Riding groups and road safety activists at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are attacking the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC), after their re-airing of a provocative advertisement aimed at motorcyclists that first hit screens back in 2009.

Riders and rider advocacy groups viewed the campaign, including TVC ‘The Ride’, as being of a misleading nature four years ago, and thoughts have not wavered, with both vehemently believing that the ad is alienating to riders, partly because it “reinforces negative stereotypes of motorcyclists”.

Principal at Maurice Blackburn and road safety advocate John Voyage said the motorcycling community are outraged that the TAC have, they believe, blatantly snubbed the findings of last year’s Parliamentary Motorcycle Safety Inquiry by running the tarnished commercial.

“The TAC is showing a reckless disregard for riders and road safety by running this misleading advertisement,” Voyage says.

Explaining that the ad “flies in the face” of the strong recommendations of the recent Parliamentary Motorcycle Safety Inquiry, Voyage is at a loss to explain these events.

“It suggests that TAC is challenging the legitimacy of the state parliamentary road safety committee, whose report cites the Monash University Accident Research Centre’s Professor Mark Stevenson as saying the ‘38 times more likely figure’ is inaccurate,” he says.

So, with an ad that alienates the target audience, a flout of the inquiry findings, and frustrated lobby groups, Voyage is calling on the Baillieu Government to intervene. “[They] need to act in responding to the report’s recommendations and in turn, use that response to pull its road safety authority in to line,” he asserts.

Road safety advocates, together with Maurice Blackburn Lawyers are reaching out to the TAC to look at an alternative ad like their ‘Stop SMIDSY’ campaign. ‘SMIDSY’ stands for ‘Sorry Mate, I Didn’t See You’, which is something riders involved in accidents hear far too often.

Here is the spot from the campaign in question: what do you think?