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We recognise that the brifen safety fence is a valuable tool for road safety. As at August 2001 many sites throughout Australia have had brifen fences installed in recent years resulting in 225,000 metres of this wire rope fence in use in the country. Vehicles including trucks and cars which have come into collision with it have generally been caught and safely stopped by the fence. Due to concerns among the motorcylists in our ranks that the fence may harm motorists we concur with the British motorcyclists association and support the use of brifen fences only to prevent crossover collisions. In other words we support the instalation of the fence on the medium strip not the outside of roads. This is based on the benefits to road users including motorcyclists of preventing crossovers and the rarity of motorcycle involvement in crossover crashes. To date in this country there has been 1 recorded motorcycle casualty resulting from a collision with a safety fence and no fatalities. Fences are generally installed on the median strip rather than the road side. In recent years up to 70 motorcyclists per year have died after driving off the road and hitting a roadside object or crossing over the road and hitting an oncoming vehicle. (source: ATSB) We urge state governments to urgently investigate and implement capping of the fences to protect cyclists in accordance with German practice so that they can be safely used on the roadside. |