As SMART motorways reach their first birthday in the UK on Tuesday (14 April), the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has expressed concern that widespread confusion still exists amongst motorway users on how best to use them.

SMART motorways were officially introduced this time last year to replace Managed Motorways as the solution to the nation’s congested motorways but concerns have been raised over their safety.

England’s first ‘all-lane running’ motorway, i.e. without a hard shoulder, opened on 14 April 2014. This was the 2.5 km stretch of the M25 between junctions 23 and 25.
Complete schemes, with variable speed limits and all-lane running, are in operation on the M1 (Junctions 10-13), M4 (Junctions 19-20), M5 (Junctions 15-17), M6 (Junctions 4-10a), M42 (Junctions 3a-7) and M62 (Junctions 26-29/30) and with part -time hard shoulder running on the M42 since 2006.

In addition all systems use lane control, overhead gantries and emergency refuge areas.

Part of the concern raised by motorists was the safety of those who had broken down on a motorway with no hard shoulder, and the increase in distances between safety refuges.

The IAM conducted a survey on the introduction of SMART motorways last year, which found 71 per cent of drivers said they would feel less safe on a motorway with no hard shoulder than a motorway with one.

Some 40 per cent of respondents said they were sceptical that new monitoring systems on SMART motorways, such as traffic detectors and CCTV, would protect them in the event of stopping in a running lane.

Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, said “There are many different motorway users out there and some are still confused and nervous about using SMART motorways – if they are aware of them at all.

She added: “Highways England must analyse incident data on a continuous basis and ensure that any lessons learned from the real world use of SMART motorways are implemented quickly. Ultimately, the smartest way to build awareness would be to allow learner drivers to use motorways under expert supervision.”

Transport Focus, which represents road users on the strategic road network (consisting of most motorways and significant trunk A roads) said in their report Road User Needs and Experiences, issued last month: “While some drivers were aware of smart motorways, some were not. Even those who have driven on smart motorways were not always familiar with the term, nor did they understand clearly how they operated.”

The IAM has produced a set of tips on using SMART motorways, and how to react on seeing different signals:

- A red cross without flashing beacons: The hard shoulder is only for use in an emergency or breakdown.
- A speed limit inside a red circle: It is absolutely mandatory and may have cameras enforcing it.
- A blank signal: Usual motorway rules apply.
- A white arrow with flashing beacons: This applies to all lanes and means you should move into the lane which the arrow points to.
- A red cross with flashing beacons: You should not continue to use the lane.
- A national speed limit sign is shown: The national speed limit, 70mph maximum, applies to all lanes apart from the hard shoulder.

Pay attention to the overhead gantries as they provide information on traffic conditions and lane access for the road ahead. The signals are:

- Controlled motorway – these have three or more lanes with variable speed limits. Hard shoulder use is strictly for emergency use only.
- Hard shoulder running – the hard shoulder will be opened at busy times and the speed limit will be reduced. Don’t use the hard shoulder unless overhead signs show that you can do so.
- All-lane running – there is no hard shoulder on these sections of the motorway. Obey the variable speed limits and do not stop on the motorway. In the event of an emergency, use an emergency refuge area, motorway service area or exit at the next junction.

You can see the IAM’s policy document on SMART motorways here

Thousands of visitors flocked to Prescott Bike Festival on Sunday 12 April 2015 to enjoy an action-packed day where rare classic, modern and famous motorcycles took to the historic hill climb course, and visitors got to rub shoulders with a raft of celebrity bikers.

The event received huge support from special ‘biker’ celebrities this year including four times World Superbike Champion and ‘King of the Jungle’ Carl Fogarty (thanks to our friends at Oily Rag Clothing), former three times British Superbike Champion and Blood Bike ambassador John Reynolds, motorcycle adventurer Charley Boorman, best known for making an epic 20,000-mile journey across the globe by motorbike with with film star and close friend Ewan McGregor plus former World Darts Champion Andy Fordham and making a surprise visit was Hollywood actor Eric Bana, best known for playing ‘Hulk’ in the Marvel Comics blockbuster film. All our stars came free of charge and spent several hours signing autographs and having pictures taken with fans.

Charley Boorman said ‘this was my first time to Prescott Bike Festival and I didn’t quite know what to expect. It was one of the nicest and fun biker meetings I’ve been too. It was exciting to ride such an historic hill climb course, every biker should come to the event and do it!.’

The festival was supported by many motorcycle clubs, trade stalls and dealers including those representing Ducati, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Enfield, Triumph, AJP, Harley, Victory, BMW and KTM. Speaking at the event Simon Belton, UK Marketing Manager for KTM UK said ‘We are the only manufacturer that has supported Prescott Bike Festival throughout the five years; we see it as a great place for us to interact with potential customers, and for them to watch our racers putting them through their paces on the hill. This year we were joined by racer Steve Plater, who thoroughly enjoyed himself. For the first time KTM provided test rides too, the location is beautiful and perfect for a ‘ride out’. What’s more the event supports a biker charity too.’

