Posted on 18-12-2011 16:03 | By sandyshore

High Vis doesn't mean anything these days, we see it everywhere & many roadworkers get run over or have near misses too. Driver education should be mandatory in college & even beyond, please stop trying to lay the blame on motorcyclists. Many car drivers are too cocooned in their 'safe' cars that they don't bother looking for other roadusers, & these same drivers are inattentive behind the wheel. If a driver can't see a motorcyclist's headlight on then they are unlikely to notice high vis clothing.

Should work both ways

Posted on 18-12-2011 17:09 | By Groj

While I fully endorse bike safety how about educating the other road users. As a bike rider I get really nervous when you tailgate me in your 4 wheel drive, I also get somewhat peeved when you fail to indicate or presume that I need less road than you. Tauranga drivers are probably the worst in the country at this. Recently on the open road a group of three of us had the last rider in line being closely tailed by a Nissan 4 wheel drive. We all kept well left in a passing lane and he remained where he was. I adhere to the speed limit and do not lane split, I have, however, on several occasions been forced to take evasive action from "blind" drivers. I remember years ago a mate of mine fitted a set of air horns to his "Nifty 50" was hilarious to watch drivers panic when they thought it was a truck they had pulled out in front of. Oh, and Mr Hunter, I actually presume drivers do NOT see me as that is more the norm. Final comment, completely against the norm I am guessing for tickets but I find younger drivers are far more considerate and aware of bikes. Biggest issue I see is my own age bracket (40ish plus), both Male and Female.

Food for thought

Posted on 18-12-2011 17:10 | By Matt

Improve rider safety by improving general awareness of all road users. It's too easy to target the biking fraternity and as part of this poorly disguised effort ping for rego and warrant offences at the same time. This week alone in the region we have had cars hitting cars, trains hitting pedestrians, cars hitting pedestrians - are cars and pedestrians being asked to wear hi vis jackets? In NZ the bike riders can't help but feel victimised, where a bike trip uses less room on the road, needs less parking space, uses less fuel and makes less pollution but pay through the nose for registration costs (over $500 p/a). In the UK they approach things differently by educating the car drivers. Copy and paste this into your browser: http://youtu.be/4CPNG2joqM4

motorist need to be aware

Posted on 18-12-2011 18:05 | By figja

Hi I ride a motor cycle I have taken various courses on riding skills defensive driving etc. My crash helmet is one of a very few in New Zealand being Fluo Yellow I have a bike jacket that is totally yellow on the back.Living in Greerton I can ride into the city and on a good day I am missed by 2 or 3 cars etc. When you stop and ask them did you see me the answer is No. Most of the time drivers of cars do not scan the road infront and both side of thier vehicle.The main problem is that a car driver has no idea what a blind spot is. I ride my bike as the road code level with the outside wheel of the vehicle in front some time when you pull up at traffic light etc you get a mouth full because all the driver can see in his mirrors is your bloody head light. So please we are penalized enough with the hugh ACC payments to be on the road.Its just not about the bike rider.

Roundabouts

Posted on 18-12-2011 21:50 | By jones

I have just come back to riding a motorcycle again. High Vis or not we are amazed at drivers ignoring us at roundabouts. They seem to think we are invisible, and Im talking about the Otumoetai/Matua one in particular, So to all you drivers out there that try and beat the bikes through the roundabout, give us some thought next time will ya. Cars hit bikes not bikes hitting cars and when did you hear the last time 2 bikes hit each other?

LIARS!

Posted on 19-12-2011 08:58 | By Persephone

This has nothing to do with safety! This campaign is aimed squarely at those motorcyclists who are refusing to pay 2, 3, 4 or more lots of ACC levies and riding with their rego on Hold. The police should be doing something useful with their time, not being tax inspectors for ACC.

Super fluro vest or just poor concentration and behaviours.

Posted on 19-12-2011 10:25 | By Zardoz

So, Mr Hunter, ACC and the LTSA would have us believe that all motorcyclist must wear fluro vest to prevent collisons with motorcars. Am I going to be impeded from going about my lawful buisness this summer because I do not wear a bright pink fluro vest when travelling on my large and not inconspicuos motorcycle? I might suggest that poor concentration on the task in hand by car drivers is just as an important issue. I witnessed a women pull out from a side road onto a quiet suburban street just yesterday without even slowing or looking with cars she was supposed to give way to coming in both directions, me being in one of those cars with my headlights on in broad daylight. How many people do not bother to slow down and be prepared to stop when approaching intersections and plough on through at 50km/h because they are in a hurry? How about those characters that drive at 80km/h on the open road and then speed up to 100km/h on every passing lane because they are ignorant of their speedometers and mirrors? Why? Because people are on auto pilot or in such a rush to attend to the life or death situations such as getting to the supermarket or dropping little Johnny off at school and are not actually thinking about what they are doing. Which is controlling 1500kgs of roadgoing projectle capable of crushing, maiming and killing any flesh and bone in their often semiguided trajectory. I gave up riding a large Harley Davidson motorcycle in Auckland city because of the shocking and blatant behaviours of car drivers there. Fluro jackets will make very little difference until poor driving as the result of nothing more than blase' and aggressive attitudes and the resulting dangerous behaviours by motorist are addressed also.

