TAC boss responds to SMIDSY ad

The CEO of Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has responded to the SMIDSY – “Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You” -- advertisement which was recently produced by Motorcycling Australia (MA) to offset what it says is a TAC bias towards portraying motorcycle riders as guilty parties in accidents.

Janet Dore, the TAC’s CEO, told Australian media, marketing and entertainment website Mumbrella: “We acknowledge that a single campaign approach won’t work for all motorcyclists and so we encourage different approaches to address the issues around motorcycle safety. The TAC offered research assistance in the development of the SMIDSY campaign.”

Motorcycling Australia’s action was initiated after the TAC released a television slow-motion reconstruction advertisement in April, 2012, which saw a bike rider killed after a car driver pulled out in front of him at an intersection. But seemingly the only variable, the only cause of the accident, was the rider tracking at 8km/h above the speed limit.

That caused a lot of ire amongst the motorcycle community, which saw MA, in conjunction with Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, produced the anti-TAC ad, arguing that 84 per cent of road riders deaths occurred were where car drivers turned into the path of the bike.

When asked by Mumbrella about criticism of the TAC’s motorcycle safety ads, she said: “We are very happy with the results from ongoing tracking surveys, feedback from riders at the TAC stand at MotoGP and at small group exploratory sessions.

“We have let the Victorian Motorcycle Council know that we’d be happy to link the SMIDSY campaign site to the TAC’s motorcycle information website, spokes.com.au.”

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