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Public Affairs Director Political Report: From The Minutes of Decembers National Committee Meeting:
Overview
The main aspects of the political work are contained in this report.
Although “pure” political activity seems to be sparse, the lobbying and issues surrounding the Third EU Driving Licence Directive in Europe is still taking up the main stream of my time.
This is coupled with the end of the contract of the commercial contractor, a lot of this work has fallen back onto my shoulders, as the main contact at the MAG Office for liaising with the Directors on the MAG UK Ltd Board.
The main issues have been tying the loose ends and taking forward the commercial agreement with Ebike Insurance/Southern Rock/New Line Solicitors.
Advertising features with BSH, 100% Biker, National Bikesafe magazine and the setting up of procedures in the office and website for referencing where people are joining, specifically regarding the “Puppy Gets It” ad.
This may take only half an hour explaining to the staff but it half an hour out of valuable time and staff time to produce a donation certificate.
A large part of October and the early part of November was spent around liaising with Pete Walker and Neil Stevenson on and attending the MAG Stand at the NEC motorcycle show.
The stand at the NEC focussed on Riders Rights with the removal of commercial and no raffle tickets to sell we concentrated and talked “Riders’ Rights”. There is a full report previously circulated by Pete Walker and a write up in December issue of “The Road”.
The NEC gave me and Sarah Gardner (MAG Foundation) the opportunity to Network with the assembled throng of “motorcycling” under one roof.
Especially regarding the Highways Agency on Crash Barriers and Highway Care the producers of the motorcycle friendly crash barrier system fitted in Kent. Also we will be consulted on a DVD being produced by the Highways Agency on motorcycling.
I witnessed Almax, manufacturers of security chains chop their way through the competitor’s security chains like butter, even Pete Walker, a complete amateur on bolt cropping managed this in three seconds with manual bolt croppers, admittedly a big set of bolt croppers but readily available.
Almax a possible MAG Corporate member and offering MAG member discount, £10 of every lock chain combo and offering free delivery, their website is at www.almaxsecurity-chains.co.uk
This also tied in with getting Almax to the Motorcycle Crime Reduction Group (MCRG), meeting at the NEC, to give a demonstration and our recommended motorcycle insurers Ebike an invite to join the group.
I was able to catch up with the Bikesafe “coppers” and many others on the motorcycle lobby “circuit”. All in all a change to catch up and chew the fat outside the restrictions of “official” meetings
Networking
On Networking and to give an example of the benefits, Elaine Hardy, National Research Officer and I attended a DVLA conference, chaired by Quentin Wilson in October.
The conference centred around VEE (Vehicle Excise Evasion) and how the DVLA and police forces combat evasion.
Elaine having worked in the automotive industry for several years before “coming” over to motorcycling as a volunteer for MAG was able to catch up with the people on her “circuit” which has enabled MAG to have a gateway to these contacts in the commercial and government sector.
Over two coffee breaks and the lunch break we managed to speak to a delegate from the DfT regarding the problems of insurance companies exploiting the proposed legislation of continuous insurance. (A lobby article is in the November issue of Network.)
We also spoke to the same DfT delegate regarding 3DLD and he was extremely informative regarding the government's position which is basically, they've tried their best but unofficially they don't want to move it on.
Reported in recent Press Releases and information forwarded to FEMA representatives.
We spoke to the DVLA Director of External and Corporate Services regarding the problem of riders sending in their driving licences in for renewal etc and finding that the A category no longer exists - with all the headaches and refusal by DVLA to accept that they made mistakes. He admitted that they are aware of the problem and we have now set up a meeting to discuss the issue.
The licence category issue lead to discussions with the National Committee and asking Regional Representatives to discuss the issue at their groups.
Motorcycle Licence Category
Steve Wykes, Regional Representative from Scotland at the Edinburgh MAG meeting discussed at length the loss of licence entitlement due to DVLA error when renewing licenses.
They came to the conclusion that:
- Anyone sending off for a licence should photocopy their existing license and have it notified as a true and accurate copy of the license by a solicitor or other appropriate individual. It may be worth contacting DVLA to see who they would consider appropriate i.e. GP, the police, Justice of the Peace etc. Perhaps the contact you made could help here, as two attempts at eliciting an answer to this using their online e-mail query failed to get a full answer. (First response was details of how to apply for a new license, second response seemed to suggest that they would accept a photocopy, though subsequent reports seen indicate that this is not so.
