Bernard Davis’ motorbike hit a wild horse at night: he died
The Coroner’s Inquest six months ago recalls (click here for full inquest):
Mr Bernard Ashton Davis was riding his motorcycle south on the Bruce Highway, when he collided with a horse and died. In the early hours of the morning on 30 September 2015, Byron James Crowley, a 15 year old passenger in a car his mother was driving south on the Bruce Highway in the same general location, died when the car struck a dead horse on the side of the road causing a loss of control. The car left the road and struck a tree.
Queensland’s Parks and Wildlife Service had not managed to control the local feral horse population. Motorists were hitting them at night and dying. The inquest reports:
After the death of Byron Crowley, a cull was conducted of the feral horses in the State Forest adjacent to that section of the Bruce Highway.
Brisbane City Council has a similar problem (click here) with feral deer and motor vehicle accidents. Brisbane City Council asked QPS Weapons Licensing Branch for an exemption to allow them to use suppressors to get the feral deer numbers under control. Weapons Licensing refuse because: suppressors are evil and motorists are expendable. Motor vehicle fatalities aren’t Weapons Licensing’s problem. They’re someone else’s problem.
Labor Police Minister Mark Ryan announces safety scheme to save motorists
This weekend, Labor’s Mark Ryan and Queensland Police announced (click here) a campaign to reduce motorcycle fatalities:
Police Minister Mark Ryan […] launched Operation Grenadine today – a state-wide road safety campaign designed to help curb the rising number of motorcyclists being killed and injured on Queensland roads.
They announced:
Unfortunately we are seeing a continued rising trend in riders being killed or hospitalised from traffic crashes on our roads. […] Motorists can expect to see a high concentration of officers throughout Queensland focusing on rider safety.
Maybe instead of handing out traffic tickets, the Labor Government and Queensland Police could allow Local Governments and the Parks Service to use suppressors to get feral deer under control by using suppressors.
Logan City Council also want suppressors. Documents obtained form them last year under the Right To Information Act say good things about the NSW experience with suppressors for feral animal control:
The most effective activity for deer control in the peri-urban environment at present is ground shooting. The possibility of an increased effectiveness of that ground shooting [by using suppressors] has a positive potential for Councils e.g. if three deer can be shot in an instance rather than just one.
Three questions for your local MP
- Why are motorists’ lives so unimportant that we can’t get feral deer and horses under control around major highways and roads?
- Why is Weapons Licensing so committed to causing car accidents by not allowing government agencies to use suppressors to control feral deer and horses?
- Why is Labor’s Police Minister Mark Ryan still in his job?