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Charity ride goes ahead despite police presence

Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer charity ride register agenda

The Gold Coast Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer will go ahead on Sunday (March 20, 2016) despite Queensland Police failing to assure charity riders they will not be affected by a major “road safety” operation in the area.

Organisers are emphatic that the ride will go ahead and have encouraged riders to take part.

After we published a story about Operation North Upright being held on the same day and in the same area as the ride, social media was alive with concerns by riders they would be harassed.

READ OUR ORIGINAL STORY

One rider says on a Facebook post:

I’ve ridden in the last 4 Blackdog rides and won’t be doing this one, we were pulled over at the bottom of Springbrook as part of there so called operation I took my helmet off and said to the Sergeant “How ya going mate” and he replied I’m not your mate now get off your bike and stand over here !! Nice policing….. It’s all bullshit they want bikes off the road full stop.

We contacted the Police Media unit for a response to our question: “Can police assure charity riders that they will not be inconvenienced?”

This is the official response:

The Queensland Police Service is committed to road safety and improving driver behaviour.

Last year, 47% of all fatal traffic crashes across the South Eastern Policing Region involved motorcycles, more than double the state average. The majority of the Region’s 15 fatal motorcycle crashes (80%) took place in the Gold Coast Hinterland and rural areas of Logan District.

Operation North Upright is a road safety campaign designed to engage with the community to raise awareness of the potential risks of riding motorcycles on hinterland and rural roads and contributing factors that include speed, rider error and inexperience.

The aim of the operation is to give riders the information they need to stay safe on our roads through displays, demonstrations, and discussions.Police cops speed speeding charity ride

MBW chose to alert riders about the impending operation and the increased presence of police marked and unmarked vehicles in the region, rather than ignoring the issue.

It is unfortunate, but understandable, if some riders choose not to participate in the Gold Coast charity ride. We hope they don’t and organiser Kylie Sage has urged riders to show up in force.

“The operation is about education and entry to the sites is voluntary so it is not going to affect our ride at all,” she says.

“Police will also be there to assist our ride. We will have three police escort bikes and four cars to stop traffic lights.

“But why of all days would they hold this operation on this day when police have been aware of our ride for so long?”

Online registration for the Gold Coast ride is still open or you can register on the day from 7:30am at Shark Leathers, 142 Siganto Drive, Helensvale.

An email sent from a local police officer to Kylie states: “This event is not and has never been a traffic enforcement operation targeting the Black Dog Ride.  I would ask that all riders, and including those on the Black Dog Ride, invest in their safety and ride in a manner that is not only legal but also safe for all those on the roads.”

If riders are still concerned about the increased police presence in the region going to and from the charity event, they might like to consider joining the next closest BDR 1 Dayer rides at the Sunshine Coast or Byron Bay.

The Sunshine Coast Ride musters at Aussie World on the Bruce Highway from 7.30am and the Byron Bay ride from 8am at Cavanbah Centre, 249 Ewingsdale Road.

MBW will be attending the Sunshine Coast ride as planned.

The Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer is being held nationally in 34 locations and raises money and awareness for mental health issues.

  1. The sergeant got out of the wrong side of bed after a knock back from his boyfriend. There is no need to speak to people like that. What was the reason he got the rider off the bike? Queensland is very different from other states..

    It would be interesting to hear from a reader from Queensland as to what powers the police farce has up there in regards to vehicle stops.

    I would never visit Queensland riding a motorbike just because of the harassment issues.

  2. The timing of this operation is a joke. While it MAY be about road safety and trying to improve the relationship between bike riders and the coppers, it has achieved the exact opposite, while potentially damaging what is an awesome charity event at the same time.
    Despite this, I’ll be attending, and would encourage all riders to come along. Much like terrorists win if we let them, if we let the police stop us from riding and contributing to our community then they win.

  3. A few years ago I rode from Adelaide to Townsville on a Harley Superglide – hassles didn’t start until the Qld border was crossed. In addition to being pulled over several times for no apparent reason, was booked for the heinous crime of 103 kph in a 100 zone. Queensland? No thanks.

  4. This is what happens when you forget to create a bill of rights to protect the people. It seems rediculous that we need rules and principles to protect us from those who are meant to protect us from harm, but as they say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Give them an inch and they will take a mile. These officers of the law, who are meant to be serving the people, are actually invading our privacy, and there is not a damned thing we can do about it, because civil liberties? We have none. May as well be nazi Germany with unannounced inspections and random checks based on nothing more than targeting a certain group of people. We may be a modern society but our civil rights are still stuck in the dark ages. And it is only going to get worse.

  5. Fair enough some bike fatalities were the fault of the rider but I am of the opinion many could be attributed to the environment such as poor state of roads and of course car drivers. Why is there no education aimed at car drivers to be aware of motorcycles? I as so many do love a windy country road but so many times I am freaked out because an oncoming car rather than take the bends decides to cut the corners in effort to cut down on cornering…time and time again. every day out on the road drivers do the stupidest things when in most cases they can see us…it is not always a case of an inexperienced new rider or a returning rider but what else is happening including the state of the road surface.
    Also in the newer cars (I have a newer car) the side mirrors show the vehicle behind as much further away and yet they are right behind and I feel this is a major reason some car drivers switch lanes in front of a bike.

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