
An initiative offering motorbike owners a $200 discount on their registrations over two years if they take part in ACC Ride Forever courses began on Monday.
The courses that made people eligible were either one silver and one gold course, or two gold courses.
Mr Hutcheon, area rep for the BMW Owners Register of New Zealand, said he had been riding motorcycles since the 1990s. However the former UK motorcycle instructor said the offer had inspired him to sign up for a silver course in spring, and he was looking forward to getting ''a bit of a fine tune-up''.
''I know that our general feeling as an organisation is that this sort of thing is really good.''
Only motorcyclists who had a full licence and five years' experience were eligible. Each course lasted less than a day, and cost between $20 and $50.
Registration for a petrol-driven 601cc and over motorcycle cost $585.94 for a year, while registration for a 0 to 60cc bike was $438.43, and a 61cc to 600cc bike was $471.78.
Not everyone shared Mr Hutcheon's enthusiasm for the scheme.
MCR Motorcycle Replacements owner Rick Jamieson said he put the scheme up on social media but it was not as popular as he had expected.
Feedback on the page included suggestions years of riding should be recognised rather than hours of training.
Motorbike rider Lindsay Robertson said the problem was ''bikers are so furious at the outrageous ACC levies that you can't expect them to take a 5.5% saving over two years seriously''.
Other motorcyclists spoken to by the Otago Daily Times pointed out the discount applied to the rider, rather than the motorcycle - which meant the saving was not huge if people had multiple motorcycles.
AA motorcycle training instructor Dan Love said some riders were reluctant to sign up to the gold course because they had been riding for so long they did not feel they had anything to learn - but he had had several calls since the scheme began.
Statistics from Transport NZ showed in 2017, the number of motorcyclist deaths and injuries by age group was highest among 20-to-24-year-olds, then 15-to-19-year-olds.
The age group with the third highest death and injury rate was 50-to-54-year-olds, with 149 deaths and injuries.
Comments
Given many motorcyclists only register their bikes for part of the year when riding conditions are optimal, will they only get a partial rebate? My bike rego is on hold over winter, as is that of many of my friends
Just remember it's not the motorcycle that kills, it's mainly the idiot's in the tin tops, trucks etc that can't drive and say when the riders are knocked off 'oh I didn't see them'.