Comments on: VACC demands support for two-wheeled transport

By: Piper

Piper — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:24:26 +0000

Safety is a huge issue – especially for new scooter owners.

Scooters have been a part of life in European cities for decades. The government would do well to adopt some of the successful programs in place overseas.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:04:38 +0000

i used to ride a motor bike in my late teens and early 20s until a typical taxi driver nearly killed me…..so i repaired the bike, put it up for sale and never regretted it!
And Reckless1 is correct…..a small car or better still a big car on LPG is cheaper on fuel than even a medium sized bike and if you care about your welfare or have a family to drive around the bike just isn’t an option!

By: f1worldchamp

f1worldchamp — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:29:58 +0000

It’s not just the fuel economy of bikes and scooters. As Jimbo pointed out, most cars stuck in heavy traffic have just one person in them. Imagine the affect on peak hour traffic if even half of those single passenger cars were replace by bikes.
Safety would also improve if there were less cars and more bikes. Less cars to run into you and more people would be bike aware because they have to be.
The VACC are right. The answers for fuel prices and traffic congestion are here now. It’s on 2 wheels.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:40 +0000

I came back to Melbourne last Monday to hit peak hour traffic. I couldn’t help but notice that 99% of the thousands of cars around me had one person in them.
Not to mention the majority of cars were 6 cylinder+.
I don’t see how these people can complain about the price of fuel when they are bringing big fuel bill on them selves.
I think this is a great idea, bring on more scooters and bikes and the government could also give out LPG style grants to people who buy new cars 1.6L and under.
Yes the price of petrol is ridiculously high. Then do something about it!!! Sell one of the two Commodores(or the like) in your drive way and buy a Mazda 2 or a Peugeot 207.

By: Reckless1

Reckless1 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:58:25 +0000

Unfortunately the Australian mentality toward people on 2 wheels is still a murderous one. It doesn’t matter if it’s a pushbike, a scooter, a motorbike or a hog (even the crippled oldies buzzing around in their electric 4 wheel things are detested). All are considered “Hells Angels”

It will require much more than a few designated lanes to change this culture of “bikies are all dirty, will rape our daughters, and should be jailed”.

And for the record, not all motorbikes are economical. Cars that do 6.0l/100 or less consume less fuel than a 750cc motorcycle.

By: Ford Escape HYBRID - Wah Ha Boo Hoo

Ford Escape HYBRID - Wah Ha Boo Hoo — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:54:58 +0000

I gave up riding motorcycles years ago, but in 7 years on bikes I had two minor accidents one my fault and another a car drivers fault. If it wasn’t for the fact I have a passenger/s in my car most of the time i’d get on a bike. You can ride safely in car traffic but you must take considerably more care and ride 100% defensively. I’m glad the authorities are taking this seriously but they also need to educate car drivers for awareness to motorcycles.

By: realcars

realcars — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:48:22 +0000

I agree motor bikes/scooters are ok as long as they don’t have to share the roads with cars etc.

Would have to be crazy to ride a bike in the city in my opinion given the behaviour of some car/truck etc drivers.

Need their own roads but this is impossible.

By: Mmmmm

Mmmmm — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:37:40 +0000

I’ve actually been thinking about this lot lately. As the article states, there is a lot less traffic around at the moment, namely Saturday. The impact has been crazy.
The only things that have put me off looking into motorized two-wheel transport is the safety part. Coming out or being hit at speed scares me. But I don’t think this safety idea is the way to go. It would cost to much and is impractical. This article pretty much states the way of the future is on two wheels. It’s not. Research is obviously being done on future fuels for cars, which will end up starting the “car cycle” all over again.