Front licence plates for motorcycles

Hours after the release of the road safety camera report in Victoria, which praised the use of speed cameras in the fight to reduce the road roll, the state's Deputy Premier has come out guns blazing, reigniting the debate about front number plates for motorcycles.

While there are very few OECD countries that mandate front number plates on motorcycles, Peter Ryan, the Victorian Deputy Premier and Police Minister, told radio station 3AW that if motorcyclists are 30 times more likely to be seriously injured or killed than other road users, front number plates should be mandatory to ensure bikers don't speed as much.

"When you've got a [statistic] that says there is 30-time greater the likelihood of accident - let alone fatalities - happening with motorcycles and that the cameras do work, there is a nexus there that I think we have a responsibility to examine," said Mr Ryan.

"One of the concerns, in the context of this report, which is focused around the camera system is that motorcyclists do not have a plate on the front of the motorcycle and it is something I will need to have a look at in conjunction with Terry Mulder, the Minister for Roads."

The idea of affixing number plates to the front of a motorcycle is problematic for a number of reasons, particularly if they were designed to be front facing in order to be snapped by speed cameras.

The argument has been debated for over 20 years now and a recent push for front-mount plates was scuttled a couple of years ago, when the Pedestrian Council of Australia argued the same point - that motorcyclists could avoid front-facing speed cameras.

Front-mounted number plates for motorcycles were proven to increase the trauma and injury levels for both motorcyclists and especially pedestrians, and were removed by law more than 25 years ago.

At this stage the call for front-mount number plates by Peter Ryan appears to be his own personal view, but the political mileage he's gaining from the issue could see it debated in more detail.

If front number plates were enforced for motorcyclists, the practicalities of installation would be far from straightforward. Very few modern motorcycles have mounts or even areas that would allow for such mounts to robustly affix a number plate, and it would also mean that about one quarter of the 678,790 motorcycles registered in Australia would need to be retrofitted.

The plates would also need to be front facing in order to be identified by speed cameras, which would have implications for aerodynamics and riding comfort, and the question of who would pay for the installation on almost 200,000 vehicles will also need to be looked at.