Thursday, 15 May 2025

Active transport

Tim READ (Brunswick) (01:42): (1143) My adjournment speech is for the Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC, and the action I seek is for the minister to amend the Road Safety Act 1986 so that riders and pedestrians injured in crashes involving bicycles or scooters are covered by the TAC, regardless of whether a motor vehicle is involved. Matthew is a constituent of mine who was riding in a bike lane when he swerved to avoid a pedestrian and hit a concrete lane divider. Matthew suffered multiple fractured ribs, along with scrapes, sprains and bruises in the ensuing crash. If a train, tram or car – even an unregistered one – had been involved, Matthew would have been covered by the TAC. Even if he had hit a parked car, he would have been covered, but he was swerving to avoid a pedestrian, not a car. As I am sure the minister would agree, transport has evolved since the Road Safety Act was first drafted. More of us use bikes, scooters or walk to get to work, school or the shops, especially in the inner suburbs. As Melbourne grows, we want more people to use public transport or bikes rather than adding their cars to our finite road space, and that means more people walking or scooting to train stations or bus stops. E-bikes are now common.

Matthew, like many who ride bikes, has owned a registered car for many years and would have contributed a substantial sum to the TAC in that time. His car spends most of its time sitting in the driveway while Matthew rides his bike. Accidents that do not involve a motor vehicle are generally less severe than those that do because the speed and vehicle mass are lower, so the cost of TAC coverage would not be enormous. If it is necessary to fund such an increase, this might be an opportunity to increase the TAC contribution paid by drivers of oversized utes and SUVs, which are proliferating on our roads and are much more dangerous for vulnerable road users. As it is, the TAC pays a sizeable dividend to the government, so it should be able to afford to cover some bike-related injuries. Matthew’s decision to ride his bike is reducing emissions, improving his health and reducing road congestion, and it should be applauded. We should keep working to make our roads safer, but in the meantime let us show our gratitude to people like Matthew who are making socially and environmentally conscious transport decisions by ensuring that they too can have TAC cover when they need it.