Motor-cycle licensing system queried

Press, 19 June 1979, Page 27

Motor-cycle licensing system queried

Motor-cycle schools had lang 'shed and died because there was no longer any incentive for learner riders to attend them, the spokesman on road safety for the New Zealand Auto Cycle Union (Mr T. R. McCleary sen.) has said. “Young riders have nothing to gain from attending a motor-cycle school except the satisfaction of handling their machines correctly. That is not enough for today's young people,” he said. Mr McCleary advocates a return to the previous sytem when all learner riders had to carry an L plate for six months unless they had passed through an approved motor-cycle training school.

“This blackmailed riders into going to the schools. 1 am still in favour of a bit of blackmail if it can save lives,” Mr McCleary said. In Christchurch, there had been a successful school, with more than 1000 learner m o t o r-cyclists passing through it each year. Now, because the present regulations made it possible for riders to dispense with their L plates within a very short time, the school was in re”ess.

Mr McCleary is amazed at “some of the strange things which have been proposed” to reduce motor-cycle in-

juries and deaths. “The most worth-while thing the Government could do would be to provide an incentive for all learner motor-cyclists to attend training schools. Then they would be taught pro-p’-rly, and would be better riders and less accidentprone,” he said.

“When the matter was discussed by the Select Committee on road safety some years ago, I was under the impression that riders would still be required to carry an L plate for six months unless they passed through a school,” said Mr McCleary.

All a prospective rider had to do now was apply for a provisional licence. He could ride for up to eight weeks, provided he displayed an L plate. At any time during the period, he could apply for a restricted licence and, having passed that, could then dispense with the L plate. He still only had a restricted licence, but there was no possible way a traffic officer, or anyone else, could _ tell without stopping him a’tjd asking to see his As a result, some riders were ignoring the restrictions ; of their licences. The Government needed to provide the incentive for the schools to flourish, and it also needed to provide some finance so that courses

could be offered at a reasonable cost. Mr McCleary suggested between $l5 and $2O. Statistics showed that 60 per cent of all motor-cycle accidents were in the 15-19 age-group. Training was necessary and would certainly help reduce the motor-cycle road toll, Mr McCleary said.