How visible?

Posted on 19-12-2011 12:24 | By doughboy

I don't think high vis vests will achieve anything. I spend a fair bit of time on the road and regularly witness the most visible vehicles on the road,Fire, ambulance and police, lights blazing sirens going, stuck behind some idiot who can't see them. Make being an idiot a jailable offence I reckon

Posted on 19-12-2011 13:51 | By CeeBee

I'm from the UK and the driving standard (although not brilliant in the UK)here it is terrible, it is probably the worst place I have been in the world for stupid driving, eg pulling over with no indication, pulling out without looking, and the list goes on. it seems the drivers here are in their metal box and nothing outside matters. The state of some of the cars on the road. take them off the road and CRUSH them. having said that everyone politely indicates to merge like a zip after they have cut you up to get infront. Make everyone who wants a licence, car or otherwise, spend a year on the road on a moped that just does 50Kph, then they may think about other traffic on the road, and ban automatics as that make drivers really lazy, even less for their pea sized brains to do. Driving licence should be the hardest documents to obtain and very easy to loose if you are crap driver. yes i drive cars, bikes, fly too Keep safe you you fellow bikers, PS my brother was a biker in london and steel toed boots were his fav. form of reminder to car drivers trying to kill him, a dented car is better than a dead biker he'd say, and they wont do it again ! (not endorsing anyone doing this, bikers have it hard as it is)

more revenue gathering

Posted on 19-12-2011 13:55 | By redwood

I ride a Harley and it blows my mind as to just how many car drivers are just so rude on the road. As for extra defensive driving courses...they are just a joke for the motorbike rider...I had to actually sit mine in a car!! and homework was done on a computer...joke..high vis has its place..especially in the dark or bad weather conditions..but is should be a personal choice only. I too think the crack down is revenue gathering... What next Mr Hunter rego and warrant checks for the elderly and disabled in their little motorised carts!! Merry Christmas

Bikes on Police Radar?

Posted on 19-12-2011 13:57 | By Bill Hazeldine

A picture saves a thousand words! The rider of the bike in the news picture died because the car driver failed to give way by turning to the right in front of him and should be charged with careless driving causing death!

Posted on 19-12-2011 17:52 | By theschizzle

A few years back, my daughter was riding her motorbike from Cherrywood to the central city. She was travelling at legal speed, with her light on, and carefully watching what was ahead and around her. I'm grateful that before we allowed her to ride on the road, she had to first learn how to fall from a bike and/or survive a collison without injury. What happened? A woman with plenty of time to talk to her passenger, but not enough time to bother looking at the road she was about to pull into, went through a give way sign just as my daughter was travelling along that stretch of road (at legal speed, with her light on). The bike's footpedal ripped the side of the car open like a giant canopener would. The brake was embedded in the side of the car. The bike was a write-off. Luckily we'd taught her to 'throw' her bike at the colliding car and 'launch' herself the other way. If we hadn't taught her that she could well be dead. As it was she travelled a long way down the road, ruining both her protective gear and her helmet. All because some woman couldn't shut up long enough to concentrate on the road. What does that tell me? That women shouldn't be allowed to speak and drive simultaneously, and that it's not the biker's fault if the driver is too busy or lazy to look properly. Jail them automatically if a driver hits a motorbike the same way you'd fine a driver automatically for rear-ending another car. Make an example or two. That will solve the problem in a hurry!

What a croc of ****

Posted on 22-12-2011 09:22 | By TheCameltoeKid

The guy killed in TePuna had a car pull out in front of him. We haven't if the Police heave charged the woman yet. Same with the guy who had his spine snapped in Tauriko earlier this year by yet another woman who thought it was ok to pull out without looking. Sure, some riders can take the blame for the way they ride but most crashes are caused by ignorant fools in cars who shouldn't be on the road. Time to make an example of them. When was the last time Sergeant Hunter issued a ticket for failure to give way. This is just another example of nanny state policing just like that **** who sits by the Wairoa marae.