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EXTRACTS FROM DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT NATIONAL COMMITTEE MEETING – 12TH AUGUST 2006
Since my report to the National Committee in August a lot of the issues have moved on from that NC meeting. With Press Releases in the last editions of Network – The Road and the MAG websites.
Therefore this abbreviated report concentrates on some of the background work and issues that are still in the “pipeline”.
Trevor Baird – Director Of Public Affairs
3rd Driving Licence Directive
July saw the Heart of England Rally and the demo on the 3rd European Licence Directive through Birmingham.
Philip Bradbourn kept his promise from the MEP Ride and attended to give a rousing speech in the blistering hot weather. A full report is in this issue of The Road.
Brum Demo – Press Approach
Press releases were issued to both our own press release system which does include the national and motorcycling press. The press releases were also through the political monitoring systems that I use which also includes national and motorcycling press.
Using this system I also put the press releases out to the local press including radio and TV. There were two reporters from the local papers at the run and coverage and pictures were then reported in these papers.
The same was also done after the demo.
We contacted MCN and the demo was on their website and a large piece in their events section in the paper version.
The website also reported after the demo but as usual nothing in the paper version.
The demo was advertised in The Road and in Network, national MAG websites and some regions put the details for ride ins etc on their websites.
We produced glossy fliers for regions to give out to put up in dealers bike meeting places.
The tools were given to regions to use and information put out.
Regarding specifically the press and why the demo was not featured nationally in mainstream papers - you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. As Mr Mutch said its not a sexy issue to get the press involved.
If you look at the press release titles and the wording e.g. Endangered Species - hit the streets – Megaphone Diplomacy and the use of a quote from an MEP - I tried my best to "sex" the issue up.
At the demo we may have been preaching to the converted, the riders who care but the message was put out.
Regarding feedback, in the week after the demo the petition on the campaign website was signed by an extra 500 people.
DETAILS ON THE MAG CAMPAIGN IN THE ACTION BRIEFING SECTION
2nd Driving Licence Directive
As the saga of the 3rd European driving Licence rattles on it was a return to the 2nd Directive in June with a demonstration at Bryans Road Safety Centre in Stoke - on- Trent highlighting the significant changes to the motorcycle test to be introduced in 2008.
We were given the opportunity to practice the new exercises and I must admit I wobbled around when trying out the Belgium version of the slow riding exercise which is timed over a short distance. The Driver Standards Agency (DSA) version has the examiner walking beside the candidate and is a much more practical for real world riding, the Belgium version requires the skills of a trials rider.
Which brings me onto the issue of “Gold Plating”, this was the major worry when the directive arrived in the UK from Europe. Although this Gold Plating has been negated from the off road part of the test the issue of the large sites required for the off road test and especially their accessibility for candidates still remains.
The other main concerns for MAG at the moment is that we do not have any idea how much the new test or extra training will cost for riders it certainly will increase but we do not know by how much.
The off-road manoeuvres not including directions from the onsite examiner will take approximately 8 minutes, followed by the 40 minutes on-road assessment.
The devil is also in the detail, if a candidate fails the off road section of the test they will be offered the opportunity to take the on road section but only if in the examiners opinion the candidate did not fail because of a dangerous manoeuvre. Candidates will not get their money back and will have to take both parts of the test again.
Also there are concerns on the speed related parts of the test as candidates have to look down at their speedo to achieve the necessary speed during the swerve and brake and emergency stop part of the test.
Other European countries have a digital head up display of their speed so as candidates approach the required manoeuvre there is no need to take their concentration away from the task at hand.
The DSA seem to have listened to riders and trainers, the exercises are not as strict as first expected but tough enough to test candidates’ skills but the test as proposed still needs a bit of “tweaking”.
APG (All Party Group) Motorcycling
In July I presented a raft of MAG issues to a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Motorcycling in the House of Commons.
The APG is a body whose membership is open to Members of Parliament (Commons or Lords) who ride motorcycles.
The meeting chaired by new Chairman Bill Wiggin was a welcome return to the APG for MAG and the BMF to give riders a voice to politicians.
Both I and Trevor Magner from the BMF gave a joint presentation from motorcycle access to Bus Lanes to the current attitude to road awareness and training for car drivers – and SMIDSY (Sorry Mate I Didn’t See You) accidents, pointing out that in the UK forty percent of rider fatalities are due to collisions with cars, mainly at junctions.
