14 October 2024

A Whangarei resident Richard Tohu says the Motorcycle Advocacy Group NZ was created in September 2024 as a direct response to the unfair ACC levy increases proposed for motorcycles.

He says he started the Facebook group after reading weeks of complaining on various social media sites regarding the proposed ACC levy increases, which will see the price for big bikes increase from $522 per year, to approximately $870 in 2027/28. “Nobody was doing anything substantial about it, nothing other than making submissions or contacting your member of parliament, so I thought bugger it, I’ll get the ball rolling, and it just took off from there” he said.

“With the help of a mate in Tauranga, we started our group with an open letter to the ACC minister Matt Doocey (attached, also sent to 10 other politicians listed below), our founding document, which explains our arguments in support of our claim that the current rego system is unfair and discriminatory towards motorcyclists” Mr Tohu said.

“Basically, we believe that they (ACC and NZTA) have twisted the accident data to suit a cash strapped government agenda, hoping that we’ll just accept it and hand over our money. Well, we're not gonna take it! Which is also our theme song, which we adopted as a bit of a laugh but it stuck!” he said.

An excerpt from a somewhat outdated report put out in 2009 is quoted in the MAGNZ letter to minister Doocey “Government ministers and other public officials make numerous claims, with the media reporting accident information that if not, factually incorrect, is certainly open to alternative interpretation from a statistical standpoint. Such differences in interpretation of the accident statistics offer the potential for distorting and misrepresenting the accident situation, which may then result in changes to public policy.” (from Causal Factors in Multiple Vehicle Accidents Involving Motorcycles, attached)

“We've copped a bit of flack for referring to a so-called “outdated” report but we believe it absolutely still holds true now, in yet another round of ACC levy thievery from motorcyclists”. Mr. Tohu said.

When asked how he felt about ACC statistics that reveal that motorcycle rider and pillion injuries are heavily subsidised by other motorists and this is unsustainable.

He replied “Yes we get banged up pretty bad, but the ACC stats around who is causing the majority of those accidents are debatable. They say it's us, and we say that studies show that about 80% of those accidents are caused by the other vehicle not giving way, not the motorcyclist”

According to data on the ACC website, the total cost of Road Injury claims in 2023 was 694 million dollars and over half were car accidents. Motorcycle accidents made up only 13% of road accident claims (90 million).

However, of the total of all injury claims in 2023, only 2% of all injuries happened on the road. 10% happened at work, 28% were falls and 38% were other accidents in the community. A whopping 839 million dollars or 23% of all claims were due to sport and recreation accidents.

“Just like motorcycling, these people chose to take that risk with their sport and recreation. How much ACC levy do these people contribute? Nothing, or very little. That is part of the reason why we motorcyclists feel discriminated against”.

When asked if he thought advising its members to not pay their rego and ride it anyway was a good idea, considering he himself worked as a Risk Management Specialist in the safety industry, Mr Tohu replied “That’s not entirely true. MAGNZ does not condone law breaking. However, it has become apparent since we started the group that there are already a huge number, probably thousands of riders across NZ riding a motorcycle without a current rego (licence label) and risking the penalty. And can you blame them?” He said. “The penalty is likely to be much less than the rego price currently set at $522 for bigger bikes. For some it's a no-brainer, and they will take the risk” he said.

“All we’re saying is don’t pay 12 or 6 months rego. Pay the smallest amount you can or put it on hold. ACC will notice the drop in income over several months and hopefully they will engage with us” he said.

“If we had a fair system, more riders would pay their fair share and ACC would collect more levy dollars, and we wouldn’t have to take protest action”. MAGNZ have protest rides planned in 12 NZ cities on the 3rd of November.

When asked what a fair system looks like to MAGNZ? Mr. Tohu replied “We want to work with ACC and NZTA to come up with a fair system that doesn’t force motorcyclists to pay a levy per bike or engine size, which is based on some theory that the higher the cc rating, this is somehow linked to higher claims costs. They just haven't been able to show any believable data to support this theory” Mr. Tohu said.

“And then there’s the matter of ripping off those that own more than one motorcycle. Multiple ACC levies are stolen from these citizens, including bike collectors and other enthusiasts. ACC is for fixing injured people, not fixing motorcycles, and we can only crash one bike at a time! One ACC levy should apply to the rider, not the bikes. It's similar to extortion, what they’re doing ” he said.

“The majority of our members are supportive of a much lower flat rate rego, say as an example $120 per year, regardless of engine size and a user pays distance fee of say $50 per 1000 km”. He said. “It's still more than a petrol car in recognition of the higher risk, but it's affordable. Other ideas that have been put forward include a higher flat rate with unlimited kms for the long distance users, rider history no claims discounts, rider safety gear subsidies and better qualification based rider course completion discounts to name a few”.

Mr Tohu also said “The current system is forcing people to ride illegally or to stop riding altogether due to unaffordability. It's crazy! The government should be encouraging motorcycle use. Bikes do less damage to our roads, less traffic congestion, use less fuel and create less pollution than cars, so it's better for the environment”.

“Personally I’m in favour of a user pays system with a flat rate but ultimately it's up to our members, and we intend to continue taking action until something changes”.

Mr Tohu hopes that MAGNZ will continue after the levy issue is dealt with, as a voice for motorcyclists seeking to establish and protect their rights, and to influence issues of interest to the motorcycling community. This includes lobbying organisations that work to influence laws, and groups, individuals or businesses who influence public and political attitudes.

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