Webmaster posted on November 20, 2011 14:59
In a historic collaboration between Shaun Lennard of the Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC) and Motorcycling Australia, motorcycle rider groups were privileged to meet with the Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations General Secretary, Aline Delhaye in Melbourne this week at Motorcycling Australia’s head office.
Ms Delhaye was in Australia from Belgium for the Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference in Perth as a guest of VicRoads.
In addition to information sharing with VicRoads and the Victorian Parliamentary Road Safety Committee, she also made time to sit down with rider representatives from groups including the Australian Riders’ Division (ARD), AMC, Victorian Motorcycle Council (VMC), and the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industry (FCAI), to discuss national and international motorcycling issues.
AMC chairman, Shaun Lennard, said the meeting in Melbourne highlighted the ongoing association between the AMC and FEMA.
“We worked closely with FEMA in hosting the 1st International Motorcyclists' Conference in Brussels last year, and it has been great to have Aline here in Australia for the road safety conference and other meetings this week,” Lennard said.
In support of AMC and ARD Ms Delhaye urged rider groups, industry and road safety agencies to work in collaboration on motorcycle safety issues.
“There is an opportunity here to work with authorities on a broad range of motorcycle issues including filtering, motorcycle research, and motorcycle safety strategies.”
Ms Delhaye agreed with the Australian Riders’ Division that motorcyclists internationally share many of the same issues and only through open dialogue can solutions be found and opportunities used for the mutual benefit of both motorcyclists and authorities.
“There are many international examples of Governments and Government agencies working effectively with and taking direction from motorcycle user groups with great success.”
In a positive step, Ms Delhaye was particularly encouraged by the response of Australian government agencies and police to her presentation at the Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference in Perth.
One of the issues discussed in Perth and with VicRoads was that of filtering, Ms Delhaye reported that government agencies and police were very open to ongoing discussion regarding legitimisation of this widely accepted practice.
On the subject of alleviating congestion, Ms Delhaye quipped with a typically Belgian shrug; “if you do not have filtering, there is no point in having a motorcycle.”
On the topic of rider groups working with authorities, VMC representative Rob Salvatore commented that “the interest expressed by the authorities to work with motorcyclists is encouraging.”
In response to Ms Delhaye’s visit, the ARD has committed to supporting the AMC and further developing collaborative relationships with Vicroads and others over motorcycle-related issues. For more information on the ARD visit the MA website www.ma.org.au.