BMF NEWS ROUND UP – October 2024
The monthly news round-up, brought to you by the BMF
Meetings attended for the BMF by Paul Morgan and Anna Zee in October.
PARLIAMENTARY ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR TRANSPORT SAFETY (PACTS) ANNUAL JOINT WORKING PARTY
Held at the University of Warwick – Attended in person by Anna Zee and online by Paul Morgan CBE
Event attended by more than 60 PACT members.
A morning plenary session was held on the topic of Safety Critical Software, with various expert speakers discussing the challenges and opportunities as transport systems become increasingly automated. It was agreed that standards and legislation needed to be set to ensure that future automated vehicle systems respond to the premise that human life is more valuable than infrastructure or vehicles. There were separate break-out groups for the Vehicle Design, Road User Behaviour, Road Environment and Rail Safety Working Parties.
The Vehicle Design Working Party looked further at autonomous vehicle design, including component design and analysis; the Road Environment Working Party saw a presentation on a new initiative on the Fosse Way, a route historically prone to collisions, that aims to combine innovative engineering solutions with education and marketing to change driver behaviour; an approach also relevant to reducing motorcycle KSIs caused by the behaviour of other drivers on the road; and the Road User Behaviour Working Party heard a presentation from the RAC Foundation on Graduated Driver Licensing and a separate presentation on de-escalating road rage through the use of mindfulness techniques for drivers.
HARINGEY COUNCIL POWERED TWO-WHEELER ROAD DANGER REDUCTION PROGRAMME
Remote Webinar led by Haringey Council – Attended online by Anna Zee and Paul Morgan CBE
Held as part of Haringey Council’s engagement with motorcycle groups to reduce accidents and collisions involving motorcycles across Haringey. The Haringey PTW Study Report was discussed, designed to reduce motorcycle KSIs across Haringey. It was agreed that the BMF would participate in site visits to the Top 10 collision hotspots across the district to look at the design of the current road layout and junctions and make recommendations for improvement.
LOUISE HAIG SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT
LILLIAN GREENWOOD MP Minister for the Future of Roads
Meetings attended by Craig Carey-Clinch NMC (representing the BMF). The meeting with the SoS for Transport was a high-level session to discuss work to be taken forward by the Government with key partners to deliver Labour’s manifesto commitment to design and implement a new Road Safety Strategy. Attention was drawn to outstanding issues for motorcycle safety, including the need to reform training and testing, default access to bus lanes and work to refresh the former Government’ motorcycle strategy. The meeting with the Roads Minister attended by members of the Pothole Partnership was focused on a detailed look at how Labour’s manifesto commitment to fix the state of the UK road network could become a reality. The motorcycle message was to use the available funding intelligently focusing on permanent repairs rather than costly and ineffective temporary repairs. Subsequently the Chancellor announced in the budget an extra £500 million for local road maintenance in 2025/6 alongside a commitment to fix an extra 1 million potholes a year.
NMC POLICY COUNCIL
Held at ACU HQ Rugby – Attended in person by Anna Zee and Paul Morgan CBE
Updates and discussion on NMC priorities and policy, including discussion on Ministerial engagement (see 4. above) and next steps for motorcycle lobbying following the General Election, plans to host a Parliamentary reception with NMDA in December to further motorcycling priorities and next steps to address anti-social and illegal motorcycling, which remains a Government priority.
MCIA OFF-ROAD BIKE SPORT
Remote meeting hosted by MCIA
Updates and wider discussion on future motorcycle off-road bike sports licensing, the current state of new motorbike sales and motorcycle theft. Motorcycle Live is to be held from 16-24 November at the NEC Birmingham featuring a new Saturday Night Festival this year with live performances and 2 wheeled stunts.
LONDON PARKING CHARGES UPDATE
Save London Motorcycling, which is fighting Hackney Council’s proposal to charged powered two-wheelers for parking, has set up a Just Giving page to help fund its legal case – this goes to court on 23rd January 2025. The Council plans to charge residents’ motorcycles exactly the same as cars, from between £50 a year for electric to £596 a year for some petrol bikes, and business permits up to £1560! Commuters would pay up to £10 for all-day parking.
Hounslow Council has also announced plans to charge bikes, but has agreed to a meeting with Save London Motorcycling.
Camden Council is consulting on new parking charges – anyone living or working in Camden should remind Councillors and MP that riders are opposed to these charges.
To contribute to Save London Motorcycling’s legal fund: justgiving.com/crowdfunding/slmc
In Other News:
Bad news first – three major dealership chains went into administration in September and October – Completely Motorbikes (covering 21 showrooms), Saltaire Motorcycles, and Pidcocks. The closures reflect a weak UK motorcycle market, with sales of big, expensive (and profitable) bikes struggling. And Italian electric motorcycle pioneer Energica also went to the wall.
Better news in the electric world is that the British-built Maeving appears to be thriving, now exporting bikes to the USA and receiving a Simms Medal from the RAC for motorcycling innovation – not that they can be complacent, with Royal Enfield’s 125cc-equivalent e-motorcycle recently spotted testing in Barcelona.
Can it be 25 years since the Suzuki Hayabusa – the 190mph hyperbike – was launched in the UK? Yes it can, and Suzuki was planning to celebrate the fact with a special ‘Busa display at Motorcycle Live. Owners of the earliest examples are now eligible to join the Vintage Motorcycle Club, which accepts any bike over 25 years old.
After a public consultation, Bath & North East Somerset Council will not be charging motorcycles for parking after all. It’s moving to emissions-based charging and was proposing to include bikes, but responses to the consultation, and the practical difficulties of giving bikes paper parking tickets, put paid to that. They haven’t ruled it out for the future though..
.
Still on taxing issues, road pricing is back on the agenda, with the Tony Blair Institute calling on the Government to introduce road pricing at a low rate, combined with the existing fuel duty. In the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves retained the freeze on fuel duty frozen, including the 5p/litre discount, but as the UK’s cars, vans and bikes transition to electric (reducing income from fuel duty), this issue will return. Funding our roads is also behind the possibility that Snake Pass could close. One of Britain’s best known biking roads, the famously twisty A57 needs expensive repair work to fix landslips – Derbyshire County Council says it doesn’t have the spare cash.
The SHARP helmet rating system is being relaunched, 17 years after it first appeared. The government-funded scheme, intended as an independent guide to helmet effectiveness, is run by the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire – one finding has been that price doesn’t necessarily correlate to performance, with one budget helmet recently award a five-star rating.
Harley-Davidson’s Scottish heritage is under threat. The all-American brand was actually founded in 1903 by second and third generation immigrants – William A. Davidson’s grandparents were Scottish, and now their cottage in Netherton, Angus could face demolition. The Davidson Legacy Preservation Group is seeking to raise funds to preserve it – to help the cause, go to: gofundme.com/f/save-the-davidson-legacy-cottage-from-getting-bulldozed.
And finally…the Sidecar Guys have sent a new Guinness distance record for reversing a sidecar outfit, steering a Ural + sidecar backwards 107 miles over just under 14 hours – they refuelled on the go with no stops, even for the loo…
Written by
Peter Henshaw – Editor BMF editor@bmf.co.uk
Anna Zee – Political Technical Services Director anna.zee@bmf.co.uk
Paul Morgan – Government Relations Executive paul.morgan@bmf.co.uk
