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BAND
Celebrities have joined forces with residents to protest over speeding motorcyclists, whom they claim are ruining the North York Moors National Park.
Personalities, with strong links to Yorkshire, drawn from sport, churches, theatre, literature, film and television, sport and politics have issued an open letter in
support of the demands of pressure group BAND (Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger) which is calling for a crackdown on bikers using the B1257 between Helmsley and Stokesley.
Group chairman Ken Braithwaite said: "This is the route known as the Yorkshire TT. It is the route where speed records are set, to be recorded and boasted about on biker
web-sites. And these are the same biker web sites that reassure their readers about the minimal police presence on the road. We want a 50 mph limit set, and we want it
enforced."
BAND wants police and highway authorities to control the dangers and environmental damage posed by speeding bikers and heavy lorries on the road through
Bilsdale.
Among the letter's signatories are actors Patrick Stewart, Brian Blessed and Lord (Brian) Rix, cricketers Geoffrey Boycott and Fred Trueman, political figures
William Hague and Sir Bernard Ingham, TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and writer Dame Antonia (A.S.) Byatt along with local figures such as Lord Feversham, the acting Dean of York
Minster and the Abbot of Ampleforth Timothy Wright.
They claim enjoyment of the peace and beauty of the park is being undermined for locals and visitors alike who are
being put at risk with fatal crashes becoming commonplace.
BAND's objectives include:
•a maximum speed limit of 50mph on all roads in the national park,
•the introduction of speed cameras and an enhanced police presence on the B1257,
•a crackdown on noise pollution by illegal motorcycle exhausts and
•a reduction in the number of heavy lorries travelling through the North York Moors.
Mr Braithwaite said: "Anyone who knows the area cannot fail to be horrified by the sheer noise and frightening carnage inflicted on its roads
every summer by the madness of literally hundreds of speeding bikers."
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the police devoted considerable resources to roads which
had a reputation for excessively fast riding or driving.
Throughout this summer the force would be operating a strict enforcement regime. North Yorkshire County
Council's traffic manager Graham Cressey said imminent new guidance from the Government was expected to give the authority more flexibility to introduce speeding restrictions
on rural roads.
EARL PEEL TABLES PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS ON YORKSHIRE MOTORBIKE MENACE
Yorkshire-based peer Earl Peel has tabled three Parliamentary Questions in the House of Lords relating to the noise and danger caused by motorcycles in
the area.
This move follows meetings with the pressure group BAND (Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger) who have been campaigning over the growing threat to the North York
Moors from the great numbers of speeding bikers attracted to its roads.
A spokesman for BAND said: "Lord Peel knows this area well, and he is very aware of just
how serious the problem has become. He sees the real dangers posed by these speeding bikes as an immediate and real threat to the local community, but he is also very concerned
about the impact on the farming community and their livestock, and on tourism to the area."
The BAND spokesman added that the Campaign was also delighted that
one of Earl Peel's Questions addressed the specific issue of illegally modified motorbikes. "This is a major problem in its own right. A very high proportion of these
speeding bikers have fitted illegal "racing cans" which increase bike noise to the point where engine howl can be heard for several miles across the Park. Noise
pollution is a serious environmental issue. The North York Moors National Park is a haven of peace and beauty and must be protected from this kind of illegal pollution."
The Questions tabled by Lord Peel are:
1)To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they plan to take to investigate the adverse effects on residents, visitors and livestock from
speeding by motorcyclists in the North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales National Parks.
2)To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they plan to take to
tackle motorcyclists in the North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales National Parks who adapt their motorcycles to increase their engine noise.
3)To ask Her
Majesty's Government what were the total costs of operating the North Yorkshire air ambulance service in the last four years; and what proportion of that cost can be
attributed to the attendance at accidents caused by speeding motorcyclists.
A Response from the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK) to BAND (Bilsdale Against Noise and Danger)
Introduction
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) was formed in 1973 and has represented motorcycle and scooter riders on a wide range of issues affecting all aspects
of the motorcycling community. Representing over 53,000 motorcyclists through individual membership and affiliated motorcycle clubs.
