Road Safety

The current Learner Approved Motorcycle Scheme (LAMS) was introduced in NSW in 2002 and has since been adopted by all states, territories, and New Zealand, albeit with some amendments in some jurisdictions. There has not been a formal review of LAMS to date.

This report documents the project that reviewed the current LAMS with the aim of bringing it up to date with latest research and information. Specifically, the review focusses on whether certain types of motorcycles are more likely to be involved in Fatal and Serious Injury (FSI) crashes and are difficult to ride thus should be removed from LAMS, whether ACT’s LAMS should be adopted by other jurisdictions, whether electric motorcycles with a 25 kW motor or greater should be added to the LAMS, assessing the feasibility of allowing more motor trikes to the LAMS, assessing the feasibility of allowing physical disability modifications to LAMS motorcycles; and assessing whether safety modifications should be permitted on LAMS motorcycles. Further, back cast modelling was performed to understand the benefits of Antilock Braking System (ABS), Traction Control System (TCS), and a lower Power-to-Weight Ratio (PWR) on novice FSI crashes. Three workshops with stakeholders were also held to obtain their input.

The recommendations from this project are:

• To not remove any type of motorcycles from the LAMS list until further research is performed.
• To not adopt ACT LAMS until further research is performed.
• Allow all motor trikes to be added to the LAMS provided that they meet the current LAMS criteria.
• Allow modifications for accessibility provided that the motorcycles comply with LAMS criteria and relevant standards and legislation.
• Allow modifications to improve safety and functionality provided that the motorcycles comply with LAMS criteria and relevant standards and legislation.
• Consider encouraging a faster update of ABS and TCS for LAMS or mandating ABS and TCS for LAMS.