Motorcycling road safety initiative RideSafe BackSafe is seriously concerned about the number of learner riders who are riding illegally, having failed to renew their CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) certificate.

A CBT certificate is valid for just two years at which point a moped or motorcycle rider is required to retake their CBT course; unless they have  passed both parts of the test to acquire their full motorcycling licence, or moved on to driving a car instead. 

Road Safety Adviser and RideSafe BackSafe team member, Rob Winn, explains; “If you do nothing, your CBT expires after two years and by continuing to ride on public highways you are committing a road traffic offence. This would also mean that your moped or motorcycle insurance is no longer valid, which is another offence that can result in your bike being seized by the Police and possibly crushed. What makes this all the more alarming is the fact that your CBT is a basic, ‘entry level’ introduction to riding on the roads and really should be seen as a short-term stepping stone to other training and safer travel“.

Recent figures issued by Transport Statistics show that the number of people riding mopeds and motorcycles has increased dramatically and the motorcycle population as a whole now travels in excess of five billion kilometres per year.

Although moped and motorcycle riders only make up about one percent of all road traffic, they still account for about 20% of all collision casualties and 16 to 24 year old riders are at greatest risk.

Rob Winn continues, “With the cost of fuel and insurance going up dramatically, many people are living on a tighter budget and this may cause some learner riders to simply not bother renewing or ‘moving on’ from a CBT certificate, some may even just forget. RideSafe BackSafe is keen to highlight the fact that no reminder is issued when the two year time limit has expired. Casualty statistics also tell us that riders who do take additional training are less likely to be involved in road traffic collisions, so we are encouraging inexperienced riders in particular to develop their riding skills, as well as remaining road legal“.

More information can be found at www.ridesafebacksafe.co.uk. – and learner riders can join the bikers forum through the website to ask for advice and guidance from motorcycling experts and enthusiasts.

The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) also provides an informative leaflet on the subject entitled ‘Routes to motorcycling'.

The British Motorcyclists Federation have today given a mixed reaction to the publication of the Northern Ireland Road Safety Strategy to 2020.
 
While the BMF welcomes the setting up of a user forum and especially the dropping of earlier proposals for lower speed limits for motorcycles, it maintains its objection to a proposed ban on unaccompanied riding by learner motorcyclists. This is a premature proposal say the BMF given that Compulsory Basic Training has not yet been implemented in Northern Ireland.
 
The new strategy* follows a wide ranging consultation process in which while motorcycling was recognised as a key part, it was seen more as a victim of circumstances and not as is often the case, the sole cause of casualties.
 
In submitting its views the BMF supported the setting up of a user forum and is pleased to see that this has been included in the strategy. It has also welcomed the fact that a proposal it objected to, the introduction of differential speed limits for motorcycles, has been dropped.
 
Amongst many other measures the BMF supported and are now included in the strategy, is the consideration of motorcycling in the design of new roads, installing motorcycle ‘friendly’ barriers, the development of a motorcycling safety strategy for Northern Ireland and an approved motorcycle instructor register.
 
Commenting Chris Hodder, the BMF’s Government Relations Executive said: “We are pleased that many of our comments have been accepted, but the ban on unaccompanied learning is unnecessary and will be disastrous for the small bike market. It shouldn’t even be considered until the CBT system has had a chance to play out.”
 
The BMF will now play a full part in the new forum and be pressing home its views, particularly on the learner rider aspects.
 
*The strategy document can be found here: 

Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two second-round World Superbike championship races at Donington Park in the UK from the second row of the grid after setting the eighth fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole qualifying sessions.

Rea’s Spanish team-mate, Ruben Xaus, was unable to progress beyond the first stage of Superpole and will start from the fourth row as his compatriot, Carlos Checa, took his second pole position of the season.

Rea improved the setting of his CBR1000RR after yesterday’s tyre problems and was fastest in this morning’s second free practice session. However, he and his crew opted to use one of his two qualifying tyres in Superpole 1, which meant he was left with no qualifier in the final shoot-out with which to improve his time.

