After the death of two riders in the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in January, organisers are planning a series of measures to make the race safer including power restrictions to limit top speeds.
Over the years the rally has reduced engine sizes to 450cc to limit the high speeds of some riders who approach 200km/h on dirt and sand.
With the deaths of Paulo Gonçalves and Edwin Straver this year, organisers are now discussing a range of new safety measures.
They plan to have separate stages for motorcycles to the rest of the categories to limit the amount of fast and open sections and therefore top speeds.
There are also plans to limit the power of bikes and/or install speed limiters.
The antiquated navigation paper rolls that require the riders to take a hand off the bars to scroll through the routes will likely be replaced by more modern electronic handsfree versions.
It might also avoid the problem this year when an error in the roadbook forced officials to amend the finishing results on a super marathon stage this year.
Two time Dakar winner Toby Price of Australia goes over the paper route map
We don’t expect they will get satnav units, but the new units will include visual and audible warnings.
Like most other international motorcycle racing, airbag jackets will also become mandatory.
Limit welcomed
Andrew Houlihan
Albury racer Andrew Houlihan who competed in the challenging 14-day 2020 Africa ECO Race from France to Senegal this year has welcomed the changes.
“I think it needs to be slowed down a little,” he says.
“There were some crazy fast sections in the Africa Eco Race as well.
“Trickier navigation would also help. We had a little bit of the electronic road book in the liaison stages at Rally Du Marcos last year and it wasn’t too bad.
“I still like the idea of the paper roadbook but pre coloured like we had at Du Marcos and at Dakar.”
The latest is the reduction of speeds on the very open Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd (aka Splityard Creek Rd) which leads to Brisbane’s Holy Grail of riding, Mt Glorious.
A Transport and Main Roads spokesperson says the speed limit was reduced this month from 100km/h too 80km/h on the 22km stretch from Wivenhoe Pocket to Lake Wivenhoe.
“This is to improve safety for road users. This reduction followed a formal speed limit review which was endorsed by the Somerset Speed Management Committee,” they say.
“Speed limits are set following detailed engineering assessments which consider a range of factors including the road’s function, physical road environment and crash history.”
Speed limit on Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd
Epidemic
The change in speed limit is part of an epidemic that has hit the mountain in recent years with seeds plummeting as much as 40km/h in some places.
It follows a meeting last August by the Somerset Regional Council’s traffic and Safety Audit Committee which suggested a review of speeds for the lower section of the Northbrook Parkway which runs toward Mt Glorious from the western side.
The current speed is 80km/h, but police suggested it be dropped to 60km/h.
One officer said the stretch of road was “advertised as the top road race for motorcycle in Australia.
“There are online statistics for racing top to bottom and they post how fast they go,” the office told the meeting.
However, Motorcycle Advocacy Group spokesman David White says “nobody has found any online post times for races to date”.
A former TMR worker says the change in speed on the Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd is a “complete disgrace”.
“There is meant to be a scientific process that TMR and councils have to go through to determine the right speed limit on a road,” he says.
“It’s patently obvious to me that this scientific rigour is being bypassed in favour of hysterical residents and police.”
Mt Glorious is glorious if the roads are in good repair!
A rider concerned that the epidemic of speed reduction would include Northbrook Parkway has started a Change.com online petition.
However, TMR says there are “currently no proposed changes to the speed limit on Northbrook Parkway”.
“We reviewed the speed limit in late 2019 and determined the existing 80km/h is appropriate,” the spokesperson says.
Speed assessment
TMR says that inNovember 2018, they released a new Queensland Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices: Part 4 Speed Controls, the first major revision of speed limit guidelines in Queensland since 2003.
“The engineering assessment methodology was revised to incorporate a safety assessment of road infrastructure,” the TMR spokesperson says.
“Key road features, such as road geometry, lane and shoulder width, and the presence of roadside hazards, have been found to significantly influence the likelihood and severity of crashes.
“These features are now specific factors in the speed limit review.
“The assessment also considers crash rates as an indicator of safety risk.
“When considering the balance between road safety and efficient travel, the recommended speed limits are the safest and most appropriate speeds for that location at the time of assessment.
“Where the safety risk is high, the review will likely recommend a lower speed limit to give road users more protection.”
Germany has voted down a Greens party suggestion to limit the speed on some autobahns with unrestricted speed limits.
It is a common misbelief that all German autobahns have open speed limits.
Some do and they will remain unrestricted despite the Greens trying to limit them to 130km/h to “reduce emissions, make the roads safer and strangely make traffic move more freely”!