- Individuals who are concerned about the possibility of losing license entitlements could indicate that they have lost or mislaid their current license and apply for a replacement. Finding and surrendering their old licence if the replacement is correct.
While this is slightly dishonest, given that the existing license should be surrendered when a new license is applied for, there is no real harm done by bending the rules of the system slightly.
Certainly nothing like the expense and inconvenience caused by DVLA blunders.
- Check DVLA data prior to sending away your license using data protection act and requesting details of all the information held against you. For a tenner this has to be a cost effective way of ensuring that you do not have to go through the hoops of re-sitting tests etc. We are looking to check and see what information is divulged when such a check is made, hopefully as well as name and address, licence entitlements should be included.
- Stress to all individuals that on receipt of a new licence it is imperative to check the details on the new licence so that mistakes can be rectified within the three month period prior to DVLA destroying the old licence.
- Ensure that whenever the Licence is sent to DVLA, registered post or recorded delivery services are used.
Other advice before sending your licence in is to ring the DVLA and ask what licence categories they have on the system, they should be able to do this from the computer screen in front of them.
If the motorcycle licence category is there, then still take a photo copy of your licence before sending it.
At present this does not help if you are caught up in the DVLA blunder but hopefully DVLA can answer and come up with a solution.
MAGs Winter of Discontent
Recent events suggest that this will be our “Winter of Discontent” as winter is amongst us and the nights have grown longer and the sun sets low on the horizon, that we, as motorcyclists, face a plethora of crises.
At the NEC show MAGs stand (pictures in the next issue December 2005) of “The Road”) had the theme of. “Is This the Future” with the backdrop of a bike mocked up with Roll bar, Day Time Running Lights, Leg Protectors, restrictive mufflers for noise limits, restricted silencing, restricted horse power, bumpers front and rear.
It certainly attracted a lot of attention with the addition of two bikes, a Suzuki GSX 600 from Bikes Unlimited and Stez’s Harley from Polar Cycles.
There were three reactions from people viewing the stand, one being that we missed off the stabilizers and 45mm cannon to blow errand cars drivers away that pull out from junctions, it will never happen and we defeated these proposals already.
OK, we missed off the stabilizers, and we can not condone violence with the cannon. But the rest could happen and these proposal are still been pedalled by the merchants of safety.
Leg Protectors are back on the agenda in Europe, the debate on noise limits are is going, Honda have produced a scooter with a roll bar and the Gold Wing gets an air bag - which hopefully carries a warning not to fit a tank bag.
Among the issues currently faced by us is the 3rd European Driving Licence, trail riders face a threat of their legal activities being banned, diesel spills, and toll charges for motorcycles.
The implementation of the 2nd Driving Licence Directive sees MAG excluded from the implementation process.
Motorcycling is being tarred with the same brush regarding problems with mini-motos and bikers’ meeting places, the European manufacturers’ association is examining aspects of conspicuity, different coloured/angled headlights, using diode lights of different colours, including the possibility of ‘intelligent’ vehicle warning systems to alert drivers and riders. The list is endless.
To top all this the Government Advisory Group on Motorcycling which delivered the UK’s first National Motorcycle Strategy has had its teeth pulled somewhat, in that the revamped structure will see the delivery of the strategy but not deal with new issues in depth.
Its not all bad news the, Motorcycle Technical Engineering and Environmental Issues group has had its first meeting to deliver its issues in the strategy but is the only group that has met to date.
The Government has recognised that the majority of accidents are at junctions and involve other vehicles and will launch in the New Year a series of public Information films and radio ads based on the old, Think once Think Twice Think bike” TV ad. They will be conducting research on this and perhaps we will get an answer to the drivers’ excuse, “Sorry mate I didn’t see you!”
But overall it is continuing bad press for motorcycling.
MAG Media Watch
So as the long winter nights draw in we need to ever vigilant and we have launched, “MAG Media Watch” to keep a watchful eye on, what’s on TV, what’s in the local and National Newspapers, keep an eye on the letters page, what’s being said on the internet (good excuse for a few hours surfing) about motorcycling negatives and positives but most importantly the negatives.