In seeking to improve his own set up for Donington’s sweeping curves and stop-start hairpins, Xaus went the wrong way and the 33-year-old was unable to improve on his best time from yesterday.

The first of tomorrow’s two 23-lap races around the re-invigorated 4.023km (2.5 mile) Donington Park circuit will start at 12.00 local time, with the second outing at 15.30.

Jonathan Rea – P8

Today was not so bad really, although I guess we could have gone a bit faster in Superpole 1 on the race tyre so that we didn’t have to use a qualifier. But we wanted to make sure of getting into the last eight and I then had to go out on a second-hand qualifying tyre which ran out of grip pretty quickly. We’ve worked hard all day trying to cover all the bases for tyre options. With the temperature changing, we need to know which of the three combinations works best in all conditions but the track temperature tomorrow will really dictate which one we use. We still need to find some time in the final corner – I need a little bit more en gine braking at the end of the turn and a bit more punch to get out. I feel OK in the first three sectors though but it’s going to be a very tactical race. The ones who’ve worked hardest over the weekend will be the ones who choose the right tyre for the race conditions. Hopefully we’ve done our homework.

Ruben Xaus – P16

For me, this weekend is like another pre-season test. We tested during the race in Phillip Island in 30 degrees and now the conditions are much colder so we must test some more things here at Donington! The way the bike behaves is completely different here to Australia. Yesterday we were OK and had some problems in the final section of the track. We tried to improve that today, when it was much colder, and we went the wrong way and I couldn’t improve. We had grip and braking problems. As the crew said: “We know the bike, but we don’t know you so well yet.” Of course, I know myself, but I don’t know the bike so well yet! I’m much happier than I was in Phillip Island though, because there we were lost. I hope tomorrow we can make two good races and get some good top ten points and go to Assen with even more good information.

Ronald ten Kate – team-manager

We’re definitely in better shape than we were 24 hours ago. It seems we have quite some pace, but tomorrow will be all about tyres so we won’t really know how much pace until the races are done. I believe we have found ourselves a race tyre so considering yesterday’s set back I’m quite satisfied with Jonathan’s second row start. On Ruben’s side, we went in the wrong direction today. Luckily we realised that and we’ll turn things around for tomorrow when the aim will still be for him to finish inside the top ten.

2011 World Superbike championship, round two – Donington Park, UK
Final qualifying results:
1 Carlos Checa (ESP) Ducati 1m28.099s
2 Leon Haslam (GBR) BMW 1m28.365s
3 Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki) 1m28.556s
4 Jakub Smrz (CZE) Ducati) 1m28.561s
8 Jonathan Rea (GBR) Castrol Honda 1m29.438s
16 Ruben Xaus (ESP) Castrol Honda 1m29.613s

As the sun starts shining many of us dream about packing up and taking off on a travel experience. Although for most people it remains just that, a dream, a motorcycle trip brings out the adventurous side in bikers.

In a survey carried out for the Motor Cycle Industry Association almost half of bikers (45%) said their dream motorcycle adventure would be 'Coast to Coast in America. The second most popular trip was a 'Mediterranean tour" (26%) closely followed by the adventurous 20% who dream of travelling 'The Silk Road - London to Bejing'.

A British adventure with all it's breathtaking beauty and scenery came in last place with a 4% of riders considering 'Lands End to John O Groats ' . This was just beaten by a 'Sahara Desert' trip chosen by 5% of the riders.

Motorcycle travel experiences are becoming a growing hobby for British motorcyclists with motorcycle-related tourism expenditure in the UK at round  £569 million, supporting approximately 13,250 tourism jobs.  Overseas tourism accounts for around £17 million of tourism spend and around 23,000 international riders visit the UK compared to 100,000 riders who take tourism trips abroad each year.

UK based tours are typically focused on the more rural and scenic areas of the country, including Cornwall, the Lake District, Wales and particularly Scotland. Most overseas tours have traditionally focused on destinations in Europe and the US, although there has been significant recent growth in tours to Northern Africa, South America, Asia and Australasia. 

Steve Kenward MCI's CEO commented, " There is a great opportunity for home businesses to tap into the UK market as well as benefiting from the 23,000 international riders that visit the UK annually".