MAG is a founder member of the
Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA), a pan European body operating out of Brussels and funded by twenty two national groups representing every State in the
European Union (EU). In addition, new riders’ groups from the new member states have recently joined or have expressed interest.
The European Commission has produced
a Road Safety Action Plan calling for a reduction in accidents in Europe by 50%.
In response, FEMA has produced a document entitled ‘The European Agenda for
Motorcycle Safety’ which is available at www.fema.ridersrights.org
The purpose of this document is to
give legislators and decision makers a brief summary of riders' analyses of why motorcycle accidents happen and recommendations on how to improve motorcycle safety in some
selected areas of particular concern.
Therefore MAG feels it appropriate to include those sections that highlight concerns about the extreme "High Risk Takers"
and the "Safety Dialogue", in order to suggest answers to the problems associated with the North York Moors Park and specifically regarding the B1257.
Extreme "High Risk Takers (European Agenda for Motorcycle Safety)
It cannot be denied that motorcycling sometimes attracts "high risk takers" with an extreme behaviour. This minority often provokes other
road users, giving motorcycling a bad public reputation. It is doubtful whether any road safety initiative will change the attitude and behaviour of these individuals.
The extreme "high risk takers" should instead be motivated to practice their extreme "joie de vivre" in closed circuit riding, instead of on public roads,
where they often violate Highway Codes.
In some countries, insurance statistics show that motorcycles with a "sharp" image, attracting the extreme "high risk
takers” stand for as much as 70% of the settlement of insurance claims, while constituting only 10% of the total number of motorcycles in the country, indicating a high
accident involvement rate. Motorcycles with a "sharp" image may also have "built-in-expectations" of hard and aggressive riding.
Motorcycles with a
"sharp" image do not necessarily have the most powerful engines or the highest power-to-weight ratio. Therefore, restrictive legislation based on engine capacity, power
output or high power-to weight ratio would not at all solve the problem. Industry advertising is often designed to confirm the dreams and expectations of the extreme "high
risk seekers". It could help motorcycle safety if industry redesigned their advertising campaigns.
The "Safety Dialogue"(European Agenda for Motorcycle Safety)
The "safety dialogue" among motorcyclists is an important, often overlooked, instrument for passing on vital safety information and forming
positive attitudes towards safety:
Experienced riders share their knowledge of riding techniques, traffic strategies and machine maintenance with the novice riders,
preventing accidents caused by ignorance.
Experienced riders bring novice riders "back to reality" when exaggerated self-confidence makes their riding dangerous.
When motorcyclists meet at the clubhouse or the local roadside cafe, or ride together in groups, safety issues are often brought up and debated.
Thus, the "safety dialogue" among motorcyclists should be encouraged and developed.
Even though extremely useful and positive, the "safety dialogue" is
often anecdotal, lacking structure.
The "safety dialogue" would benefit largely from Pan-European educational programmes (booklets, CD Rom, website) providing
accurate and precise information on key subjects. Information distributed through articles in motorcycle magazines are an important part of the "safety dialogue".
The Minority
On whatever type of motorcycle they ride, the majority of motorcyclists are fully aware of the fact that they are vulnerable road users and that
motorcycling requires skills and focused, conscious behaviour. They ride with responsibility and with care, but there are the minority that are only lured into biking by the image
of stepping across the other side of respectability, “The Extreme High Risk Takers”
MAG believes that “the nub of the problem” lies with the
attitude of those who treat the public highway like a race track. The problem is a cultural one rather than one resulting simply from the potential of the power of modern machines.
MAG notes that Devon County Council in their campaign “In the Blind Spot” has employed the services of a psychiatrist to study behavioural attitudes of riders.
It should be stressed to the authorities that any measures should be carefully aimed at the problem riders and should minimise interfering with the majority of riders, who
are responsible law abiding citizens.
Blanket actions against all riders simply exacerbate the sense of injustice in which the real problem riders falsely consider
themselves the innocent victims.
MAG has supported the approach of offering riders caught speeding or involved in instances of riding that would lead to a conviction of
careless driving, a reassessment course. This involves giving the rider the option of “taking” the fine and points on their licence or attending a reassessment course.
