OZ ATV :: The Australian ATV Forum

[Scout 250]

I was wondering how an organisation like this with like minded people can lobby the state government in making quads legal to ride in state forests and on any other dirt road you can drive a 4WD or ride a reg dirt bike on.

I for one am past the age of riding dirt bikes and I don't want a 4WD.

My quad has con rego and I have a car and bike license. I enjoy spending time riding along dirt tracks taking in the scenery.

I'm not damaging the environment as one would do in a 4WD or riping up the tracks on a dirt bike.

A few months ago we discussing doing a trip to the Cape. So I made a FEW inquiries and found that with con rego and a few permits you could ride from Cooktown to the Tip.

I feel we are being discriminated againest and I'm surprised that the quad dealers aren't making more noise as this would help their sales, and the state Gov would be making more revenue from the sport/ hobby.

I heard that the Shooters and Fishers Party are trying to do something about this.

How can we help?

[Dino]

Their was a body of like minded two wheelers that didn't comply with ADR's that were campaigning and working very hard on this.
I can't think of the contact details at the moment.
If I do I'll send it to you.

They had pushed this a long way, with the NSW Govt.
The last significant stumbling block was insurance, specifically CTP.
Something about enough statistical analysis to set premiums I think.
That was about 2 years ago.

You might find more info on forums such as these:
http://www.trailrideraustralia.com/
http://www.dirtbikeworld.net/forum/index.php
Be warned, many of these people are their own worse enemy, and they don't like quads any more than authority.

As far as the dealers are concerned, I wouldn't bother.
Margins are low, sales volumes not much better and they are not really interested in actually doing anything such as this to help their sales.

The FCAI, who is a collection of motoring importers, from which the dealers get the goodies from, have tried to help with a few issues. Especially the call to make a "roll bar" mandatory equipment.
While the FCAI have contributed significant funding to the NSW scientific study of these, err, uhmm, appliances, rego and access are not really on the agenda.
To be brutally honest, only two affiliated importers are supportive of this.
The rest are not. PERIOD.
And the FCAI do not represent all the importers either.

Motorcycle Australia? Yeah,about that. And moving forward.

The Shooters and Fishers Party, like most political parties, and lawyers, will tell you what you want to hear, but ultimately it is the public service that advises the politicians. (The pollies don't know much....)
We don't get to vote for such creatures as the public service.
Pollies come and go, but the same old crowd behind the scenes actually run the joint.

The pollies can push certain things along if they feel strongly enough.
No better example is the permitted use of Sedge ways in Qld by our Premier/Emperor Campbell Newmann.

For sure an certain their is an agenda against the use of quad bikes.
The obvious discrimination has been noted.
_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[Scout 250]

You seem to be all over this issue.

Which is nice to see.

It's a shame that it seems to be a useless endeavour.

You mentioned the CTP issue. Con Rego has the CTP. Isn't that good enough for our officalls.

So do we have to ride around in the bush as fugitives form the law because some people have a bee and in bonnet?

[Dino]

Scout 250 wrote:

You seem to be all over this issue. I've been pushing this barrow of shite for about 4 years now. Which is nice to see. Ta. Most people are content to let someone else do the hard yards. Far more than just me involved. It's a shame that it seems to be a useless endeavour. Not at all. We have had significant wins. More to come. You mentioned the CTP issue. Con Rego has the CTP. Isn't that good enough for our officalls. CTP for Rec Rego, not conditional rego. Short version is that insurance is a money grab. And the CTP has a lot of strings attatched. Part of the money grab is trap doors to get out of what the assurance of insurance is about. So do we have to ride around in the bush as fugitives form the law because some people have a bee and in bonnet? Forest ghosts, gum tree ninjas, whatever. Frustrating thing is that so many users want to be legal. Huge numbers actually. But they are not a unified front and numbers is what the boffins want. To be quite frank, the boffins do not have a clue, and most riders dig only so far and figure it's just easier to go under the radar. And all that^^^ is one of the reasons behind the Simpson Desert Charity Ride in April next year. We called it "BUNYIP" for a reason. We want to show the authorities: how hard it is to get rego, how confusing it all is, what sort of people we really are, how our machines are actually better in a sensitive environment, and that we are sick of being like some kind of Bunyip!

_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[Scout 250]

Dino, thanks for your effects. Four years is a long time.

For the rest of us lets get involved. As Dino says we need to be a unified front as many of us want to be legal.

Dino, is there anything we can do to help the cause.

[Dino]

Scout 250 wrote:

Dino, thanks for your effects. Four years is a long time. For the rest of us lets get involved. As Dino says we need to be a unified front as many of us want to be legal. Dino, is there anything we can do to help the cause.

Thanks Scout 250.

Writing to the State Ministers about the discrimination does not hurt.
CC it to the your State Premier as well.
This doesn't take much time or effort.
Invite them on a legal ride.

Supporting an event like Bunyip will give you some ideas.
This is very much about a meeting of like minds.
Charity events like a recent Cancer Council Quad ride in Tasmania are a good thing!
Such events display our riders and equipment to the public as well as the authorities, in a good way.

And we really need to counter the anti quad /off highway vehicle publicity.
Most of it is miss-informed dribble that relies on emotional arguments vaguely supported by select statistics.
A very large proportion of the media reported incidents are caused by stupidity. People ripping it up and/or not using PPE.
We can't fight stupid but we can distance ourselves from it.

Getting involved with legitimate riding is the way forward.
And getting a legitimate ride happening is possible.

The two basic rules are to have a valid form of rego and licensed riders/drivers.
Ride for a good reason, like a charity.
If you can work with local councils and authorities to take the control away from some state controlling office jock, you are a long way towards making it happen.
Do the thinking for them, and especially regarding managing safety.

