Victoria to mandate ABS?

On March 3, Bosch, which has just developed its first dedicated – and award-winning -- ABS system for motorcycles, hosted an event in collaboration with the TAC in Melbourne to highlight the newest safety developments on the market.

Presumably, the local arm of Bosch would have been extolling the virtues of its new system, called Generation 9, which first went into production last November. The 9’s modular design allows various levels of sophistication, from a system with basic functions to a high-performance ABS.

However, the event was for ‘internal stakeholders’ only, although the Bikesales Network understands that select motorcycle media were initially invited before their invitations were subsequently withdrawn.

At the event the TAC, the Victorian-government owned safety organisation, “provided some interesting and relevant statistics as to how ABS braking systems built exclusively for motorcycles can reduce accidents”.

That’s about the extent of our intelligence gathering at this stage, but could the event signal a more formal move to mandate ABS on all bikes sold in Victoria – the likes of which would create a domino effect in other Australia states and territories?

A new national road safety strategy scheduled to take effect in 2011 has proposed the eventual mandating of ABS on motorcycles in Australia, as well as a suggestion that motorcycle black spot/black length programs be introduced into all jurisdictions, “potentially funded by a levy on compulsory third-party injury insurance for motorcyclists (as Victoria has done)”.

The 57-page strategy is still in draft form at the moment, but the period for feedback closed on Friday, February 11.