What triggered the review of Western Australia's Motorcycle GLS?
A review of WA’s Motorcycle Graduated Licensing System (GLS) was a recommendation of the State Government’s Road Safety Roundtable held in September 2024 to address an increase in WA’s road deaths and the rate of young people being killed and injured on WA roads.
In the last several years, an alarming number of young riders have been killed or seriously injured on WA roads. The Road Safety Commission’s Road Safety Action Plan 2024–2026 provides a useful motorcycle safety snapshot that points to the need for action.
What is best practice for a Motorcycle GLS?
An effective Motorcycle GLS should incorporate a variety of measures designed to reduce crash rates among novice riders. Although motorcycle licensing systems vary across Australian and New Zealand jurisdictions, they all share key foundational elements. These include multiple licensing stages, minimum age and tenure requirements, mandatory training and/or assessment, and stage-specific restrictions — all aimed at enhancing road safety.
This review draws on the Austroads and New South Wales Motorcycle GLS papers as best practice models against which to evaluate WA’s approach.
What key changes are proposed?
All proposed enhancements to the Motorcycle GLS are centred on two key elements:
- Separating the Motorcycle GLS from the Car GLS.
- The introduction of mandatory training and assessment at two critical stages — the pre-learner stage and the pre-provisional stage.
The Motorcycle GLS has been reviewed across four key areas: Licensing, Rider Restrictions, Rider Training and Assessment, and the modernisation of Rider Training Delivery. These reforms will affect all aspects of the GLS.
What else is happening?
This consultation follows a separate review of the GLS for novice car drivers in 2025.
DTMI is also reviewing the Motor Vehicle Drivers Instructors Act 1963, recognising the direct and vital impact driving instructors have on learner riders and their contribution to developing safer riders and road safety outcomes.