More than 500 motorcyclists roared through the small South Island city of Nelson on last weekend to give a clear message to local MP Nick Smith, who is also the minister of the publicly owned Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). ACC levys for motorcyclists are set to increase 300%.
National president of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club, Peter McIntosh, told TVNZ;

You look around here, people are wearing protective clothing, reflective vests, reflective jackets. We make a big effort to look after ourselves...there’s no recognition of that in the way the levies are applied at the moment

For the majority of the riders it was the first time they had protested against anything. Steve Page, president of the Route 6 Motorcycle Club said he had not given a “fat rat’s bum” about protesting for anything in the past, but the ACC levies were different. Columnist John Minto wrote that while motorcyclists have a higher accident profile, there is no evidence bike riders are more responsible for accidents they find themselves in than are car drivers.;

It’s just that bike riders are much more vulnerable in accidents. In fact there is a case for reducing ACC levies for bikes. They are more efficient with a smaller carbon footprint and we could dramatically reduce the need for more roading if a higher proportion of road users was on two wheels.

According to the Nelson Mail the protesters came from all over the South Island. After riding past Dr Smith’s Stoke headquarters, the bikes did a loop of central Nelson and then headed back to congregate in the minister’s car park. one rider was met with screams of “woo-hoo” after he did a burnout on the concrete near Dr Smith’s carport.
Other proposed changes to ACC have also come under fire, last week hundreds marched around the country against plans that could block access to ACC funded counselling for victims of sexual abuse.