Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council chair Mark Gilbert is in town today speaking at the Trafinz conference in Trinity Wharf.

His focus will be on motorcycle safety, specifically the high numbers of motorcyclists being killed on our roads which Mark describes as starting to 'look like a crisis”.

'Forty-seven motorcyclists and their passengers have already been killed on our roads this year. A motorcycle fatality isn't pretty, it is a horrific way to die and we need to bring the toll down.

'The 2016/17 summer riding season hasn't even started and we're already very close to last year's total of 54 deaths with more than 1000 injuries, many extremely serious.

'In 2015 motorcyclists made up 17 per cent of the deaths on the road, and 10 per cent of all reported injuries, yet we are less than 3 per cent of the vehicles on the road.”

Speaking at the annual New Zealand Local Authority Traffic Institute conference today, Mark is challenging delegates to consider motorcycle safety as a core part of their work.

'If you are doing anything on the roads, please think about the impact on motorcyclists. Our needs are different to other vehicle users and often forgotten. Simple changes, like moving a post, make a big difference to motorcycle safety.”

He welcomes the inclusion of motorcycle safety as one of the four priority areas of the Government's 2016 -2020 Safer Journeys Action Plan, an initiative focused on lowering the road toll.

'This shows us motorcycle safety is recognised as one of the largest road safety issues we face. We are working hard how to make a difference – but we can't do it alone,” he says.

'Everyone needs to play their part, riders need to train, other drivers need to remember we are there, and road makers need to think about us.

'We can bring this toll down, but it will take all of us to do it.”

The Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council is a specialist advisory group made up of motorcyclists from across New Zealand.

To learn more about the New Zealand Local Authority Traffic Institute conference visit: trafinz.org.nz/conferences/2016/

Motorcycle Safety Advisory Council chair Mark Gilbert. Supplied Photo.