Vicroads Visit
We now have to pay an extra $30 per bike per year for a "safety levy". Three million dollars annually.
Many bikers have intimated that this money will become a slush fund for junkets or be spent on things that should be funded from other sources. They fear that biker money will provide benefits for everyone but bikers.
BRONZ forcibly represented these concerns to the Minister.
The Minister then suggested that representatives from BRONZ (and Ulysses, MNZ and AA) accompany him to Victoria to see first hand how the scheme works there
We took him up on the offer and went along to see the Vicroads[1] ministers and bureaucrats. They were confident their scheme was effective. "Prove it." we said. Being cynical and suspicious ourselves, we also asked some Victorian bikers how it worked for them. We can now summarise what we found:
Victoria has a TAC[2] scheme, very similar to the motor vehicle part of ACC. Like ACC , TAC pays out more in motorcycle claims than it takes in motorcycle levies. TAC don't regard that cross subsidisation as evil. They recognise that cross subsidisation occurs at many levels and that fairness and affordability are more important.
On average the Victorian total TAC levy on a bike is similar to our ACC levy in cost, at around $400 a year. Unlike ACC however, you only have to pay the TAC safety levy on one bike. The Australian officials said it wasn't hard to administer.
So, where does the Victorian levy money go? And how do bikers stop it being hi-jacked?
Victorian bikers have a group called VMCA on which biker organisations are represented . No levy money can be spent on anything unless VMCA agree. We liked that. But the list of possible projects and the priorities those projects have is set by the Minister, not the bureaucrats.
So far, about 65% of their money has been spent on infrastructure improvements. Fixing corners, providing flexible posts, putting guard strips over wire rope barriers (Yes!) . These are all things that make crashing less painful.
The reason the system has been productive is largely due to the suspicious and cynical nature of Victorian bikers. They demanded proof that the money spent was actually stopping biker injuries. Infrastructure improvements produce easily measurable results, but that emphasis is changing as the scheme matures.
The overall figures tell their own story. More bikes on the road, but deaths are down 20% , serious injuries down 32%. This comes at a time when fatalities and injuries have gone up in every other state, and New Zealand. The levy money in NZ needs to be spent wisely and motorcyling groups need to play a key role in deciding what will work best for them.