" The average motorcyclist currently spends around £380 per annum taking into account food, drink accommodation and other services, but with the right promotion and tailor-made services there is plenty of room for growth to entice both UK and overseas travelers to get on their bikes and enjoy our open roads."

Anyone who is interested in getting onto two wheels can get started with the motorcycle industry's Get On campaign. It is easy to sign up for a one-hour free ride with a local trainer by going to the website www.geton.co.uk. You'll get an hour riding a scooter or geared motorbike on a safe area away from the road, with a qualified motorcycle instructor, as well as access to a helmet and other safety kit.

A series of measures that threaten riders’ freedom to make informed choices, potentially putting riders in harms way and threatening the right to free-movement, have been proposed by the European Commission (the body of appointed civil servants that shapes motorcycle policy).

A committee of elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is currently considering these proposals and has already started to consider recommendations in advance of a critical vote on 4th May 2011.

You can help make a difference to the outcome of that vote by asking your elected MEPs not to support the most controversial recommendations and biggest threats to rider choice, including:

Compulsory Advanced Braking Systems (ABS) ABS does not work well on loose surfaces.The costs of fitting, maintenance and repair have not been properly assessed. ‘Anti-Tampering’ measures (restricting riders’ choice of air filters, engine management systems, internal parts, exhausts, sprockets, tyres, etc.) The riders’ ability to make modifications to suit their own situation is to be regulated.NB: enforcement through a new Europe-wide super-MoT is being proposed separately.

Compulsory Automatic Headlights-On (AHO) Headlights can camouflage and confuse as well as draw attention. All new cars are to be fitted with permanent lighting which will cause more confusion. Road-side Spot-checks targeting riders Riders are to be detained for random checks of emissions and modifications.It is unacceptable to deny freedom of movement in this way.

You must act quickly.

Below are details of how you can make a difference by getting your elected MEP to support MAG’s campaign against further restriction of riders’ choices…

The committee of MEPs that is responsible for negotiating the proposals is known as the Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee ‘IMCO’.

The MEP who represents the IMCO committee in negotiations over the Commission’s proposals (known as the ‘Rapporteur’) is Wim VAN DER CAMP, a biking MEP from the Netherlands who is generally considered bike-friendly.

MAG(UK) is opposed to some of Mr Van Der Camp’s key recommendations to the IMCO committee:

1. Mandatory ABS
The Commission’s internal Impact Assessment admits that the data on the effectiveness and costs of compulsory ABS is weak.
MAG opposes the removal of choice in principle.
Where riders choose bikes with ABS the rider must be able to turn the system off when riding on loose surfaces such as gravel.

2. Mandatory Automatic Headlight-On
The Commission’s internal Impact Assessment admits that the data on the effectiveness of AHO is also weak.
MAG is opposed in principle to removing control over vehicle lighting from the rider who is best placed to judge whether using a headlamp in daylight conditions might put them at risk through blending in to a bright background or confusing other road users.  Environmental and road safety objectives are not well served by permanent lighting.

3. Tough-line on ‘Anti-Tampering’
The Commission’s internal Impact Assessment admits that the data on the effectiveness of Anti-Tampering is also weak. The perceived problem is said to be that young riders should be prevented from tuning low-power bikes beyond the performance limits allowed by their driving licence.  This is an issue about enforcement of licencing, the ability of qualified riders to de-restrict or otherwise tune their vehicle should not removed.
MAG does not accept that individual riders’ modifications to the drive train will lead to significantly worse emissions, fuel consumption and safety across the total population of motorcycles. Riders must retain the ability to make modifications to suit their own situation as well as maintain and repair their vehicles.

4. Regular random spot-checks at road side
MAG believes that targeting motorcycle riders for random detention at the road-side is an unacceptable restriction on their rights of free-movement.

MAG(UK) asks for a more rider-friendly stance in some of the other recommendations to the IMCO committee:

5. Mandatory On-Board Diagnostic equipment
OBD equipment to monitor emissions performance should not be designed to interfere with the stability or capability of two-wheeled vehicles or to monitor the movements of individuals. MAG proposes that the operation of OBD equipment should preclude limp - home/disable modes triggered by emissions and that there should be safeguards on the extent of data-logging permitted.

