Bear Tracks | Right and Wrong, right?

When Right is Wrong... It’s best to ride on the correct, not the right, side of the road. And the Bear discovers that Transport for NSW cares about that...

I have long enjoyed a good professional relationship with Transport for NSW, or rather with its predecessors. Over the years I have written booklets, handouts and even a film script for them. Admittedly the film didn’t get up, it might have been… no, wait, let’s stay positive here…

I have enjoyed the relationship, and some good things have come out of it. Perhaps I should not have been surprised, then, when I got this letter. Three months ago I had a head-on with a four-wheel drive, and I have been waiting for the usual visit by the Blue Brigade to tell me how many points I’d lost and how much cash I would be contributing to the NSW coffers. But no such thing happened.

Instead, I received a white window envelope holding, instead of a form, a personal letter. And instead of a boilerplate note, it was a proper description of what had happened. And it proposed something that I had never seen before in either form or spirit, namely an attempt to find out if my actions could be explained. Of course they would pull me off the road if I turned out to simply be incompetent, but that’s only fair for everyone else’s safety – and for mine.

Read previous Bear Tracks articles here…

“Dear [Bear]” it begins, pleasantly and politely. “A report has been received from the NSW Police Force about an incident on 2025 that raises a genuine concern about your medical fitness to hold a driver licence.

“Police advise that you were observed to have been riding your motorcycle on [road], you have gone through a set of road works at the location, once past through the road works you began riding on the incorrect side of the roadway. The roadworks start and finish was clearly displayed. There was no cause/reason to be on the incorrect side of the road. This has caused you to collide with a vehicle that was travelling on the correct side of the roadway.

“Clause 60 of the Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulation 2017 provides that Transport for NSW may request a holder of a driver licence to undergo a medical examination to determine their medical fitness and competency to drive.

“Therefore, you are requested to provide a written report from your treating doctor regarding your medical fitness to hold a driver licence. Your treating doctor will need to comment on the incident above and address the dot points below:

• Your medical history; and
• If a medical diagnosis has been established as a contributory factor to the i9ncident and if so, treatment for the condition, compliance with treatment and the likelihood of a further episode; and
• If there is impairment of any of the following: visuospatial perception, insight, judgement, attention, comprehension, reaction time or memory and the likely impact on driving ability; and
• If a specialist review is required; and
• If a Service NSW driving test and or a rider skills test is required to be undertaken; and
• If an occupational therapist assessment is required to be undertaken; and
• If the person is considered medically fit to hold a private class of driver licence.”

I find it difficult to convey to you how impressed I am by this letter and the initiative it represents. Al right, the grammar could do with a little work but I’m not complaining. This is a serious and useful attempt to make the roads safer – from me – in a respectful way. Top marks, Transport for NSW. There is a good chance that this letter, whether applied to me or to anyone else, will do some good.

I’m certainly hoping that the answer to my misbehaviour is the simple one that immediately occurred to me. I’ve written about it here: it’s the desensitising effect of riding too much overseas. Once you have ridden on the side opposite to your home for a while, and repeatedly, you lose the sense of “right” and “wrong” sides of the road. It’s now just as natural to ride on the right-hand side, the same way as it has always been natural to ride on the left. And with that instinctive feeling of wrongness on the right gone, you can easily end up leaving road works as I did and going on – on the wrong side.

That’s not an attempt to make excuses. If you can’t keep the difference between left and right in mind, you probably shouldn’t ride overseas in the first place. But nobody’s perfect, and that definitely includes me. One thing is for sure: this failure is going to go a long way towards ensuring that I will remember the correct side in the future.

I like it that an organisation I have done my best for is now doing its best for me. I’ll keep you informed about the outcome of this. I mean, I’m pretty sure that my visuospatial perception and insight are okay; it remains to be seen whether reaction time and memory can match them!