The Inside Line
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November 2011 MRA ACT Newsletter The Inside Line EXECUTIVE President’s Report PRESIDENT What a week the Motorcycle Awareness Week was! Thanks to all the committee Jennifer Woods and supporters and riders for the events of the week – organising and attending [email protected] – your enthusiasm is fantastic. With 93 Joe Rider sightings all week, we are 0418 215 336 delighted because that’s a huge increase in numbers of motorcycle riders looked for and seen during the week – let’s hope all those people keep on Snr VICE PRESIDENT watching for riders all the time. The talk by Liz de Rome was fantastic and Kathleen Parsons [email protected] utterly compelling that good motorcycle clothing makes a difference in a crash. See Liz talking about the Gear Study here VICE PRESIDENT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlovDQM0TnA Major Events Coordinator The BITRE (Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics) report Trish Holdsworth published In July shows that nationally there has been a 4.3% decrease in [email protected] motorcycle fatalities for the past year and an average decline of 4.3% over the past 5 years. Good news indeed but the fight continues. SECRETARY The Ride N Thrive course is 19 November – all the details are on our website if Public Officer Nicky Hussey you want to try for a last minute booking. [email protected] The MRA ACT committee recently agreed to donate $500.00 to the AMC specifically to help enable the Chair of the AMC, Shaun Lennard, to travel and be TREASURER part of a forum that has been put together by the International Road Membership Secretary Federation, to develop input into the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. Sylvia Sinfield Shaun said “This is to be known as the ‘group of experts on road safety’, and I’m [email protected] quite humbled to have been invited to join. There are around 200 people INSIDE THIS ISSUE: worldwide, and as far as I know the only other person from Australia involved at this stage is James Holgate from Vic Roads. In terms of motorcycling, I’m not Committee Reports 1 - 4 sure of any other rider representatives who are part of this. I understand that the new secretary of the International Motorcycle Manufactures Association Motorcycle Parking 5 (IMMA) has also been invited. I see my role in part being to put forward the in Civic views of motorcycle riders at the planning/policy development stage – the sort MC of NSW Rider of thing we have been hammering on about for a number of years”. 6 Risk Safety Videos We look forward to hearing from Shaun upon his return. Telegraph Article on On the local front, we are pleased to announce that Gordon White has stepped 8 Helemts into the role of Social Rides leader for the MRA ACT – you’ll remember Gordon organised the Family Rides last year, and I know he’ll have some fantastic social WRB - email to A Coe 9 -10 rides for us - see the newsletter and website for details of the November ride. WRB - S Corbell 11 And last, the Toy Run is almost here – is it really a whole year since the last one? We’ll be at Old Parliament House from 8.30 on Saturday 10th December – Aust Represents 13 decorate your bike, yourself, your pillion, and bring toys for kids of all ages, cash Riders Internationally and non-perishable good. Upcoming Events 14 Ride Safe Jen Woods 0418 215 336 Executive Committee Reports Snr Vice President’s Report PROJECT The last month was very busy. I wasn’t able to attend all the events of MANAGERS Motorcycle Awareness Week however from all the reports I’ve had the events were very successful. I was able to be at BikeFest; what a great venue this year! Peter Major Black Spot Seems there were many more people attracted to the event. Trials riding on Discovery rides display with the opportunity to ride a trials bike; Stay Upright co-ordinating the Roads and Traffic Gymkhana events - this was very popular; most of the local motorcycle focused organisations represented including Mick Owens, Canberra Motorcycle Centre, Robyn Major Ride n Thrive and Moto Garage; some of the larger motorcycle groups such as Ulysses, Canberra District Ducati Club, Canberra Riders. There was live music from Jen Woods Gravelrash, a local Canberra band and of course the Show n Shine with an Masters courses amazing array of machines on display. Communications Thanks to everyone who came along - I’m looking forward to next year being Trish Holdsworth even bigger and better! Webmaster The next major event for MRA ACT Inc is our annual Toy Run on 10 Dec 2011. And, the Capital Rally which is held the first weekend in January 2012. Details Vacancy Quarter Master are