Especially important if its politicians pontificating in public, write a letter to the MP/MEP, even better if it’s your MP or even a local councillorr, these are the policy makers and a simple formula for letters to politicians is, “In gauging public concern on an issue politicians interpret every letter as reflecting the views of at least a hundred voters”, we need to keep the pressure up, praising the positives and questioning the negatives.
Don’t just write to complain give praise when it’s due this can be helpful in building up a “relationship” with politicians, thus will not just be another negative letter.
When something is in print then people tend to believe in it, so keeping an eye on the letters page in Newspapers is useful, Mr Joe Public may have written negatively on motorcycling, you could respond by pointing out the errors of his way, politely of course, highlighting the positive side of motorcycling.
From the MAG Reps Handbook: “Local papers are often so short of letters that they will print any reasonable letter they get, in full. It's also worth trying to write to national newspapers, but in this case the shorter the better. Write follow-up letters to newspapers or magazines that have printed articles about MAG. Comment on their coverage of MAG, and bring in the current action your Group is planning or involved in. Remember that there is usually a MAG "policy line" on most issues, so check with your
Regional Rep if you intend to write on behalf of MAG, for instance as Rep of the local MAG Group, rather than in a personal capacity.”
This might require a small piece of research to get any facts required, if on the internet this is easy, there are search engines on the MAG website www.mag-uk.org and the Activists website www.network.mag-uk.org that should help you.
If you attend your local MAG group meetings, in fact if you don’t this could be the opportunity to attend, to raise issues, the group may be already aware and you could add your voice to like minded riders.
Now if we could replicate Media Watch across the country, “attacking” negative opinions, correcting wrong assumptions and promoting the positives of motorcycling to the policy makers, the general public and the press, our winter of discontent will show that motorcyclists have a voice and will not sit quietly as our lifestyle and chosen form of transport is eroded.
Third Driving Licence Directive
Again the driving licence features heavily on the political front, as you will have seen from the recent MAG Press Releases the directive has been stalled until at least January 2005 when Austria takes over from the UK Presidency giving us some breathing space.
FEMA and BMF have released similar press releases to MAG in their different styles while we (Mr Mutch) put the issue in “Vampire” Directive looking for a stakeholder context.
From our strategy of calling for the motorcycle part to be removed and tactical moves on lobbying and the demonstration in Brussels we could call this deferral as a “mini” success, well done everybody.
Although at the council of ministers meeting in early December the directive was stalled from reaching a common position due to Germany with support from the Austrian, the French, the Polish and the Danish delegates on the obligation for Member States to exchange old licenses.
This would mean that member states would face a nightmare of bureaucracy and costs in exchanging old licences.
So the issue does not address our concerns on, restricting access by age or achieving an acceptable solution based on sound evidence, in order to justify the directive proposals, rather than creating extra and unnecessary regulation in the name of safety.
Our own Minister of Transport, Dr Stephen Ladyman stated in the House of Commons on safety and costs, “The proposals for motorcycles bore no clear relationship to the road safety problems of which we have evidence in the UK.”
“For the same reasons, the Government cannot at this stage quantify any potential effects of the Directive on UK motorcycle manufacturers or on casualty numbers.”
“That in its present form, the draft Directive may impose additional testing or training costs on motorcyclists under the age of 24 who wish to ride larger machines, but such costs cannot be quantified at this stage.”
Bearing in mind that MAG has been excluded from the implementation, in favour of user being represented by the motorcycle training body MRTA, of the 2nd Driving Licence Directive and that reports in the House of Lords suggest that riders will have to pay for the costs of providing new testing centres, by increasing testing fees.
FEMA as our representatives in Europe on the issue have called for:
- Seeking to contribute to the process, in order to achieve an appropriate proposal for motorcycle access, balancing safety with mobility and accessibility.
- There is a real need for attentive consideration of the motorcycle provisions in second reading in order to improve the proposal and make it acceptable to the citizen.
- Time for the EU institutions to acknowledge that the compromise proposal made in June is politically dead.
- We urge the Council, under the upcoming Austrian Presidency, and the European Parliament to take the opportunity to appropriately review the proposal. This should be done in co-operation with the stakeholders, as it is in everybody's interests to achieve a workable and effective licensing scheme for motorcycles.
