BASS Coast Highway Patrol police officer, Acting Sergeant Scott Simcock was right on message, ahead of the return of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix this coming weekend, when he addressed a huge crowd of motorcycle riders at the annual Blessing of the Bikes in Cowes’ main street last Sunday.
It was all about road safety and he knew what he was talking about.
“My message today is all about road safety and I can speak from experience after being involved in a motorcycle crash myself earlier in the year,” said Acting Sergeant Simcock.
“We are here to promote motorcycle safety but I just want to get across the message about wearing the proper apparel so you can get home - you’ve got to wear all of the gear, all of the time, because you never know when you will be the victim of a collision.
“Without doubt, I would not have been able to come through as well as I did if I wasn’t wearing all the right gear.”
Simcock was riding his police bike in Wonthaggi on June 17 this year when a young driver made a mistake and turned in front of him. He had nowhere to go.
“The bike was a write-off but fortunately I wasn’t,” he said.
And the fact is that neither motorcycle riders nor country drivers are faring that well this year where the TAC’s road fatality statistics are concerned.
Fatalities are up 35% in regional Victoria from 80-to 108 compared with the same time last year, against a five-year average of 96.
Motorcycle fatalities are also up, by 40%, from 30 to 40 deaths to the same time last year, against a five-year average of 28.
The state’s road toll is up in total from 171 this time last year to 195.
Male deaths are up 18%, and the age groups not doing well are 18-20 (up 133%), 26-29 (up 43%), 40-49 (up 30%) and 50-59 (up30%).
