After last’s week’s Government announcement on the proposed increase of ACC levies to motorcyclists, we’ve been inundated with emails and phone calls favouring urgent action – and rightly so!

The proposed hikes will see some motorcyclists’ registration costs increase almost threefold – and that’s if they only own one road bike – many motorcyclists own more than one bike, not to mention a four-wheeled vehicle too!

All motorcycles currently pay $252.69 in levies. Under the proposed changes, bikes under 125cc face only an increase of a few dollars owners of larger motorcycles will pay far heftier amounts. For example, 126-600cc motorcycles increase from $252.69 to $511.43 (102% increase); 601 plus cc increases from $252.69 to $745.77 (191% increase). Mopeds - which currently pay just $59 in ACC charges - will instead be classed with small motorcycles of 125cc or less and pay $257.58 (297% increase) in licence fees and petrol levies.

Of course there’s no mention of the amount of ACC claims lodged by riders of non-registered ATVs, trail and motocross bikes, of which there are numerous every year. But perhaps the most disconcerting statistics are the amounts paid out to other sports that have no special levies placed upon them. One source suggested that between 2007-2009 ACC paid out some $17million to motorcycle related claims, yet in the same period netball related injuries cost the corporation some $40million! If netball (a non-contact sport) costs more than twice the amount of motorcycling, imagine what the annual bill is for a contact sport like rugby! (check out http://www.acc.co.nz/about-acc/statistics/acc-injury-statistics-2008/8-motor
-vehicle-account/IS0800157 - for more stats.

Even the Motor Industry Association (MIA) is backing us bikers on this issue:

 “The fact that at least half of motorcycle accidents are not the responsibility of the rider is touched on in the consultation document but seems to be ignored when it comes to laying blame and talking about cross subsidies” said Mr Hellyar, Manager of the MIA Motorcycle Committee.

“There is also concern about the accuracy of much of the data used by government agencies. We know for example that in one region the cc rating of motorcycles involved in accidents was not recorded in nearly half of the incidents so this knee jerk response to a budget blow-out by ACC isn’t based on good data” he said.

Mr Hellyar continued, “We will be making strong representations on behalf of all motorcyclists and moped riders. The emphasis of ACC should be on taking positive measures to reduce moped and motorcycle accidents rather than just unfairly penalising New Zealanders who choose to use a fuel efficient form of transport which improves commuter efficiency and reduces pressure on the need for more urban vehicle parking spaces.”

Mr. Hellyar concluded by saying that there was no evidence in the consultation documents that any consideration had been given to the potential for linking the ACC levy structure to the motorcycle road safety suggestions made by the Minister of Transport in his recently launched “Safer Journeys” initiative and this was a matter the Association would be taking up with the Government.

So what can we do in the meantime? BRM columnist Grey Beard has some suggestions in a related article on this site, and you can also check out the following online petitions  - http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/nzbikers_vs_acc/?e

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=182775726065

Keeping your local politicians abreast of your dismay is highly recommended, so to that end we’ve got a downloadable PDF listing every politicians contact details, so please remember to email them your concerns too.

listofmembers2407097.pdf