Throughout the day were demonstrations by Dave Coates Stunt Show, Skyzone Racings’ Chris Hodgson (British Supermoto Champion) and the NHCA Masters. Members of the public were able to participate in free test rides at the KTM Adventure Fleet Experience and passenger thrill rides in a Watsonian Squire Sidecar, a Morgan Three Wheeler, Grinnall Scorpion and a Triking 3 wheeler.

For the first time at Prescott we welcomed the MADMAX Race Team and their ‘Streetfighter’ Bike Madmax which took to the hill in spectacular fashion. The Madmax currently holds a land speed record for the World’s first jet turbine streetfighter street legal motorbike, having set a record of 224.9mph from a standing start. Racer Zef said ‘this was my first time to the event, and it was great fun and friendly informal atmosphere, I enjoyed blasting up the hill and chatting to fellow bikers that appreciate the engineering my creations. It's also nice to put a smile on people's faces, when they see the bike in action. I look forward to returning again.’

Off track, the paddock was crammed with bike displays, dealer zone, motorcycle clubs, demo areas, stunt show and hundreds of trade stands plus a whole host of entertainment with live music from UK hot rocking band, Josie and the Outlaws, roaming actors from the UK Garrison, the world’s largest and most accurate Star Wars costuming club, biker celebrity appearances, and, always popular, the George Formby tribute act from the motorcycle film, No Limit? Entertained the crowds and took the ‘Speed Demon’ 1920 ‘Shuttleworth Snap’ up the hill.

All proceeds from the event will go to The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes and its local branch Severn Freewheelers.

Festival organiser, Gordon Downie, said, “Prescott Bike Festival is the charity's biggest fundraising event of the year. We are hugely grateful to all the exhibitors, clubs, dealers, marshals, bands, celebrities, volunteers, sponsors and visitors that continue to support us and have all played their part in making the 2015 event such a huge success. It’s been our best ever festival in regards to visitor numbers, industry support and the weather! As a result of the event success we have introduced Shelsley Bike Festival, as a season closer, which will take place at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb on Sunday 13 September”.

About The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes

The Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes is the umbrella organisation representing 24 regional blood bike charities, all providing a motorcycle based, free delivery service to the NHS; moving vital medical supplies, blood and pathology samples from medical centres and hospitals throughout the UK. NABB member groups are closely involved in the transport of frozen human milk from the donor to the milk processing banks. This has been a real lifesaver due to the necessity of very premature babies having intolerance to anything but human milk. Run entirely by volunteers, NABB member groups have over 1500 active members with a fleet of 120+ emergency response vehicles. All NABB riders are trained in the movement of medical essentials and operate from individual regional charities but with a common goal – to alleviate suffering and reduce the funding pressures on the NHS.

Severn Freewheelers is the regional Blood Bike group operating Gloucestershire, Hereford & Worcester and North Wiltshire. Over 70 volunteers help Severn Freewheelers carry out a much-needed service. Severn Freewheelers runs five BMW R1200RTs and a Honda ST1300; all are emergency response equipped and the members handle some 4,000 call outs per annum, covering 150,000 miles.

This year’s Motorcycle Off-Road Experience (MORE) will be on for four days between Tuesday 7th July and Friday 10thJuly at Upavon in Wiltshire.

This will be the fourth year a ‘try out’ festival has been held, which allows people to try off-road riding for the first time. The price, which is heavily subsidised by the group behind MORE, will be £30. This includes hire of all kit, bikes and top class instruction for either a morning or afternoon session.

Places are allocated on a first come first served basis via the MORE website www.rideoffroad.co.uk. The ‘go live’ date is Saturday May 16th from 10am onwards via the website.

The group behind MORE includes Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki and Yamaha. Off-road sporting body AMCA run the practical side of the day and it is project managed by the MCIA to encourage new people to off-road riding and sport.

Sandra Cole, who manages the event for the MCIA says it’s suitable for a wide variety of people:

“You don’t need to be an experienced road rider or have a license. You just need to be interested in having a go off-road. Whether your long term goal is some gentle green laning, or becoming the next motocross star, you have to start somewhere and MORE gives you that first opportunity”.

www.mcia.co.uk

This weekend the Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda Racing kicked off its opening round at Motorland Aragon in Spain.

Javier Orellana took the win in a thrilling race from start to finish. Orellana placed second overall in last year’s championship and pushed hard to secure today’s win. In a close field of talented young riders Orellana battled with eventual second place finisher Paolo Grassia to the very end in a nail-biting eight-lap race.

Grassia started the race from third on the grid and was one of the front-runners throughout the whole race. Emanuele Pusceddu completed the EJC podium in third place. During practice on Friday Pusceddu suffered a massive crash and although was declared fit to race was carrying an injury going into today, but was still able to be challenging for the win.

Fourth place finisher Mika Perez had an impressive ride and led the pack for most of the race and looked to be taking the win. With three laps left the pack at the front closed and the Spaniard lost time and settled to fourth. Fifth place went to Hannes Soomer and the fastest Brit during the race was Stefan Hill who crossed the line in 14th place.

Meanwhile in the FIM Europe Women’s European Championship Avalon Biddle took the win and finished overall in 13th position. Biddle was also the fastest female in qualifying in 17th. At the start of the race the New Zealand rider was caught up in a first corner crash and lost time but soon made her way up the pack to win the women’s race and overall placed 13th.