While the German Government has allowed sanity to prevail, it is a shame Australia lost its open speed limits on the Northern Territory in 2006.
NT speed history
Northern Territory 130km/h sign
Despite a zero fatality rate on highways with open speed limits, the Northern Territory returned to 130km/h speed restrictions in 2016.
The NT used to have open speed limits on its highways, but in 2006, the then Labor Government imposed a 130km/h limit.
Instead of accidents reducing, they increased. In fact, 307 died in the NT over the next six years, 15 more than in the previous six years.
In 2015, the NT government decided to allow motorists to choose their own speed on a 336km section of the Stuart Highway after a successful 18-month evidence-based trial.
Despite the trial’s success and the past year’s zero road fatalities, the next government announced straight after the elections that they would remove the unlimited sections.
Traffic counter data from the previous NT government’s six-month trial showed there was only a small increase in driver speed in the trial sections, with 85% of drivers travelling 133-139km/h.
Together with the zero fatality toll on the unrestricted highways surely it proves that open speed limits work and motorists aren’t so stupid as to consistently ride or drive outside their comfort zone.
Statistics
Interestingly, Germany with its unrestricted and high-speed autobahns, has a better record on road deaths than Australia with its ever-reducing speed limits.
Check out this table that shows 2016 road deaths per 100,000 population, 100,000 motor vehicles and one billion kilometres travelled.
Country
Deaths/100k pop’n
Deaths/100k vehicles
Deaths/1 billion km
Deaths in 2016
Australia
5.6
7.4
5.2
1351
Germany
4.1
6.4
4.2
3327
Furthermore, German autobahns only account for 12% of the nation’s road death toll.
Veteran motorcycle travel guide Peter Colwell says Aussie motorists are “speedo gazers” whop spend more time looking at their speedos to avoid a speeding fine than observing the road.
NT surgeon David Read supports the restriction, but admits that the Territory has very low seat belt usage and very high drink driving rates.
Peter points out that the vocal medical fraternity are not necessarily experts on road safety.
“Some might not even drive,” he says.
“They cannot claim any more expertise in road safety than the average citizen, perhaps less, given they are among the busiest people in the land in their ‘offices’.
“They repair broken bodies but don’t tell people how to live, so why tell them how to drive? It’s not logical.”
The yo-yo speed limits of the NT over the past few years are a direct result of party politics.
“Why are speed limits political?” Peter asks.
“It’s asinine. The Newell Highway in NSW was dropped to 100km/h under Labor, but went back up to 110 when the government changed.
“That is really ridiculous when you think about it.”
Increase limits
Advocates of increasing the speed limit on some highways say motorists are safer because they focus more when they are driving faster.
In fact, the only drawback in allowing faster speed limits on certain open highways is that fuel consumption increases substantially. The optimum speed for fuel economy on most motorcycles is about 80-km/h, depending on the aero of the bike.
If you’d like to try the NT’s open speed limits before they close again, be aware that the derestricted zone is only on 336km of the Stuart Highway between Alice Springs and the Ali Curung rail overpass.
I’ve ridden and driven on unrestricted sections of German autobahns and found it quite safe.
However, it is very well constructed with banked gentle curves and a smooth surface. Also, the drivers are all well behaved with good lane discipline and extensive driver license education.
Some Australian highways are the equal of the unrestricted German autobahns.
Harley Ultra at a Stuart Highway rest stop
However, when I last rode the Stuart Highway several the surface was fairly bumpy and the big old Harley Ultra I was riding two-up started bottoming out on some of the bigger lumps.
You also had to watch out for emus running out from behind saltbushes close to the road.
Since then, the NT government has spent $4.4 million upgrading the Stuart Highway to suit higher speeds.
It also allocated $2.5 million to clear vegetation from the edge of the highway, widen curves and improve the marking and signage.
It points out that motorcyclist deaths have remained stable in major cities over the past decade, but increased in regional and remote Australia by up to almost 50% in recent years.
The report suggests “safety improvements on popular motorcycle routes” potentially funded by a levy on compulsory third-party injury insurance for riders as well as speed limits aligned with “road attributes”.
Poor-quality regional roads
Since regional roads are in such a poor state, that means speed limits would come down if Austroads had its way. (Austroads is the prime research authority advising Australian and New Zealand governments and transport authorities.)
The Austroads’ report suggests speeds be set to “minimise the effect of a crash given the current road infrastructure”.
