The story on Sunday night about the police blitz on Mt Nebo over this past weekend lacked a few points that I thought ACA might find useful for a story.
In particular the story lacked a few important details; This operation was centred around stopping all motorcyclists on the stetch and fining for loud exhausts, modified mudgaurds and aftermarket indicators, even to the point they detoured motorcyclists about 3km out of their way not allowing them to turn down to Samford so they would have to go through the defect station. I hardly think that the operation should have been named "Arrive Alive" when quite clearly the operation has nothing to do with safety and a lot to do with harassing motorcyclists for simply being on a road that should be enjoyed.
Some background information: At a recent meeting I believe in September between the Mt Nebo locals, bike riders and police - The police claimed their aim was to improve safety on the mountain and that there would be major activities taking place in the near future. This year to the best of my knowledge there has been a total of 2 deaths on Mt Nebo Road and 1 at the Bottom of Mt Glorious Road on the Samford side there could have been more although I'm not aware of more. The first of the accidents on Mt Nebo was a man up from NSW who probably didn't know the road very well if at all and was going far too quickly. He came unstuck on a very tricky corner for one reason - There is no warning sign on the particular corner to warn people to slow down, this death could have been prevented by the addition of one warning sign, I can personally think of seeing people crashed on this particular corner at least three times over the past year alone. There is still no warning sign on this corner.
The other death on the Mt Nebo road was a well known local who wasn't known for being anything other than a sensible rider. The day he crashed one witness reported to have seen this man riding very erratically, running wide and overtaking dangerously followed by his subsequent crash and death. To me this suggests somekind of medical or drug related issue that has little or nothing to do with the regular dangers of this mountain.
Another point in question from the meeting in September is the police admitted that when a large portion of this road was changed from dotted lines to unbroken lines the road toll actually increased. A step to improve safety actually reduced it and this issue has still not been rectified.
How can the police start a large campaign in the name of safety when they haven't even considered the most basic of safety considerations as the cause of the road toll? Not to mention the actual policing of this safety is consisting of defecting bikes for visual and exhaust modifications even to the point of fining motorcyclists that are in original factory condition. This is harassment pure and simple, the police don't want motorcyclists on Mt Nebo and they're willing to do whatever is necessary to see this happen.