Anastassia Kovalenko was the second fastest female and finished overall in 21st, and Laura Rodriguez finished one place behind in 22nd. Rodriguez had a brave race after crashing out in yesterdays qualifying and was still in some pain during the race. Viktoria Kis had a promising ride before crashing out on the fourth lap, where she was holding 18th position. Kis had qualified in 26th place.

The next round of the Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda Racing takes place next weekend at Assen, the Netherlands 17-19 April.

Javier Orellana – 1st

It’s been a really good weekend here at Aragon for the first round of the year. We started free practice well and I qualified fifth. Every EJC race is crazy with seven strong riders leading the group. I knew coming into the last turn I was strong and I braked late and got the win.

Paolo Grassia – 2nd

The race was fantastic and I am very happy to finish second, but also a little disappointed as I lost the win by 0.028s. I would like to say thank you to my mechanic and father and I look forward to the race at Assen.

Emanuele Pusceddu - 3rd

I was really happy to finish on the podium today at Aragon. I had a big crash on Friday so I was feeling a little sore from that, but for sure I will be fit for Assen and looking to win.

Avalon Biddle – 13th

I’m pretty happy to come away with the victory in the women’s class, it’s my first race competing at this level so I really nervous coming into the weekend and thinking don’t crash, which is unusual for me but I wanted to score the points for the women’s championship and that’s what I did. I was hoping for a top-ten overall and finished 13th, there was a big crash at the start and I ran wide and lost a few positions so had to pass the rest of the girls and make my way back up. I’m looking forward to Assen and hopefully a top-ten.

Gerry Bryce – Pata European Junior Cup director

It was an absolutely fantastic race and to have had that many riders so close at the end was a real display of some great riders and talent. We’re really happy to have Javier at the top: the pass he made at the end of the straight to take the win was phenomenal. Throughout the whole weekend all the riders have behaved professionally and shown immense talent, we’re very proud of them all and look forward to next weekend at Assen.

LEON HASLAM FINISHES HIS WEEKEND AT MOTORLAND DE ARAGON ON THE PODIUM.

FIFTH AND FOURTH PLACE FOR TEAM MATE JORDI TORRES IN HIS HOME ROUND.

LORENZO SAVADORI SECOND IN HIS DÉBUT ON THE SUPERSTOCK RSV4 RF.

Alcaniz (Spain), 12 April 2015 – The weekend at Motorland de Aragon ended with a podium and confirmation of the Rider and Manufacturer second place overall standings for Team Aprilia Racing - Red Devils.

Leon Haslam, after winning Superpole yesterday, rode his RSV4 to a third place finish in Race 2 and just barely missed the podium in Race 1.

For the morning race the English rider had to deal with the rather low “feared” temperatures that he had already faced yesterday morning and which damaged tyre performance, keeping him from staying in contact with the lead pack. In the afternoon, on hotter tarmac, Leon started from the pole position he earned yesterday and played it safe on the first laps, starting to push and engaging in a heated battle with Rea. The gap between the two changed constantly, which is the sign of a fierce battle in which Haslam yielded only at the end, bringing home an excellent third place finish on a track that has never been particularly kind to him.

Leon Haslam: “I'm really happy about this podium. I knew that it wouldn't be easy for us, both because of the low temperatures in Race 1 and because of the greater experience our rivals have on this track. In Race 2 we made a few small changes to the RSV4 but most of all the different conditions allowed us to be faster. I was disappointed not to have engaged in a close battle with Rea. I was faster than he was in a few spots of the track, but I lost ground in others. I'm confident as I look forward to the next rounds at Assen and Imola. They are two tracks that I like and our improvement this weekend is an excellent starting place. We know what our strong points are and race after race we are gathering fundamental data to improve. I'm sure that we'll be able to take advantage of this experience over the rest of the season.”

Another solid race for Jordi Torres, who doesn't seem in the least to feel his status as a rookie on the world champion bike. On his home track the Spaniard continued working hard to adapt to a new category and to fully comprehend how his RSV4 RF works. The fifth place finish in Race 1, but especially the fourth place in Race 2, shows his great consistency and growing familiarity with the Italian Superbike.

Jordi Torres: “These were two intense races. With the low temperatures we made a conservative choice in terms of tyres and in fact, in the second part of the race we had a good pace. The Race 2 conditions were much different. I used a few laps to adapt and that made me lose contact with the leaders. This is another difficulty of Superbike. Things can change a lot between the two races and it isn't always easy to adapt. In any case we did a good job this weekend. I earned some important points but above all I am continuing to gain experience, learning the secrets of this category. I've even changed my riding style a lot and I just need to take that final step, but I am leaving Aragon with good sensations.”

SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP

Lorenzo Savadori and Team Nuova M2 Racing also brought home an excellent result in the Aprilia RSV4 RF's début in the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race.

After leading the pack for the entire race the young Aprilia rider lost the top spot just a few metres from the wire. But with a second place at his début, and having shown an excellent level of competitiveness by taking pole position, he has definitely laid the foundation to be a top contender in the championship.