It notes that the ability of riders to survive a crash “decreases rapidly” above 30km/h and says speed limits should be set “within these tolerance limits”.
The report points out that speeds limits in Sweden and the Netherlands are based on “harm minimisation principles in contrast to those set in Australia”.
This has been a hobby horse of Victorian Assistant Police Commissioner Doug Fryer for several years as this 2017 video shows.
Rider numbers increase
The report does acknowledge that the increase in regional motorcyclist fatalities is largely due to the increase in the riding popularity.
Rider registrations are up 5% a year while estimated kilometres travelled is up 4% a year.
It also notes that motorcyclist fatality rates per registered vehicle and per kilometre travelled actually decreased by 0.9% from 2008-10 to 2016.
However, the report points out a shift from urban deaths to regional deaths over the same period:
Regional motorcycle fatalities increased 15.4% and remote deaths were up a whopping 49.3%;
59% of motorcyclist fatalities occurred in regional and remote Australia during the four-year period 2012-2015, an increase of 53% over the previous four years;
Most regional motorcycle crashes were riders running off the road and hitting a tree, barrier, sign or other roadside hazard;
The typical motorcycle fatality or hospitalisation in regional and remote areas is a male motorcyclist who is riding recreationally during daylight hours on the weekend and is involved in a single-vehicle crash; and
Motorcycles are over-represented in crashes with animals with more than 80% involving kangaroos, but it also noted an underreporting of animal-related crashes.
Speed management
The report admits a lack of data on motorcycle crashes.
Yet it says speed limits in regional and remote areas are “high and do not necessarily reflect the risks of travelling on a given road (eg unsealed surface), or the existing infrastructure (eg unprotected trees close to the road)”.
“Speed management is necessary in the absence of adequate infrastructure,” it says.
“The primary means for speed compliance is via enforcement, which is inherently difficult in regional and remote areas due to expansive road networks and a lack of resources.”
It suggests “vehicle-based speed management technologies” which could include speed limiters.
“Any gains in speed management are beneficial,” it concludes.
Safety ‘initiatives’
Austroads reports that “initiatives” to improve motorcyclist safety have included:
Safety suggestions
Apart from a reduction in regional speed limits, the report calls for a number of other moves, particularly targeting riders:
National mass media campaigns targeting motorcyclists;
riders encouraged to ride bikes with ABS and emerging autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology that detects imminent forward collisions and reacts by automatically applying the brakes without rider intervention;
motorcycle blackspot/black programs for regional areas;
examine more graduated restrictions for novice riders including a minimum period with a car licence before motorcycle licensing as in Queensland and “licensing options” for returning riders.
The report states that AEB technology reduces low-speed rear-end crashes for passenger vehicles, but notes that it is not yet available for motorcycles.
“Once AEB technology has been improved and is readily available in Australia, its benefits should be promoted to motorcyclists in regional and remote areas who are looking to purchase a new motorcycle,” it states.
Melbourne plans to drop its CBD speed limit to 30km/h, the lowest of any capital city in Australia, following a Monash University report to council.
The new speed limit will replace the 40km/h limit introduced seven years ago between Flinders, Spring, La Trobe and Spencer streets.
The university research says the lower speed will protect vulnerable cyclists and pedestrians.
In 2017, the United Nations Global Road Safety Week called on 30klm/h speed limits in all city areas, citing World Health Organisation claims that a 5% cut in speed would result in a 30% reduction in the number of fatal road traffic crashes.
Share responsibility
AVMC chairman Peter Baulch
Victorian Motorcycle Council chairman Peter Baulch says that while road safety is a shared responsibility of all road users, “pedestrians have a responsibility to be fully aware of their surroundings at all times, without distractions”.
“However, for this 30km/h idea to take root and become law, it would require a change of both legislation and regulations, for which VicRoads says it has no current plans,” he says.
“Is this idea of 30km/h in the CBD another case of punishing the masses for the crimes of a few?
“VicPolice and the media generally report that many pedestrian incidents are the result of pedestrians being distracted by devices (phones, tablets, etc, often with earphones), which affects their ability to both see where they are walking and hear what is around them.
“A cynic may even suggest this is a plan to rid the CBD of vehicles all together.
“It’s time for pedestrians to be more disciplined and less distracted, like they were when probationary constables patrolled CBD intersections and pedestrian crossings.”
Unfriendly city
Longtime motorcycle advocate Rodney Brown says he believes Mayor Sally Capp’s strategy is to “have a city full of pushbike riders and thousands of hoops clogging up the footpaths”.
