Researcher criticises motorbike levy logic

Crash figures are being wrongly used to back large ACC levy increases for motorcyclists, a leading researcher says.

Lincoln University Associate Professor Charles Lamb, who heads the Australasian Institute of Motorcycle Studies project, said ACC and minister Nick Smith were basing the proposed increases on poor facts.

ACC wants to increase annual motorcycle levies by hundreds of dollars, with owners of machines over 601cc facing a massive rise from $252 to $745.

ACC said riders were 16 per cent more likely than other road users to be involved in a crash.

It paid $62 million in motorcyclists' claims last year, while receiving only $12m in levies from users.

Submissions on the levy proposal close on November 10.

Lamb said analysis of Ministry of Transport crash data showed 67 per cent of motorcycle accidents involved other drivers, and 60 per cent of those crashes were caused by the other driver.

He said ACC also wrongly loaded higher levy increases on to motorcycles with engines over 600cc.

Lamb said 43 per cent of the 420 accidents – studied last year – between motorcycles and other vehicles in Auckland and Canterbury did not have the bike's engine size on the police accident report. The most common engine size in the remaining 57 per cent of crash reports was 250cc, which lent no weight to charging higher levies on bigger machines, he said.

Smith said even if cars caused all accidents between vehicles and motorcycles, the cost of other motorcycle accidents exceeded the proposed levy.

Lamb said last year there were 1475 motorcycle accidents in New Zealand and 50 deaths.

By comparison, 36 cyclists died in 1170 bicycle accidents but the cycling community paid no levies.

Lamb said ACC figures also included injury crashes involving unregistered, offroad motorcycles and farm bikes.

- © Fairfax NZ News