Motorcycle Accidents

Did you know?

* The number of ACC claims for motorcycle injuries has increased 637% since 1999 – from 684 to 5044
* The number of claims per annum per 100 motorcycles has increased 352% from 1.2 to 5.2. Yes there is an ACC claim for 1 in 19 motorcycles.
* In 2008 1314 motorcycle drivers were injured and 48 died.
* The injury rate per 1000 motorcyclists is 14.4 and fatality rate is 0.52
* For all vehicles (incl motorcyclists) the injury rate is 4.7 and fatality rate 0.11.
* Motorcycle riders (and a small no of passengers) account for around 13% of all fatalities and 9% of injuries, despite making up just 3% of the vehicle fleet
* That of the 211 drivers killed in 2008, almost 25% or 48 were motorcycle drivers.
* In 2008 there were 1,237 motorcycle drivers hospitalised with injuries for 8,571 days and only 2,764 car drivers hospitalised for 13,795 days.
* There are 2.63 million passenger cars and vans registered in NZ and only 71,648 motorcycles (plus 25,304 mopeds).

It amazes me that the same people who support banning pies from tuckshops on the basis it may extend someone’s life by a few months in 60 years years time, don’t think incentives to reduce the number of motorcycle accidents are justified.

Now don’t get me wrong. If people want to ride motorcycles, good on them. Unlike Labour/Greens, I don’t believe in banning things just because they may be bad for you.

But if you choose to drive a motorcycle, then you should at least cover the costs of the greater accident risk. At the moment car drivers massively subsidise the cost of ACC for people who choose to drive a far more risky form of transport.

We already have the rationale with employers levies. You don’t make employers with clerical staff pay the same ACC levy as employers in dangerous occupations like construction.

Now as I have said before, the exact levies proposed by ACC are open to legitimate scrutiny and criticism. You don’t want to ping owners of multiple motorcycles (or multiple vehicles of any sort). But the principle of motorcyclists paying more than car owners is sound. Not to do so, actually subsidises motorcyclists and means we end up with more people dead and injured, because safer modes of transport were subsidising the more dangerous modes.