- In view of second reading, FEMA already shared new evidence within the European Parliament with MEP Mr Grosch, Rapporteur for the driving license proposal, and other key MEPs, whom have confirmed that they will push for meaningful improvements to the motorcycle access scheme.
In a nutshell FEMA will continue its debate with the EU and MEPs the current compromise is dead.
But there is no time to sit on our laurels and future moves on the issue will be another round of lobbying in the UK before the common position is discussed and a second reading takes place.
In the Meantime Gerard Livett has put forward a document for discussion (which you have seen and will be in your folders) this is a very important document if developed and will give MAG a head start on the next round of lobbying as our stated position in the UK for motorcycling and any implementation and consultation of the directive in the UK.
Insurance Bum Deals
Not much feedback on this issue.
We would like to put together a case for the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) and the FSA (Financial Services Authority) to demonstrate that riders are having policy changes without notification on renewals, trouble getting third party only insurance cover.
That each year the cost goes up and the cover goes down, e.g. from MAG Member, “Business use was silently dropped from my M/C policy without me noticing and now my car policy has removed the ability to drive/ride other vehicles.”
1) write to the OFT (check website for details of who to write to www.oft.gov.uk)
2) write to the FSA (check website for details of who to write to www.fsa.gov.uk)
Could you please then send copies to us? If we can put together enough complaints then we have a chance of getting the government to recognise that there is a serious problem with motorcycle insurers.
I would be interested if any of you know of similar experiences with insurers. I would like to document such cases in more detail.
Thank you Elaine Hardy National Research Officer MAG [UK]
E-mail: research@mag-uk.org
FEMA
As you are aware Elaine Hardy is attending the December FEMA Executive meeting one of the main topics for discussion will be the improvements on the role of the FEMA Secretariat.
To achieve improvements, co-operation, higher participation and understanding by Nation Organisations to the federation’s work.
MAG has always been active in FEMA and our communication on European issues has always been at the fore front and perhaps seen by other National Organisations (NO’s) as too assertive.
While having full time staff at MAG UK, a strong volunteer base and the language within FEMA being English we may have a better understanding of the issues and “radical” position to defend riders’ rights.
Therefore this “restructure”, which MAG supports will use FEMA resources to the best of its ability and can only be advantageous to motorcycling in Europe.
97th meeting of the Motor Vehicles Emissions Group (MVEG)
My apologies for including the full text in this FEMA report but this was necessary to give a full picture of the complicated work that is undertaken at FEMA.
Basically this is where some of MAGs money is spent in FEMA to deal with complicated issues that ultimately will affect the motorcycle you buy or customise. Improving the green credentials of motorcycles with out restriction.
As you can see MAGS concerns from the AGC in April relating to two strokes are being dealt with
Report from Filippo Marino – FEMA Campaigns Officer.
Directive 2002/51/EC concerning the emissions of 2 and 3 wheel vehicles (amending Directive 97/24/EC – the Multi- Directive) includes in particular new emission limits, for motorcycles (EURO3), effective from 1.1.2006, together with a new test cycle.
Furthermore it requires the Commission to come forward with a range of proposals for two and three wheel vehicles, applicable from 1.1.2006, in order to reduce pollutant emissions.
This concerns durability, in-use compliance (IUC), CO2 and fuel consumption measurement, particulate matter, new limits for quadricycles and mopeds, OBD, evaporative emissions and the introduction of the World test cycle for motorcycles.
All possible measures are subject to an Extended Impact Assessment (EIA).
As part of the impact assessment exercise and consultation practice, a special working group on motorcycles emissions (MVEG-moto) was set up.
This group met several times and the last meeting took place on 23 September 2005 which the Secretariat attended.
At that meeting, the European Commission presented the draft proposal for a Directive, which was then presented at the full MVEG which took place on the 1st of December.
Following this, the Commission will present the proposal to the EU institutions.
The Secretariat attended the meeting which conclusions can be summarized as follows:
- Durability of emission control systems: A proposal for a new Annex on durability requirements based on an ACEM proposal was discussed and supported by the MVEG-moto. This document includes WMTC vehicle classes. It was proposed to introduce a new Annex VIII on durability requirements.
