Victoria's TAC has turned its sights on motorcycle riders once more, less than six months since the launch of its 'Bloody Idiots' television commercial.

The new campaign, titled 'Reconstruction', follows a collision investigation officer as he traces the steps of a road accident that causes the death of a speeding motorcyclist.

The ad follows in the cringe-inducing footsteps of past TAC campaigns, featuring the graphic depiction of the motorcyclist's broken neck audibly snapping back into place.

He added that, for motorcyclists, the issue of whether they are at fault in the event of an accident is irrelevant if it leads to their death.

"They [motorcyclists] will come off second best in a crash," he said.

Accepted TAC claims from motorcyclists have increased by more than 50 percent since 2003, which is roughly equivalent to the increase in motorcycle registrations over the same period.

By contrast, claims from vehicle occupants have reduced.

Motorcycle trauma has cost the state an average of $100 million a year over the last three years.

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• reply ” like !

  

  smart us says,
  1 year ago

  good one - hope youngsters learn before hard lesson kicks in... no one is invincible...
• reply ” like !

  

  Jaycoh says,
  1 year ago

  1 like

  Have you ever seen a motorbike rider go past who WASN'T breaking a road law or riding recklessly? Apparently i should "put myself in their shoes"... ok, ill just speed 10-20 km/h over, because the speed limit doesn't apply to me... weave rings around cars over 4 different lanes in a matter of seconds, cutting off motorists and missing them by inches(because apparently all cars are transfixed to the one lane, never varying an inch, and are just traffic cones for me to try and get as close to without hitting). Then ill do a burnout and 0-100 time trial from every traffic light, and maybe pop onto one wheel for a bit of fun every now and then. Oh, and boy do i love driving down imaginary lanes that dont exist, down the middle in between cars missing mirrors by inches, on the outside down service lanes/bus lanes/cyclist lanes... its all good. And dont even get me started on how because of all these things that i constantly involve in, i get a great thrill in surprising motorists(because of speeding/erratic reckless behaviour/lightning fast movements from one lane in between cars to another), when i come from out of no where... blast my raucous engine right in their face as i miss them my inches, and watch as they nearly run off the road... and then blame it all on them when i crash.
  
  Do you think if a motor bike rider ever sat on the actual SAFE speed limit, in an actual LANE behind a motor vehicle, that they would ever crash?? No.
  
  They bring it on themselves due to their own actions, then we car drivers get blamed for it.
  
  What a joke!
  
  But hey, if they rode like that... they wouldn't crash and get injured, but then they wouldn't get to work so much faster than us.
  
  Motor vehicles aren't perfect though, every day i see people risking their lives and the lives of others just to get to their destination 10 seconds faster. Its crazy, you watch, they make a split second decision and risk DYING, like running a red light, pulling out in a gap, sometimes at the cost of waiting an extra 20 seconds when there is a safe gap to pull out into. Save 20 seconds at the cost of losing your whole life which is like 50 years? Doesn't make sense. But hey, at least you can get to work 2 minutes faster!
  
  ...just not as fast as those pesky motor bike riders though.
• reply ” like !

  

  dan says,
  1 year ago

  That's a bit black and white. Not every motorbike rider is an idiot. Just like cars - you only remember the ones doing something stupid. Every once and a while you might notice a motorcyclist riding how they should, but not likely because they don't stand out like the guy going past 40ks faster than they should
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  Adelaide Rider says,
  1 year ago

  The reason you never see a motorcyclist not doing something questionably legal is because you are a blind idiot and not looking.
  Bikes are far safer than they appear, the only reason people think they are dangerous is because they themselves are dangerous.
• reply ” like !

  

  Glen says,
  1 year ago

  Maybe they can put some effort into making drivers do skills tests like riders, pay attention, give way, and have roadworthy vehicles?
  What you percieve as unsafe in a car isn't necessarily unsafe on a bike, e.g. the amount of space needed to overtake.
• reply ” like !

  

  John Martin says,
  1 year ago

  I dispute the figures being thrown around.
  They are soured like that's the only justification needed, yet I don't believe they are in context. I have seen other figures that leed to a completely different result.
  
  A whopping 100 million! Good to see you taking good care of riders. Now if we could just stop sending message to drivers that running over a motorcyclist is NOT ACCEPTABLE, and not the fault of the rider.
  
  Speed is mentioned, and as some MINOR level it is relevant, but the real culprit who doesn't even crack much more than a passing mention, is car driver who pulled out.
  HE, is the killer in this case, yet it's all about the motorcyclist being at fault...
  
