Crack down on motorbike safety

Walla Street Motorcycles owner Ken Davis says motorbikes can be ‘lethal’ in the wrong hands.

Mike Knott

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THE deaths of 21 motorbike riders on Queensland roads this year has prompted police to introduce a motorcycle task force aimed at reducing the mounting road toll.

Bundaberg will join other districts in the North Coast police region with a specialist motorcycle squad to patrol each area during the next six months.

North Coast regional traffic co-ordinator Acting Inspector Garth Peake said the deployment of the task force across the region had been designed to increase police visibility on the roads and crack down on dangerous riding offences.

“The squad will be targeting known blackspot areas, major arterial road networks and major events in a blitz-style enforcement operation that will involve a series of deployments,” Insp Peake said.

Bundaberg police Inspector Kev Guteridge said motorcycle riders were “significantly over- represented” in road fatality figures.

“We’re out there to ensure people are complying with the law,” Insp Guteridge said.

“Ultimately, we’re there to keep people alive.”

Insp Guteridge said he believed a combination of having little protection, “incredibly high-powered machines” and a lack of experience were factors causing the greatest number of motorcyclist deaths.

“Unfortunately, we continue to see motorcyclists travelling in excess of 200kmh,” he said.

Motorbike lover Ken Davis, who owns Walla Street Motorcycles, has been riding for about 50 years and said he believed the task force would make riders safer.

“It will help for sure,” he said.

“In the wrong hands, they (motorbikes) can be lethal.”

Mr Davis said small things such as making sure you could touch the ground flat-footed, wearing high-visibility clothing, and the power of the bike could make a difference when it came to road safety.

“Experience counts for a lot,” he said.