New motorcycle graduated licencing Bill to increase minimum age to 18, impose night time driving restrictions
The age for getting a motorcycle licence will rise and all learners under the age of 25 will be restricted from riding at night in a proposed Bill to slow rider deaths.
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The minimum age for qualifying for a motorbike licence will be increased from 16 to 18 under a new wide sweeping Bill to be drafted by the State Government.
The Bill will propose significant changes to the current graduated licencing scheme and was spurred by 17 motorcyclist deaths last year.
Among the proposed changes is a night time riding restriction for learner riders under the age of 25, who will be prevented from riding between midnight and 5am unless they have an exemption.
Emergency Services Minister Corey Wingard said the proposal was designed to increase the maturity and road experience of potential riders before they even get on their bikes.
Under the proposal 17-year-olds who have already been issued a provisional car licence will be eligible for a motorcycle licence.
“We are trying to make sure that people get out on the road in a car first so they learn how to handle a vehicle and understand traffic and are prepared when they get on a motorbike,” he said.
“At the moment you can go and get a motorbike licence and you are out there and on the road without much training or experience.
“Too many people in that younger age group are over represented and have lost their lives on the state’s roads.
“We are focused on people getting experience behind the wheel of a car and learn how to operate on the roads before they go solo.”
Riders in regional South Australia will be able to apply for a learner’s licence at 16 or 17 if they need their bike to travel to work, tertiary education or training.
Elspeth McInnes lost her son Doug in a motorbike crash in February 2005. He was 18 years old.
Ms McInnes has spent 15 years campaigning for better motorbike safety and said she supported the move as a way of protecting young riders.
“Currently young people are highly reliant on their parents to get their hours in a car,” she said.
“If they get a motorcycle, they get a vehicle which is cheaper. They don’t have to do the hundred hours and they can get out there on the road at 16 without any road experience on their own, and they can die.
“This measure is aimed at young people who are highly vulnerable on the roads. This measure seeks to make them less vulnerable, particularly when they are very young and their brains are developing.”
Ms McInnes said her son had made a mistake when he was riding which led to his death.
“My son was 18 when he died,” she said.
“He bought a motorbike on a loan from the bank, he was invincible, he went out one day to a party, he drove home, he was speeding and didn’t have time to react to the car pulling out in front of him and crashed into the back of it and died instantly.
“He made a mistake, he didn’t have the skills and he died.
“There were no second chance, he was dead straight away, that is often the situation with motorcycles. On a motorcycle you are acutely vulnerable.” Last year 17 motorcyclists died on the state’s roads. 11 of those were under the age of 31.
The youngest was 16.