“Certainly it will not be a friendly city for motorists,” he says.
“Pushbike riders and pedestrians need to know and obey the road rules and police need to concentrate on those walking blindly while texting, talking on their mobile phones, ignoring stop-walk signals/signs and J-walkers.
“Police need to fine pushbike riders who believe a speed limit doesn’t include them. Maybe pushbikes need a speedo.
“Lowering the speed limit to 30km/h may encourage pushbike riders and pedestrians to take more risks.
“Melbourne City Council needs to run an advertising campaign encouraging pushbike riders and pedestrians to be more responsible with regards to their own safety when navigating in and around the City of Melbourne.”
The Monash report on CBD speeds follows a council review of central Melbourne transport.
Among the recommendations in the City of Melbourne’s transport strategy due for release next month is moving motorcycle parking from the footpaths to the streets.
The road safety expert who advocates wire rope barriers, lower speed limits and mandatory hi-vis vests for riders, and alcohol interlocks and electronic rider aids on bikes has been honoured with a special award.
UNSW Sydney Professor Raphael Grzebieta has been honoured with the 2019 Kenneth A Stonex award in recognition of his lifetime contribution to reducing run-off-road injuries and transport deaths worldwide.
“In other words, any changes to current designs of road barriers will have almost no effect on reducing rider fatalities and serious injuries,” he says.
Prof honoured
Professor Raphael Grzebieta
The annual Stonex award was presented by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board’s (TRB’s) Roadside Safety Design Committee AFB20.
It honoured the Prof for “identifying the leading causes of roadside fatalities and injuries and developing mitigation techniques using full-scale crash testing and computer simulation”.
WRB supporter
The Professor says he has “long advocated for installing nation-wide wire-rope barriers”.
“When wire-rope barriers are installed with rumble strips on rural roads, there is an 80 to 90% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries,” he says. Sweden halved their fatalities when they installed these barrier systems in 2000.
“Victoria has now installed 1200km of wire-rope barriers on rural roads to reduce their rising fatality count in 2016. They just recorded their lowest ever road fatality count (in 2018).
“Other states and in particular NSW are still lagging behind terribly. They are simply not investing the same scale of money to have a real effect on deaths and serious injuries.”
Victoria’s road toll in 2018 was 214, compared with 259 in 2017 and 290 in 2016 when they started installing wire-rope barriers, he says.
The Prof says the barriers have been controversial with motorcyclists because of misinformation.
They have also supported a petition by widow Jan White, whose husband, Phil, aged 60, died when his bike unavoidably hit a dead kangaroo on a 110km/h slightly sweeping bend of the Calder Highway in Victoria on November 5, 2017.
Phil and Jan White
Phil hit four support poles on the WRBs next to the road.
Prof Grzebieta helped launch a $1 million project examining motorcycle impacts into roadside barriers and how motorcyclists could be better protected in collisions, particularly with W-beam barriers.
“We disproved all of the myths promulgated by motorcyclists, providing strong support for continued installation of these lifesaving barrier systems,” he says.
“Sweden saw a 40 to 60% reduction in motorcycle fatalities.”
However, WRBs are banned in Belgium and Norway, not supported by the Netherlands government and have never been used in Germany or other European countries, except Poland, Iceland, Romania, Sweden and the UK to a lesser extent.
Speed freak
Professor Grzebieta also says the award recognises his research into the reduction of speed limits on highways, suburban and high pedestrian active streets.
“The speed limits throughout Australia, in particular NSW, WA and NT, are much too high,” he says.
“In NSW, the limit on parts of the Newell highway are 110km/h where there are no barriers installed. The speed should be reduced to the survivable limit of 80km/h unless median and roadside barriers have been installed.
“Also the speed limit in residential streets, the CBD and high pedestrian active areas should be 40km/h, preferably 30km/h, in line with best practise European countries that have half the Australian fatality rates,” he says.
“The Australian default speed limit for suburban roads is currently set at 50km/h.”
In a paper he co-wrote with his UNSW Sciences colleague Professor Jake Olivier, presented two weeks ago at the TRB’s annual meeting where Professor Grzebieta received his award, Professor Grzebieta said the reduced speed limits he proposed were commonly used by countries such as Sweden, Netherlands and the UK, which had the world’s lowest road fatality rates.
Two time Dakar winner Toby Price of Australia goes over the paper route map
Andrew Houlihan
Speed limit on Wivenhoe-Somerset Rd
Mt Glorious is glorious if the roads are in good repair!