  You guys just feed off each other
  
  How about we replace the bike with car and the car with a truck. So you all still argue that the fault was with driver because he was going over the speed limit. No fault on the trucks part for pulling out in front of you, leaving you know where else to go, eh.
  Yeah right, you'd want the truck drivers guts for garters if your wife or you were killed in that scenario.
  Or are you all that stupid that you believe your 'speeding car' was where the fault lay.?
  
  'Speeding car'...makes it sound really good doesn't it!...like you deserved it because you were speeding.
  
  It's a bit different when the boots on the other foot, eh.
  
  Oh, and just so you naive car only drivers can see the convenience the TAC like to lavish on their anti-bike ads.
  Riders don't use their rear brake much. In an emergency it's front brake ONLY, which can stop a bike much more quickly, and I would expect to have the bike ride around the rear of the car. THAT, is a typical scenario, that the real world never here's about. And this ad tells THOSE drivers that we avoid daily...don't worry about them, it's the biker fault anyway.
  
  Congratulations on another complete waist of time in an ad that promotes antisocial behaviour towards motorbike riders, and makes even more dangerous for them.
  
  The REAL problem, is that the driver did not give way to the bike. Why not? ( if you say because the biker was speeding), then go away, you're brain is missing.
  
• reply ” like !

  

  Christopher says,
  1 year ago

  Two issues here;
  Firstly the car failed to give wayt and nothing absolves him of blame for that.
  Secondly skid marks on a motorcycle are not a good indicator of speed in any case as dependent upon rider ability they may ahve just hit a foot full of rear and zero front and left an incredibly long skid mark as opposed to a trained rider who would have had all front and the rear in the air leaving no skid mark. Spped cannot be determiend from this scenario at all.
• reply ” like !

  

  Roger says,
  1 year ago

  There are a couple of other issues here. One is 4 years ago ABS statistics showed 75% of motorcycle accidents were the riders fault. A second issue is, humans make mistakes regularly, and that will never change. The biggest issue with a motorcycle is that you have NO PROTECTION when inevitably an accident occurs. To be blind to the facts of life means you will probably fall victim to them. There is also an established legal principal that all drivers owe a duty of care to ALL OTHER road users. You are obliged in any circumstances to avoid hitting any other person for any reason. If you fail to do this you can be held accountable. This applies to both the speeding bike AND the car that pulls out in front of them. Statutory fault is only one element of this kind of incident, particularly when it comes to issues in tort (sueing for negligence etc.). It should be noted that the Civil Liability Act s45 here in Qld generally excludes any liability for incidents where the plaintiff is committing an indictable offence. 40km/h over the speed limit is an indictable offence here (Criminal Code s328A) with a max term 5 years prison(and should be). This was brought in to stop home invaders from claiming where they were maimed by the property owner, but could apply to high speed vehicle too.
  • reply ” like !

    

    jesse says,
    1 year ago

    Wow, contentious!
    
    I thought it was good to see a TAC ad that wasn't a complete screaming lie for once. (like "speeding drivers are the biggest killers on our roads" they're not, in attention is but they seem to ignore that)
    
    My take on the ad was that it acknowledged the driver was at fault but pointed out that if your going faster u have less time to react. Well duh. I spose this is handy for learners.
    
    Id be one of those guys that goes past you between lanes while your stopped at lights or screams past you after changing lanes too fast when I come up behind you in the right lane where your having a picnic. See the thing is, loud pipes save lives, we could sit behind you all day and you won't notice but if we drop it three gears and pass you it disturbs your beauty sleep. Sorry. At least you know we're there that way, if they're the only times you see us you should understand we're doing it to make sure we're seen. Given that we don't get noticed when we're sensible, it only makes sense to get to the front of the lights and take off in front where we can ride sensibly in front knowing you see us, sadly we look a lot like a gap in traffic when we're cruising along taking up car spaces.
    
    I've been hit by a car, it sucked, but I learned to make sure I was seen or heard round cars from then on.
• reply ” like !

  

  H says,
  1 year ago

  Jaycoh - you serious? "Do you think if a motor bike rider ever sat on the actual SAFE speed limit, in an actual LANE behind a motor vehicle, that they would ever crash?? No." Well, you're right. I don't crash. I do get cars trying to merge into me and cars thinking that they should tailgate me to make me go faster. My partner had a car pull out in front of him as the driver was late dropping her kids off to daycare. She claimed it was his fault - he was speeding and she didn't see him. SHE didn't look, HE was, as testified by witnesses, going with the flow of traffic (about 70 in an 80 km/hr road), HE was riding a neon yellow bike, HE had his headlights on, HE ended up going to hospital and SHE ended up going to work extra late.
  
  Unfortunately, what with being half killed, he didn't have time to do any burnouts or wheelies. He did, however, miss motorists and their windows.