I hope those guidelines help.
I'm off to do some of the same over the long weekend.
_________________
Remember. We elect politicians, but we have to deal with bureaucracy.
Notice that crazy in the bureaucrats.

[Scout 250]

Hi Dino

As you suggested I wrote to our minister for roads Mr Duncan Gay.

I'll let you know what the response is when I get one.

[kerry]

my partner and myself have a 550tgb quad and all our mates have quads there is no where we can ride legally. there isnt even many 4x4 parks close by anymore . we have been away to a few but they dont allow quads or bikes it should be made legal to a certain point in all states
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kezza gold coast

[Scout 250]

Hi Kerry

I can only suggest you write to the NSW roads minister. Mr Duncan Gay.

and strees how you want to be legal.

My response from the minister's dept was that it is looking into this matter and that my email was forwarded to the Preimers office.

That was a few months ago.

Again as Dino has stated if we don't get involved nothing will happen.

[Scout 250]

Just to push this subject a little down the road I wrote to the Shooters and Fisheres Party in NSW and asked what their views were on the subject.

They wrote back stating they have approached Mr Duncan Gay early part of last year and that they are looking into it.

This was the same response I got from my letter to MR Gay a few months ago.

I have since sent another letter asking were we are on the matter.

Let's keep pushing.

[driftingbanshee]

Keep us updated on the matter. Hopefully a better more in depth response this time.

[noclue]

Id like to just go to the letter box jus t to get the mail on my atv, if I did id be facing thousands in fines, how silly is that....

[cuzo]

I would be back in if it happened in a heart beat - this is the reason i switched back to 2 wheels.

Adding blinkers and a mirror to a quad to get it done would be worth it.
_________________
04 Polaris Predator 500 with mods
ProArmor - Revolution nerfs

[Scout 250]

Just an update on this subject.

I've written to the Outdoor Party with no real positive response, and I've written to the Fishers and Shooters Party and the response has been positive. They are trying to do something with the state gov which is better then nothing at all.

I've resent my letters to the Minister Mr Duncan Gay with no real reponse other then some staffer responding.

I'm going to start sending letters to my local member and to the member of government where my property is who is the state treasurer.

Has anyone else sent letters or spoken to any officals on this subject?

My thinking is the more we write and hassell these people "respectively" the sooner we get this across the line. If you know of any other people we should be making contact with let us know.

[Scout 250]

Have any of you guys read the article in the Jan / Feb NRMA Open Road about Quad Bikes?

It's on page 22. With numbers that state that:

One quad bike fatal accident in Australia per week.

In 2011 to 2013 there were 60 deaths in Australia.

One in three died from not wearing a helmet.

One in six were under 14 years of age.

Rollovers and collisions were the main cause.

These figures don't help our cause, but shouldn't we all be wearing a helmet?

Kids aged 14 don't drive cars and rollovers and collisions are the main cause.

Now is it me but doesn't this come back to common sense?

I mean as I said we should be wearing helmets.

Parents should be supervising their kids.

Rollovers come back to knowing what you're doing. I'm not saying it's not going to happen but if you're prepared the chances are less.

And the subject of collisions what does that mean?

Collisions happen with cars and motorbikes due to lets say bad judgement. Thinking you can do something when clearly you can't.

You don't hear about a car accident and the cause was due to liver failure or lung cancer.

I've been writing to ministers since Oct 2013 with no real results and these articles don't help.

Like I said before. Is just me or what.

[MadDog_Banshee]

Writing to minister's is like writing to a brick wall. Those pretentious so and so's don't care. You are trying to communicate with people who are supposed to be doing something for the good of the country, but are really have no different attitude than the same people who are at the desk at the RTA. They don't give a rats.

Mark my words though, they will start caring as soon as there's some sort of tax or levy or statutory payment required for "the upkeep and safety of industry standards" or some other garbage like that.

Either don't waste your time or make your voice louder, brother.

Commonsense is something that doesn't prevail here. As an ex government employee, I know first hand what type of brainwashing activities are undertaken as "induction" for new staff. We breed a culture of "increased control = increased safety"

Risk - Skill - SELF Control x (EXTERNAL Control) - Vision - Experience = Fatality and more bad media hype about how evil we all are. hail hydra - our police state!!

Risk + SELF Control + Vision + Skill + Experience = super fun happy slide



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"Back up Bug!"

[Scout 250]

I hear you Mad Dog but what can we do?

[MadDog_Banshee]

Like I said mate, either stop writing or make a louder noise.

I have a fondness for a population of people who are nationalized. For example, in Switzerland, the public has pride in their public transport system. There's almost 0 graffiti, damage etc. The population is made up of little nobody's who do their little part.

Here, we have a nation of "she'll be right". It's an endearing quality to have but not so great when it is a blanket attitude.

Back to the quads on the road. Yeah I'd love to see it. But even more I'd love to see a person in power actually say "you know what, that group of speed freaks from that forum about quad bikes were right"
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"Back up Bug!"

[wa5]

I've written it here before.. but I'll say it again.. last time I got a renewal notice for my Stockton beach rego, on the bottom of the letter it stated I could only drive my vehicle to a workshop for work relating to rego and then straight to the RTA (or whatever they now call themselves) to pay the rego... (remember, this was on the renewal notice for my Raptor) .. Now, I'm not silly enough to try, but I reckon you'd have a good shot at beating them.. only under these specific circumstances though...

[MadDog_Banshee]

and then a good holy and wise 3ft high blonde chick who thrashes a highway patrol car around will come at you like a bull terrier because you committed an act of terrorism. In her quest for justice and enforcing absolution on all sinners of the road, you'd probably be dragged through court for it because you did not adhere to the "spirit" of the law.

Yes, I love them.
_________________
"Back up Bug!"