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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. Â
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 written by chic Dsquared2 Sweatshirts , May 23, 2011
I like the article!-chic Dsquared2 Sweatshirts I like popular thing! I appreciate your writing style! From your work before I can learn can't learn things!
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 written by CruzLauri25 , March 02, 2010
Some time ago, I really needed to buy a good car for my organization but I did not earn enough money and could not order something. Thank heaven my dude adviced to try to take the loans at banks. Thus, I acted that and used to be happy with my sba loan.
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 written by Josef , November 13, 2009
Good luck to the guys in New Zealand! The motorcyclists and scooterist are currently fighting the government in relation to bike parking taxes being imposed on riders in London without justification apart from a claim of "kerbside demand management" when will the beauracrats see that motorcycles and scooters are a viable transport solution that should be en encouraged and not discouraged by increases in levies.
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For more information on the UK campaign and videos check out there campaign website here: http://www.notobikeparkingtax.com their next demonstration will be on 7th December 2009 in the heart of Central London. Check out their videos that they produce after each demonstration, it would be great if the NZ and UK guys could both send a message of support to each other via their own videos, that our support is for all riders all over the world no matter what their campaign is against. report abuse
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 written by Jules Mumford , October 18, 2009
I currently own a 150cc Scooter and if the proposals are confirmed, my Levy will double in cost to $515.
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Whilst I understand there is a massive shortfall in ACC funding, we will leave the why and what the money is being spent on for another discussion, it does appear that we motorcyclists’ have been unfairly targeted, when surely we are attempting to reduce emissions and the sheer number of cars on the roads? (Two weeks commute on $9 of fuel). The argument that we are statistically more likely to have an accident (whether caused by ourselves or others) is perhaps fair but if we apply this logic, is this not true for people playing Rugby at the weekend, ski-ing or boating as opposed to sitting at home on the couch? There are two obvious ways of spreading the cost:- 1)Introduce Compulsory Third party insurance – which can include an ACC element and will shift the cost of support from ACC (this is a no brainer in my opinion) – I accept my (and everyone else’s premiums will go up) but that is the whole point of insurance. This has the side benefit of forcing young drivers out of inappropriate “hot hatches†and high performance bikes, as they will be uninsurable. 2)Put in place, a staggered increasing Rego charge relating to engine size for both bikes and cars – this has the added benefit of slowly pushing drivers into smaller capacity cars that can only be good for the environment These are both steps completed successfully elsewhere, why not here? If one was being cynical, one might assume it is easier to pick on the “High Vis jacketed scooter/biker nerds†with no political clout, rather than the average New Zealander in their 3.5 litre Holden Commodore SS HSV?? What do other people think? Jules report abuse
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 written by scooter , October 16, 2009
The Police are the same as the rest of car drivers. They don't see scooters!
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 written by Nik , October 16, 2009
Scooter's comment is a very fair one and I don't think you mentioned the relevant issue of fault when we slide along the tarmac. Car registration should be covering a good chunk. I own both, never fallen off or done a smidsy so no bias here. Actually only bought my scooter a few weeks ago but when I found out the registration cost, even as it stands, I sure felt like I hit a tree.
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 written by vincel , October 16, 2009
Yeah I agree, I just hope the police don't get instructions to be more vigilant about spot checking scooter registrations... good revenue there to be gathered...
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written by scooter , October 16, 2009
For me running three scooters that spend most of their life in my garage, only coming out once or twice a week. The most cost effective method for me, is to risk being unregistered. Then, when I get caught, I pay the fine. So far I've never been pulled over by the police. So the government will prop (hopefully) only get the same money as it currently does but it won't go to ACC it will go into the police.
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