There are several types of these courses in the UK. MAG supports these initiatives such as the one offered by the Devon County Council, which involves getting inside
the mind set, inside the helmet and changing the rider’s attitude.
Since its inception MAG has supported the police “Bikesafe” scheme which has now
received national recognition in assessing riders’ skills. MAG has a track record in supporting these and similar schemes, including organisations such as ROSPA and
IAM.
The purpose of supporting these initiatives has always been with the aim of ensuring that riders have the opportunity of improving their skills. Another
reason for MAG’s support of these initiatives is to prevent unnecessary draconian measures by government.
However, all the publicity and prompting of riders to
undertake further assessment and training cannot persuade those who are probably more in need i.e. the high risk takers, if they are not interested. What is necessary is a change
of this mindset.
Blanket Speed Limits
MAG does not agree with a blanket speed limit of 50mph.
There is little doubt that in certain circumstances, drivers need to reduce their speed on rural roads because of passing walkers, cyclists, horses etc.
MAG believes that the proposed 50mph limit will still be too fast and not appropriate for these occasions, yet will be artificially low on other
occasions and could have a detrimental effect on road safety.
Where new, artificially low limits have been introduced, regardless of road conditions (Somerset, Suffolk, W.
Berks., Oxon), drivers can no longer rely on these speed limits to indicate a safe speed for the road. As such, they begin to treat all limits as arbitrary, negating any safety
effect of other, more rationally set, limits.
The national speed limit in the park is 60mph, lowering this to 50mph, a decrease of 10mph, will not affect the minority who
would speed in inappropriate places irrespective of any designated speed limit.
Noise
Residents have asked in their open letter for police action against illegal noise pollution by motorbikes within the North Yorkshire Moors National
Park.
Motorcycles when produced by motorcycle manufacturers are fitted with legal exhausts which comply with strict European noise levels.
The problem exists when
riders’ fit illegal exhausts/end cans, these are supplied by accessory manufacturers and some manufacturers in their official accessory catalogues.
MAG suggests that
the problem related to bikes with illegal exhausts/end cans is that people then equate noise with speed.
Riders seem to be fuelled by certain motorcycling magazines that
equate noise with speed and small increases in power on motorcycles. This may be useful in a race environment, but not in real world riding terms on public roads. In fact
evidence suggests that a motorcycle can be ridden safer and smoother in the correct gear without a rider listening and riding to the noise of their engine. As previously
mentioned, this is due to rider education and attitude.
In response to BAND’s concerns, the North Yorks Police have decided to take the following
action: “Operating a strict enforcement regime – extra high-profile patrols - a series of get - tough action days with large numbers of Road Policing officers
enforcing the law on roads with records of serious motorcycle accidents, or complaints of anti- social rider behaviour-fast tracking the worst speed offenders through the
courts.”
MAG recognises that the police must enforce the law on the road but some of the problem riders are visiting from outside Yorkshire. Areas of
Enforcement-Education should be addressed with the cooperation of other police forces and the motorcycle community as a whole, so that all are aware of the concerns and the
problems associated with the North Yorkshire Moors National Park.
MAG would be interested to find out from residents in the area, if the noise problem is perceived as one
type of bike e.g. Sports, touring, custom, off road.
All of these types of motorcycles can be fitted with illegal exhausts each with a different sound signature. So is the
problem just with sports bikes that seem to have been identified as the main source of complaint relating to noise and speed? Or are there other issues to consider?
This
leads to the need for an investigation through research and collaboration in order to find a solution to the perceived problem.
Research and Collaboration
In the interests of clarity, MAG would be willing to cooperate with residents and the police in reviewing the events which have lead up to the current
situation.
This would include carrying out any relevant study to identify problem hotspots and any other issues which would assist in finding solutions for motorcyclists,
residents and the police.
The research could include qualitative and quantitative interviews and would ultimately aim to produce a report in order to give a response
to all interested parties (to avoid any suggestion of bias, the results of the study would be made available for discussion prior to publication).
This report could then be used as a template for other regions that have similar problems.
Trevor Baird
Director of Public Affairs
Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK)
MAG (UK)
PO BOX 750
Rugby
CV21 1QZ
Tel: 0870 444 8 448
E mail: public-affairs@mag-uk.org
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