News from the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) Future of BikeSafe secure nationally but remains uncertain in London. The future of BikeSafe is secure nationally - TfL apologises for delays and uncertainty but admits that a joint review of how BikeSafe courses should be delivered is taking place and no final decision has been made. MAG’s Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement, Colin Brown, met the new NPCC lead for motorcycling and BikeSafe, Deputy Chief Constable at Derbyshire Constabulary, Simon Blatchley, to discuss the future of BikeSafe at a national level. DCC Blatchley confirmed that whilst individual forces make local decisions on provision of BikeSafe, there remains unwavering support for the scheme at national level. Funding and delivery models vary at force level and there will always be consideration of ways to improve and reap greater benefits from the scheme, but there is no question of waning support for BikeSafe from the NPCC. Getting a response from the London Mayor’s Office has been more challenging. A formal statement from a TfL spokesperson received by MAG yesterday states: Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to about the future of BikeSafe courses while we looked into the issues raised and discussed with senior officers within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). We recognise that MPS and TfL responses to your questions have caused some confusion and concern with the riding community and for this we apologise. The MPS remains fully committed to Vision Zero and is working with us and other partners to reduce risk and harm on London’s roads. Reducing road danger is a shared responsibility across teams within the Roads and Transport Policing Command which TfL jointly funds with the MPS, as well as the wider MPS. While the Motorcycle Safety Team (MST) has an important role in improving the safety of motorcyclists, there are many other teams involved in this activity including roads policing teams and Safer Transport Teams. The riding community’s support for police-led BikeSafe courses and strength of feeling on this issue is evident. We, along with the MPS, want to reassure you that no final decision on future delivery of BikeSafe courses has yet been made. Due to resourcing constraints and demands on the MST, the MPS is currently only offering a limited number of these sessions in person. The MST remains focussed on motorcycle safety, but has needed to prioritise activity that is most impactful in tackling risks to powered two-wheelers and making the most effective use of warranted police resources. Given the pressures on the MPS, we have agreed that we should undertake a joint review of how BikeSafe courses should be delivered. We will work together to explore whether there are more effective and efficient ways to deliver these workshops and make them more accessible to higher risk riders, more often. It is important that the review considers the views of and impacts on key stakeholder groups such as the Motorcycle Action Group. We would like to arrange a meeting with you so that MPS and TfL officers can hear your views on what is working well and areas for improvement. When asked for an initial comment on the TfL statement, Colin Brown said: “It is disappointing that it has taken so long to get a formal response. Disappointing also that the response has not come directly from the Mayor’s Office. Riders will not support an online only delivery model which appears to be the current offering. The fact that ‘no final decision’ has been made is not the answer we would have wanted. I can assure our members and all riders in London that we will be stating our views robustly in the meeting we have just been offered.” The request for urgent meetings with senior officials following the Silvertown tunnel revelations has also been met with an offer of a separate strategic roundtable discussion in which MAG and other motorcycle rider representative organisations will have an opportunity to share wider concerns with senior officials. Commenting on this wider offer Colin said: “We are not in a good place when it takes such public demands to get riders’ interests to be given any hope of taking centre stage. For too long London’s riders have been facing an increasing hostility to a legitimate transport choice, coupled with an apparent diminishing interest in their safety and welfare. It is time for cards to be placed firmly on the table and fundamental changes in attitude to happen.” MAG will continue to report on developments. Contact MAG at 01926 844 064 or [email protected]
News from the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) Motorcyclists’ voice heard at Stormont On Wednesday 11th September, motorcyclists in Northern Ireland took their case for recognition of their safety needs to Stormont to put it to the people who can make the right decisions - the NI Assembly Committee for Infrastructure, which advises the Minister for Infrastructure on policy and legislation development. The purpose of our meeting was to give the committee members the motorcyclists' perspective on for example, and hear what motorcyclists think can be done to make improvements. Martyn Boyd, the NI Representative for Motorcycle Action Group (MAG: www.mag-uk.org) put forward our perspective on the state of our roads and road safety in general concerning motorcyclists and how we are affected by poor road conditions at a Committee evidence session. He was assisted by Colin Brown, MAG-UK Director of Campaigns & Political Engagement who attended via video link. Martyn made it clear that Northern Ireland’s roads are in crisis and, in many places, the conditions present lethal hazards to motorcyclists. he also made it clear MAG believes the Dept for Infrastructure’s (DfI) criteria for repairing road defects discriminate against the safety of motorcyclists, who are a defined vulnerable road user group, just like cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians, whose safety should be given extra consideration. Many of the road defects left unrepaired because they don’t fit the maintenance criteria put riders in peril. Martyn told the Committee of our intense disappointment at having our detailed submission to the NI Road Safety Review, as requested by the DfI, seemingly completely ignored with none of our sensible and effective ideas for improvements being included in the new strategy. This sends motorcyclists a message that our safety is unimportant. This meeting with the high-level people who can affect positive change on these issues for riders was the culmination of ten years of campaigning by Martyn and MAG. We believe we were heard loud and clear by the members of this influential cross-party committee and hope to see beneficial changes. The Motorcycle Action Group Ltd (MAG) formed in 1973 is a civil rights organisation representing over 60,000 riders, dedicated to influencing political decisions and social attitudes for the benefit of motorcycling and motorcyclists. Contact MAG Central Office on 01926 844 064 | [email protected]