6. Small-series and Individual Vehicle Approvals
The ability of new entrants to the motorcycle market should not be restricted by the reduction of the present upper limit of 200 vehicles for small-scale production exemption from the proposed regulations. The ability of individuals to import or build individual vehicles should not be further restricted.  The proposals in Article 42 and elsewhere are far more draconian than the present system for member states to approval individual vehicles.

MAG(UK) supports Mr Van Der Camp’s other recommendations to the IMCO committee, including the proposals for:

* Future Emissions limits
* Durability of new vehicles
* Eco-labelling to demonstrate real-world fuel-consumption and CO2 emission benefits
* Access to Repair and Maintenance Information by independent repairers and individuals

How to contact and persuade your elected Members of the European Parliament.

The European Parliament is the elected body representing your interests in the European Union.  You have a right to seek their support on issues that matter to you. The background information about issues such as
compulsory ABS, and ‘Anti-Tampering’ given above should help you to start a reasoned discussion with any MEP. The UK is divided into twelve electoral regions made up of the nations and regions of the UK. Each region has between three and ten MEPs and each MEP in a region represents each person living there.  The number of MEPs per region is :Eastern - 7, East Midlands - 5, London - 8, North East - 3, North West - 8, South East - 10, South West - 6, West Midlands - 6, Yorkshire and Humber - 6, Wales - 4, Scotland - 6, Northern Ireland - 3.

Riders are urged to contact ALL of the MEPs who represent their constituency as soon as possible and ask them to support MAG’s objectives.

In particular, if you are a supporter of the political party an MEP belongs to, it may help to make this clear and to discuss how you believe the values and objectives the party stands for would be well-served by support for our positions on mandatory ABS, restrictions on modifications, etc.

To find out who your MEPs are, go to www.ridersarevoters.org

Riders living in GREATER LONDON, the EAST MIDLANDS, SOUTH WEST, WEST MIDLANDS or SCOTLAND have a particular opportunity to help raise support among some of their MEPs who sit on ‘IMCO’, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee that is handling the Type Approval proposals within the European Parliament.

Three MEPs representing UK constituencies are listed as ‘members’ of the IMCO, including the Chairman.  Another five MEPs representing UK constituencies are listed as ‘substitutes’ who stand in for members of the IMCO if they can’t attend the committee from time to time.

Riders living in the WEST MIDLANDS constituency (Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire) are urged to contact:

Malcolm HARBOUR (Conservative Party) - Email:
[email protected]

Malcolm Harbour is the CHAIRMAN of the IMCO committee.  He has a professional background as a consultant in the automotive industry and holds a degree in mechanical engineering.  He will have a good a grasp of the technical issues (NB: these Commission proposals for future regulation of motorcycle design and construction are similar to the way that Type-Approval has worked in the automotive for some years).

Riders living in the SOUTH WEST constituency (Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar) are urged to contact:

Trevor Colman (United Kingdom Independence Party) - a member of the IMCO committee.
Email: [email protected]

Ashley Fox (Conservative Party) - a substitute member of the IMCO committee.
Email: [email protected]

Riders living in SCOTLAND are urged to contact:

Catherine STIHLER (Labour Party) - a MEMBER of the IMCO committee.
Email: [email protected]

Ian HUDGHTON (Scottish National Party) - a SUBSTITUTE member of the IMCO committee.
Email: [email protected]

George LYON (Liberal Democrats Party) - a SUBSTITUTE member of the IMCO committee.
Email: [email protected]

Riders living in the EAST MIDLANDS constituency (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire) are urged to contact:

Emma McCLARKIN (Conservative Party) - a SUBSTITUTE member of the IMCO.
Email: [email protected]

Riders living in LONDON are urged to contact:
Claude MORAES (Labour Party) - a SUBSTITUTE member of the IMCO.
Email: [email protected]

www.mag-uk.org
www.ridersarevoters.org