First of all, if you don't live in New Zealand this little rant isn't going to be of much interest to you, so there is your warning.

For all you kiwis who have been living under a rock the National Government  in NZ have been lumbered with an ACC department (thats Accident Compensation Corporation, essentially govt supported personal injury/accident medical cover for our non NZ readers that didn't run after the first sentence) that is essentially buggered. Over the past 9 year term our ever intelligent Labour govt managed to drive the ACC into a huge deficit that the current team have to repair. 

The problem arises when our Motorcycle Licencing fees are going to increase by up to 300 or more percent. Now the argument goes, and assuming the stats are correct, accurately so that the ACC fees collected from Motorcyclists doesn't come even close to covering the money paid out to patch us up when we slide along the tarmac into a tree. The figures quoted are along the lines of 62million in human repairs vs 12million in current ACC levies recieved from said two wheeled warriors.

There are a couple of details that immediately spring to mind, first of all, how many of these 62 million worth of injuries are attributed to on road bikes vs say farm and trail/motocross accidents? The govt says that car drivers are subsidising us crazy motorcycle types and that we should pay our own way. I don't actually have a huge problem with that but the fact is the new system simply doesn't fairly spread the load, a person commuting on a 650cc commuter machine will now pay nearly $1000 per year just for registration.

If you own more than one bike well just multiply that, but surely we can only ride and get broken on one bike at any one time?

More importantly in my eyes is the short sightedness of the proposed legislation, sure it may cost other motorists a smidge more to upkeep the medical care of us riders, however what will the effect, big picture time, be if all the people currently commuting daily on bikes and mopeds (going up from $60 per year to $250 odd) decide that the price of bike ownership is just too high and take to their cars in droves. It will cause gridlock, impossible strain on parking in the city etc, etc. Surely this is worth a few dollars extra to other road users... and the economy in general. Not to mention the (ridiculous?) measures being taken to be more "green" surely people on bikes and scooters should be encouraged to continue, not punished for making a choice that benefits the country as a whole?

Not to mention the fact that the price by cc rating system is ridiculous, there are plenty 250cc 2stroke machines that are much faster (hence, presumably according to ACC more dangerous) than many 650cc comuter bikes, or big cruisers. The system is fataly floored, we are essentially just an easy target for the ACC. I can only assume that they have picked on Motorcyclists because regular car drivers couldn't care less about us and the big stink that we were sure to raise would distract from the other rises, along with distracting from the problems with the ACC scheme as a whole.

Edit: Nik (in the scooter review comments section) just made an excellent point that I hadn't considered, the no fault system that is our ACC system doesn't take into account that probably half (spin the stats how you wish) of all on road bike accidents involve cars at fault for the crash, surely that puts a little of the onus on car owners?

Anyway, that gives you a brief rundown and my view, if you wish to lodge a submission or get your name on a petition click the links below.

ACC SUBMISSIONS

ONLINE PETITION

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