and l8 so far in 2005. If large numbers of riders attend the advanced riding course it is reasonable to assume that rider fatalities will fall proportionately. Therefore not only 1 but a number of other more experienced and knowledgeable riders recommend attending the course at the earliest opportunity. Book a place on the Road Skills web site www.roadskills.com.au or email me and I'll organise Courses through Road Skills, probably early next year. For those who wish to go further, Road Skills' Track Day Riding Skills continues where the advanced course leaves off. A number of other training courses (eg First Aid) are also in the pipeline. Check the MRASA web site periodically for news. If we want to keep the pride of being excellent road users, then just believing it isn't enough. We need to prove it. It is up to us to take control of the Situation. The first place to start is ourselves. while we do that, tackling all the other problems of road hazards (bad roads, traffic, etc) will continue through the relevant governing bodies.
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Kym - Mobile 0412 239 361
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