one the website and in the upcoming events in the newsletter. Some other events of interest include the Celebration of Women’s David Ault Motorcycling being held in Yackandandah on Jan 2012, email Triathlon support [email protected] for more info; Bathurst Street and Custom Motorcycle Show in Feb 2012, contact 02 9635 0761 for more details; National Ducati Clubs Rally in March Leen Parsons 2012, hosted by Canberra District Ducati Club http://www.cddc.org.au/ Editor ndcr2012registration.htm; Tas Rally hosted by North West MRA, www.mratas.org.au for more information. Submissions for the next edition sent to: Leen Parsons [email protected] or [email protected] by Thursday 1 Dec 2011 P A G E 2 Executive Committee Reports Vice President’s Report It was wonderful to see the Canberra community the various safety signs that Vic Roads have displayed supporting Motorcycle Awareness Week. From the along the route such as ‘Gloves protect hands’, ‘Boots Ride of Remembrance when we remembered those can save toes’ ‘Micro sleeps kill in seconds’… the one who had ridden on, and the launch of Motorcycle that I found quite poignant was ‘We are always Awareness Week , Liz de Rome discussing her learning’. Truer words were never spoken……. research on relevant motorcycle gear, catching up It’s on again! The 31st Annual Toy Run is being held on over a biker’s breakfast of egg and bacon rolls on the Saturday 10th December. Starting at the Museum of lawns in front of the Museum of Australian Australian Democracy with the best breakfast of Democracy (Old Parliament House), and culminating coffee and egg and bacon rolls, a mass ride along with BikeFest at Epic! What an exciting week it has Adelaide Avenue to the roundabout at Woden and been! What is even more exciting is that there were back into Garema Place. There are prizes and awards 94 reported sightings of JOE Rider! Let’s hope that we for the best dressed rider and decorated bike, the are continued to be ‘spotted’ out on the road. largest club representation, the largest corporate Thank you to all those who supported the Motorcycle group and the largest group dressed in Christmas Riders Association to make Motorcycle Awareness theme, so start planning your Christmas theme for Week the huge success it was! you and your bike! Bring along toys for all ages, cash Another exciting event in October was the Grand Prix and non-perishable foods to brighten the festive Race at Phillip Island. We were amongst the many season for those less fortunate in our community. who rode into Phillip Island to support Casey Stoner in Trish Holdsworth his quest to win the 2011 MotoGP World Championship title. Meandering through the beautiful scenery of Victoria, I became familiar with Webmasters Report There are lots of activities coming up in November and December. Check out the MRA website for information about Discovery Rides, where the next Social Ride will take us, MRA General Meetings held on the second Tuesday of the month, the upcoming HART Ride and Thrive course, and best of all, the 31st Annual Toy Run. Read about the day Pete Major and Jen Woods took Alistair Coe for a ride around Can- berra to show him first hand the problems faced by motorcycle riders in the ACT. There are also a number of interesting responses regarding the use of Wire Rope Barriers. A concern for all motorcyclists. All this, and more, on mraact.org.au. Trish Holdsworth P A G E 3 Committee Member and Triathlon Support Co-ordinator The Council of ACT Motor Clubs is again hosting Remember that “One’s Not Enough” is still on “Marques in the Park” at John Knight Park in exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery Belconnen (behind Lake Ginninderra College) on on London Cct until 20 November and contains Sunday 13 November. MRA will be present at this many unique and rare examples of (pre)historic event and invite riders and motoring enthusiasts to come along. I is another great opportunity to motorcycles belonging to private collectors and showcase the strong motorcycle fraternity we riders Peter & Ann Toet. have in the ACT, whilst also engaging with like- David Ault minded enthusiasts and public. Entry is free and you don’t have to be a MRA ACT member to join in with us. All riders groups are welcome. We are still in need of riders to assist MRA ACT in supporting Triathlon ACT’s events by providing bike & rider for their on-road events. I have the David and Jen TACT 2011/12 calendar, listing 8 events totalling promoting 25 riders across these events. If you would like to know what’s involved and the dates please MRA ACT and Motorcycle Awareness at the contact me so we can continue to assist these Canberra Home and Leisure Show activities.