The APG members listened attentively, there was no shouts of “I beg to move” or waving of papers as we delivered our presentations, in fact the issues presented and the questions asked across the table it was heartening that the members knew the issues well and we as riders do have representation in Parliament.
EVSC and ISA Motorcycle - External Vehicle Speed Control (EVSC) and ISA (Intelligent Speed Adaption
I would intend to move the present EVSC info and petition from http://tinyurl.com/obuyp where it sits out of the way and make the petition electronic, with an updated text.
(Since this political report I have launched MAGs Campaign on EVSC. To save any duplication the full report is in this issue of Network.)
DETAILS ON THE MAG CAMPAIGN IN THE ACTION BRIEFING SECTION
Road Hazard Cards
We have moved on to some degree on revamping the Hazards cards as in my last report.
Through the member organisations in FEMA we are building up a picture of what is offered in other countries in Europe.
As with all projects the more you look at the issue the more in-depth it becomes with the basic premise of the project that if the road infrastructure is friendly to motorcycles then this equates to less accidents.
In the UK some councils use two different types of system on their websites:
CLARENCE (Customer Lighting And Roads Enquiry CEntre) which councils use on their websites and there is a free phone number to use to report faults between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday free of charge using freephone 0800 23 23 23.
RALF Roads and Lighting Faults - Freephone 0800 37 36 35 which appears to be run by Glasgow City call centre.
The Direct.gov website also brings together information at http://tinyurl.com/pvq9x and for Road Spills at http://tinyurl.com/p68os
At http://tinyurl.com/lu7xs you can search for your local authority by its name or your postcode or street.
Not links easy to remember. (Now reduced with http://tinyurl.com )
As you can see this is very fragmented, the Highways Agency is responsible for the construction and maintenance of motorways and major trunk roads in England Trunk roads and motorways in Scotland are the responsibility of Transport Scotland while local roads are managed by local authorities; those in Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Although concentrating in the UK FEMA in its “European Agenda for Motorcycling” which we had input into suggest, “Developing and deploying a uniform, Pan-European Roadway Hazard Report Form, as an instrument of assistance to Public Roads Authorities, may prove effective - particularly when official inspection routines are failing. If supported by National Public Roads Administrations, FEMA may take on the task of creating a uniform Roadway Hazard Report Form to be put on the websites of the national motorcycle organisations, both as an electronic script and as a printable version.”
The main task would be to tie all this information for a “one stop shop” for people to visit so that people know where and to whom to report faults to and a universal form that is recognised by those responsible of the repair and maintenance of the UK roads.
We would still need the Road Hazard cards for riders to carry and fill in while out on the road.
Also as set out by the Diesel Spills campaign, “Introduce a general Road Safety Hotline, which the public can contact to report diesel spills, and other road safety issues.”
Motorcycle Friendly Crash Barriers – Wire Rope Barriers
MAG has been leading this campaign for the fitting of motorcycle–friendly crash barriers and the removal of wire rope barriers from the UK roads over the past year or so.
The issue has been pushed through FEMA (Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations) mainly by MAG, MAG Netherlands and NMCU Norway the effort culminating in the production of the FEMA 2005 document, “The Road to Success” Here
MAG Netherlands have been very successful with their continued drive for the fitting of motorcycle–friendly crash barriers and the removal of wire rope barriers fitted in the Netherlands with the last wire rope barrier in the Netherlands being dismantled last month!
In Norway NMCU report that the Norwegian Minister of Transport has announced a ban on further use of cable barriers. Unfortunately she could not promise the immediate removal of existing cable barriers, but still...it is a glorious victory!
The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has argued that cable barriers cost a lot less than other barrier designs. While it is true that cable barriers are cheaper to purchase, maintenance costs have proven to be astronomical, and thus the total cost ends up comparable to other designs.
What MAG is seeking is a similar commitment from the UK Government.
DETAILS ON THE MAG CAMPAIGN IN THE ACTION BRIEFING SECTION
DRL (Day Time Running Lights)
The Road Safety Unit of the Directorate General for Energy and Transport has launched a public consultation on daytime running lights.
This consultation will serve as an important basis for future actions of the Commission in this field.
The consultation document can be found at http://tinyurl.com/hpm3o or http://tinyurl .com/zez9x
The consultation “Saving Lives with Daytime Running Lights (DRL)” gives a totally biased slant coming to a conclusion before it even listens to responses.
Thankfully FEMA (Bob Tomlins) have been keeping an eye on this through involvement at UN level.