- In-use compliance procedure (IUC) and (no) Roadworthiness testing: According to the LAT study, the overall reduction in emissions is negligible for all pollutants (improvement only 0.04% over total emissions of motorcycles in the period 2006 - 2012).
As previously reported, the possibility of Roadworthiness testing was not mentioned again and will not be included in the proposal for a Directive. It was proposed to have a feedback on the effect of IUC requirements on cars before introducing them for motorcycles. IUC for motorcycles could be introduced in a next step.
- Type approval for CO2 and fuel consumption: as previously reported, the proposal made by ACEM has been accepted by the group and therefore it was proposed to introduce requirements on CO2 and fuel consumption in the proposal for a Directive.
- Moped Euro 3 limit: as previously reported, the proposal made by ACEM has been accepted by the group and will be part of the above mentioned proposal for a directive.
- PM regulation for 2-stroke engines and FEMA awareness campaign on synthetic oils for 2-strokes.
The EC confirmed that no legislation was necessary for new 2-stroke vehicles (no cost-effectiveness).
According to EC, the focus should be on older vehicles (cost-effectiveness). The FEMA awareness campaign in favour of the use of synthetic oils for 2-stroke engines was finally endorsed by the members of the Group (with comments from Castrol and the CeC Small Engines Group) and we committed to its launch before the end of the year.
We asked the Commission to provide us with their Logo since the launch of the Campaign was strongly requested by them; however we received a negative answer due to the fact that the EC cannot provide its official logo for any commercial activities or for any campaign that are not launched by its own services and departments.
Hence we will go ahead with it with the FEMA logo and maybe with the ACEM logo too if they are willing to support the campaign.
- Next stage for emission limits for competition trial/enduro. The ACEM request for an exemption for trial/enduro competition models, in order to apply Euro3 limits with a Euro2 test cycle, was not taken on board, hence no special requirements were proposed for these motorcycles, notwithstanding the support that FEMA, FIM, Italy and the UK gave to the ACEM proposal during the meeting. We will seek to amend the next Directive when it will be considered by the European Parliament.
- Evaporative emissions. It was decided to endorse a proposal from ACEM, based on the procedure used in California. As this latter is more specific to motorcycles, it would be more appropriate to use it. Remarks were made by ACEM, us, Italy and the UK on the impact that this measure can have on the cost of small powered two-wheelers.
The Commission did not take them on board and decided to go ahead with the proposal.
- OBD introduction. OBD for motorcycles is a costly issue and could only be justified for larger engines.
The group discussed on that issue and came to the conclusion that OBD could be left out for the time being, leaving it open for review at a later stage as technology develops. No requirement on OBD is going to be introduced for the moment.
- Introduction of the World Motorbike Test Cycle Presently, the 2006 emission limits are to be measured over an adapted passenger cars emissions test cycle.
This test cycle is not the best solution and the Commission prefers to introduce the WMTC, which is more realistic and provides a basis for future world harmonisation. As correlation coefficients issued from the JRC correlation study are very good, correlated emission limits applicable for WMTC could be used.
It was proposed to introduce firstly WMTC procedure as an option and make it mandatory at a later stage.
Furthermore, the issue of further reduction of emission limits was touched upon and it was agreed that any further step must wait for the establishment of the limit values in the UNECE Forum, with the view of attaining harmonization at global level.
The Group agreed upon the need of establishing coordination between the work in Brussels (EC) and Geneva (UNECE).
As for the procedure to be followed, the Group was decided that CO2/fuel consumption measurement and WMTC as an optional test cycle will go into a CATP directive that can move forward and be implemented without delay.
Everything else will be included in one single and complete package of measures that will go to co-decision.
The most likely scenario is that the Commission will send a framework directive to the Parliament, indicating which measures they will include together with their limit values.
The test procedures and CO2 will be dealt with separately, by CATP. Everything will then be implemented at the same time.
Fiscal
Revamping Road Hazard Cards reporting with website links.
Motorcycle Safety What Works Seminar on safety
Commercial Aspects.
Usual day to day running of the office.
Had a few days off.
Trevor Baird Director Of Public Affairs (MAG UK)
Tel: +44 (0)870 444 8 448
Fax: +44 (0)870 444 8 449
Email public-affairs@mag-uk.org
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