ACC Levies

Scary, scary, found this article about ACC levies:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10481024

Looks like they're thinking of stinging bikers even more for ACC levies due to their fuel efficiency (less ACC from petrol taxes).

Also interesting is the "The average cost of motorcycle injuries per year is $1500 per registered motorcycle." Let me guess this calculation was cost of all motorcycling injuries divided by the number of registered bikes. What about all the unregistered trailees & farm bikes/quads? What about all the other sports / hobbies where no ACC levies are paid? It goes on about other road users (forgetting cyclists & pedestrians) subsidising bike injuries - but doesn't everyone that pays ACC levies somewhere or other pay for all those non-levied activities? Don't cars sometimes hit bikes?

Too hard - just sting the bikers...

Cheesecutters again

Forgot to mention in the previous blog that the cheesecutter website (www.cheesecutter.co.nz) has the petition online. If you haven't been able to sign a copy (NZ bikers only) you can do it there. Just make sure you only sign it once or your name will not count.

If you're a bike or anyone concerned about the safety of the barriers, please sign the petition.

Cheesecutter Wire Barriers

Been a long time since I ranted so I'll ease back into with some snippets from my bike blog about the Cheesecutter Protest ride that was held in the weekend.

As a result of a horrific accident in Auckland where a young biker was
killed after crashing and hitting a Wire rope barrier the NZ biker community
(particularly on the Kiwi Biker website) has been pretty vocal in their condemning of the wire "cheesecutter" barriers and a number of protest rides have been organised.

Sunday the 11th of November was Wellington's turn and so I had to be there. Mark & Shelly were keen and I managed to talk Brian into stealing his brother's bike and bringing Linda down for the ride too.

When we got into Wellington we hooked up with the other group of riders and made our way to park up outside the parliament buildings before heading into the parliament grounds for the speeches.

First up was "Colapop" who had done a lot of the organising for the ride and he spoke very well about why we were there and what we were hoping to achieve - a top guy.

Secondly we had Marian Hobbs explaining how our petition might help us get a voice at any select committee looking into road safety etc.

Lastly, another Kiwi Biker who's name escapes me read quite a long speech but was once again very well spoken and made some very good points.

All up the organisers think that around 200 bikers turned up with some coming from the Hawkes Bay and Wanganui.

Full Blog here.

More of my pics here.

Other Kiwi Bikers' pictures here.

Ride discussion thread here.

And the Cheesecutter website here.