Bob has reiterated what we have been saying and FEMA, bearing in mind that our colleagues in Scandinavian countries do not have an issue with DRL as they have had DRL for decades.
However from http://tinyurl.com/fmc9y
“DRL in the form of bright 18 watt parking lights were adopted by the Swedish nation when they changed from driving on the left hand side of the road to the right in 1967.
This was a sensible measure, but accidents continued to occur so in 1977 they found it necessary to use full power dipped (or passing beam) headlights to remind people to drive on the right hand side of the road.”
Various research documents do not agree on whether DRL will be advantageous of disadvantageous for motorcyclist, pedestrians or cyclists.
MAG Belgium have recently presented a paper on DRL (available at http://tinyurl .com/e5mc6 )
The issue surrounds whether DRL introduced just for cars and DRL introduced for all vehicles will affect motorcycle vulnerability – lost in a sea of lights.
There is also the environmental issue of extra fuel consumption and extra emissions.
We have our own position statement which basically reaches the conclusion that in a transport mix in the real world motorcycles will come out worse.
We will be responding to the consultation as MAG and contacting the Chairman of the Inland Transport Committee and the Director transport division of the UN-ECE making the points that the research was far from conclusive; that the vulnerable road users would be at higher risk, that motorcyclists would lose their conspicuity and that it would increase the levels of pollutions from motor vehicles.
MEP Ride
Brussels in June with FEMA to celebrated the 10th anniversary of the MEP Motorcycle Ride.
The event presented a “hands on” experience to politicians on how their political decisions affect riders when legislation is passed with a demonstration on practical test manoeuvres required in the “off road” section of the 2nd Driving Licence Directive.
Both myself and MAG National Research Officer Elaine Hardy undertook valuable networking on current legislative issues from representatives from DG Transport and Energy, DG Enterprise and DG Research but more important was the discussions with UK MEPs Philip Bradbourn, Roger Helmer and Liz Lynne.
The discussions centred on the 3rd Licence Directive with the support from Roger Helmer who sent out his own press release in his constituency and featured the event and Licence Directive on his website and Philip Bradbourn offering to attend the MAG Licence demo in Birmingham and strong support for amendments to the directive.
Full report in this issue of The Road.
TfL (Transport for London)
One of the issues that was in the last issue of Network was our response to the recent TfL “safety awareness video” which is generally accepted by all in the motorcycle lobby community.
We announced our summer media awards for motorcycle safety awareness videos. The categories ranged from the Golden “Oscars” to the “Raspberry” Award.
The Raspberry Award went to the Transport for London (TfL) video and campaign “The Day You Went To Work” or as stated by the narrator “The legs you’ll never use again”.
The TfL campaign launched at the start of Ride to Work week clearly intended to gratuitously shock and received its Raspberry award due to its unintelligent message that bikes are bad and dangerous.
The TfL campaign also received an award for the worst background. Shooting themselves in the foot the road used for filming clearly shows that the surface is broken up and full of pot holes. Perhaps TfL should have spent its film budget on repairing the road and moved the lamppost the rider crashes into, away from the kerb.
At the time I said , “Compared to other recently released motorcycle awareness videos the promised TfL consultation with rider representatives through the London Motorcycle Working Group, has been non existent and certainly non effectual. TfL has wasted money and an opportunity to make a difference they should hang their heads in shame.”
The Golden “Oscar” Award went to the Department for Transport and the Think Campaign for their two videos “The Perfect Day” and their recent "THINK! Take Longer to Look for Bikes".
Both videos show what can be achieved with the right message to riders and drivers through a high level of consultation, intelligence and research.
Following close behind, was the Motorcycle Industries (MCIA) DVD “A Street a Track an Open Road”.
Last but not least was the a new interactive DVD released this weekend “Great Roads, Great Rides” by the Highways Agency which engages the viewer on machine control; basic maintenance checks; what kit to wear; how to read and negotiate the road; how to ride safely with a group, and what to do if you’re first on the scene of a crash. Although the chapter promoting speed cameras and unmarked police cars is out of place and spoils an otherwise excellent DVD.
View TfL video at http://tinyurl.com/nn8do
View DfT videos at http://tinyurl.com/yuopf
A Street a Track an Open Road is at http://www.stordvd.com
Copies of "Great Roads, Great Rides" will be distributed from early August with the September issue of Bike magazine. Visitors to this season's remaining British Superbike meetings can pick up a copy of the DVD from the THINK! road safety campaign's Academy stand.
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