TAC loses appeal

FOLLOWING a recent court case, the Victorian Motorcycle Council (VMC) rider representative group has called upon the state government and Ombudsman to formally investigate concerns that the TAC unfairly apply contributory negligence to injured motorcycle rider claims in order to avoid compensation.

In the latest of a long line of media disasters for Victoria’s Transport Accident Commission (TAC), a panel of judges at the Supreme Court’s Court of Appeal rejected the TAC’s appeal against the findings of a County Court, which were in favour of a motorcyclist injured by a truck’s trailer on the wrong side of the road.

Peter Baulch from the Victorian Motorcycle Council (VMC) said, “The TAC have behaved callously and aggressively against a legitimate road user, whom the courts proved did nothing wrong. Pursuing contributory negligence against the seriously injured rider for simply being a rider is nothing short of disreputable”.

Riders believe that the TAC appeal confirmed the view that there is an institutionalised bias against motorcycle riders and raised questions about the even handedness of compensation and claims settlements when dealing with riders.

Rob Salvatore, VMC Deputy Chair said, “Riders pay thousands of dollars through registration of their cars, their motorcycles and the added levy, yet statistics show that the majority of rider injuries are the fault of other vehicles. If the TAC is engaged in improving its bottom line through short changing riders in this way, then someone needs to lift the lid.”