Increasing motorcycle use to avoid parking fees

Pork Hunt said :

I’m surprised that, in this electronic era, no-one’s pointed out that motorcyclists could easily be charged for parking also. Number plates can be recorded and checked without having to pay for tickets. What would be an appropriate proportion of $11 per day?

Gee, thanks for that Innovation. In my mind you are now in the same category as the people who invented speed humps, death duties and the parking meter itself.
Better get onto that rego for bicycles bandwagon ASAP…

Ah I see what you did there. You’re assuming that I condoned parking fees for bikes rather than my just noting the inevitability of another revenue stream for Government….

There are reasons other than parking revenue that motorbikes currently have free parking throughout Australia.

I’m surprised that, in this electronic era, no-one’s pointed out that motorcyclists could easily be charged for parking also. Number plates can be recorded and checked without having to pay for tickets. What would be an appropriate proportion of $11 per day?

Gee, thanks for that Innovation. In my mind you are now in the same category as the people who invented speed humps, death duties and the parking meter itself.
Better get onto that rego for bicycles bandwagon ASAP…

Roundhead89 said :

But don’t motorbikes pay parking fees as well?

Not if they’re parked in the free Motorcycle parking. They’re also allowed to use the bus lanes.

Gee, thanks for that Mr/Ms Moderator, I didn’t realise my comment re Innovation’s comment was so far off the mark as to not being printable…

Roundhead89 said :

But don’t motorbikes pay parking fees as well?

Motorcycles generally do not pay parking fees as long as they park in motorcycle specific spots. In practice these can be hard to come by.Here’s some alternatives:

*If you park a motorcycle in any car sized space under paid parking arrangements, you will probably get fined if you don’t display a ticket somewhere on your bike (where to put that ticket is a whole other kettle of fish).

*If you park your motorcycle in a multistory park with boom gates you can use your own moral compass and park in one of the unusable (for cars) painted areas, then generally perform a creative exit by “getting around” the boom gates. I cannot say that any car park proprietors would officially endorse this behaviour.

*If you park your motorcycle on the foot path you will probably get a fine for parking in a built up area (except in Melbourne).

Motorcycling and parking availability is sufficiently “niche” that a small surge in popularity i.e. on sunny warm days the parking can get maxed out and then the last few riders have to risk a fine by parking on the footpath or y’know, ‘pay for a car spot’ something that riders are generally loathe to do.

But don’t motorbikes pay parking fees as well?

watto23 said :

Actually motorcycle riders are probably safer drivers, because you do go through the extra training and made to realise on a bike if you tailgate you die. OK there are many bad bike riders, just like bad car drivers, but in general the bike riders are better drivers than car drivers overall IMO.

So is there any actual information available about this, or is it just the Kruger Dunning effect?

With a short search it appears the best way to avoid an untimely death is to be female, http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/970540FBE241B359CA257410000FBB30?opendocument

As far as car vs motorbike stats go “Australian rate of motorcyclist deaths is approximately 30 times the rate for car occupants. The corresponding rate for a serious injury is approximately 41 times” which indicates to me that opinions on the mad road skillz of motorcyclists don’t stop them from being landfill at greater rates, either motorcyclists seriously overestimate their competence or the dangers inherent in riding far overweigh skill. Or is there some skewing of data, ie that most motorcyclists are young and male hence tend to ride foolishly?

davo101 said :

Show me a motor bike equipped with air bags, seat belts and stability control then I might agree with you.

Can’t say I’ve seen a bike with a seat belt, but I know people with airbag systems, and people with bikes with ABS brakes and traction control, smarty pants.

NoImRight said :

You are confusing primary safety with secondary safety.

Motorcycles account for 4.5 per cent of all Australian passenger vehicle registrations and 0.9 per cent of vehicle-kilometres travelled. However, motorcycle riders account for approximately 15 per cent of all road crash deaths and an even higher proportion of serious injuries. Per distance travelled, the Australian rate of motorcyclist deaths is approximately 30 times the rate for car occupants. The corresponding rate for a serious injury is approximately 41 times higher.

Motor bikes are not inherently more dangerous than cars–keep thinking that if it makes you fell better. But to my engineering eye sitting on the outside of the vehicle does seem to suggest otherwise.

watto23 said :

davo101 said :

NoImRight said :

Bikes aren’t inherently more dangerous.

Show me a motor bike equipped with air bags, seat belts and stability control then I might agree with you.

Actually motorcycle riders are probably safer drivers, because you do go through the extra training and made to realise on a bike if you tailgate you die. OK there are many bad bike riders, just like bad car drivers, but in general the bike riders are better drivers than car drivers overall IMO.

I agree with your statement. As a motorcyclist and bicyclist, I take my experience with buffer zones and anticipating hazards and apply it to my driving as well. That probably makes me a safer driver than one without two-wheeled experiences.

However, this does not disprove the argument that bikes are inherently more dangerous. Taking the assumption that we are talking about personal safety not safety of other people here, then yes you are far more at risk of injury on a bike vs in a car.
A collision situation that would be a minor bingle in a car can easily transcend to a critical injury or fatality on a motorcycle, depending on the immediate surrounding environment.
The fact that your immediate surrounding environment in a motorcycle can be anything from smooth ashphalt to moving vehicles, gutters, trees, walls, whatever versus a rigid cage with airbags in a car is what makes motorcycle accidents much more risky on average than car accidents.

I would argue that you’re also more likely to find yourself in an accident situation on a motorbike if one of your wheels loses traction. You can easily go down if either the front or the back skids and then you’re at the discretion of the surrounding environment. Lose traction in a car and you generally can recover it fairly eaily or more to the point, stay upright. This holds at least when driving/riding within the speed limits and dealing with slippery surfaces like water, oil, black ice, gravel or unexpectely off-camber sections.

So yeah, there’s no doubt riding is heaps more dangerous than driving a car and you definitely should think about doing a lot of practical training before you take your trade your cage for a bike. It’s more than dollars on the line when you’re riding a bike.