Hello Muppets, long tie no visit

I have copied a facebook post and would be happy to receive your comments, via email (highlighted below) please as I will have a lot of collating to do for this.

The Safety of Motorcyclists on UK Roads – Have Your Say!

For the past twelve months or so I have been a member of the national Motorcycle Working Group (organised by Highways England) looking into the Safety of Motorcyclists in the UK. The aim of this group is to reduce injuries and fatalities amongst motorcyclists on the UK road network.

This project is looking at everything from the gear you wear to the activities of other road users, motorcycle tyre safety, use of lights, the awareness of other road users, the condition of the roads, additional advanced training, and a great number of other factors affecting the safety of motorcyclists on roads in the UK.

What I would like from you is your own ideas and suggestions as to how the safety of motorcyclists could be improved.

(Please resist the urge to post flippant, indignant or ludicrous responses. We will have enough work to do in filtering-out the sense from the nonsense).

Useful (sensible) ideas and suggestions will be compiled for consideration and I will submit them for discussion and exploration by the Motorcycle Working Group.

If you wish to respond privately please email Del Durham (NABD Research) via research@thenabd.org.uk
(Please do not respond to either Del or myself via Facebook Private Message, as they will be ignored).

All messages will be treated in confidence but we will be unable to respond to each individual suggestion. Please do not think your suggestion has been ignored, it will be collated and added to a list for consideration irrespective of you receiving a direct response or not.

Please remember, this is just about safety. Issues of Rider’s Rights and complaints about legislation etc. are not what I’m looking for.

I’m also not looking to start a huge debate on Facebook about these issues (not yet anyway) so please don’t jump in criticising suggestions made by others unless you can show definitively that their suggestion would be counter to motorcycle safety (and even in those cases, keep it polite; we should all be on the same side here).

Please don’t make me regret asking for your input. Our safety on the roads is important to all of us and now we have a chance to have our voices heard let’s make the best of it.

Rick Hulse
NABD Chairman

The National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD) is a Registered Charity.

Feel free to share this post on your own page and with any motorcycle groups you are involved in.

Educate other road users of our existance. That will cut a lot of accidents involving motorcyclists. In my 45 yrs of riding the main fault is pulling out of a junction in front of you or cutting across.

glad to see you back mr angry.
The safety of a motorcyclist/scooterist on UK roads is getting more risky every year. Not just for 2 wheels but also for car drivers too.
IMO the main reason for this is other road users who have never taken a UK driving test. Im not going down the Immigrant debate but anyone without a UK driving Licence in the UK SHOULD have to take a driving test.
Also advanced training for riders greatly reduces riders chances of having an accident.

After reading a few posts by members , I can recall one post about a guy who had passed his motorbike test but went to take a scooter out from a main dealer for a test ride .
The scooter he took out for some reason had L plates on . He could not believe the difference in the attitudes of car drivers towards him . Intimidated I think he said .Is there a real need these days to have to use L plates.
We don't have tax discs , insurance is all viewed by the police . Why put a big red L on the rear of a bike or scooter that makes you a target for inconsiderate drivers.

docscooter2010 wrote: Why put a big red L on the rear of a bike or scooter.

Pass your test like everyone else without them and you can get rid of it.

Too many ride on a continuous retake of a CBT, hopefully changes are afoot to remedy that.

Simple solution to filtering in stationary traffic......create a motor cycle lane between lanes 2 and 3 only where traffic backs up at traffic lights, so car/van/drivers know that the 1 foot wide lane is the filtering lane for bikes [only when traffic is stationary] with little symbols of motorbikes, just like the cycle lanes have.
1 foot don't sound a lot but car drivers will stay inside the lines thus creating a lane wider than a foot..and lets face it's where we're going to filter if the lane is there or not.
When the motorcyclist has got to the front, create a box 2 car lengths back from the lights just for motorbikes [lane 2 and 3] lane one will still be for cyclist but also 2 car lengths.
Obviously this could work where there are only 2 lanes by creating the motorbike lane between lanes 1 and 2, again the same piece of road that we will use with or without a motorbike lane.

just my thoughts

Jaz wrote:

docscooter2010 wrote: Why put a big red L on the rear of a bike or scooter.

Pass your test like everyone else without them and you can get rid of it.

Exactly!

Also the l plates are there to let other road users know you are inexperienced and may be slower and make more mistakes.

My suggestions are:

Harsher punishment for driving while texting/phoning. It's as bad as drink driving and should be an instant ban - even if it's a ban for only a month or two with an extended driving test at the end. It needs to be made socially unacceptable.

Stop endless retakes of the cbt unless the rider has actually been doing the mod 1 mod 2 bike tests, it's stupid.

Scrap direct access. All riders pass and are restricted to 30hp or whatever for the first two years and then automatically get licence for bigger bikes. Same for cars - restrict the power of car for the first 2 years.

Educate car drivers that filtering is legal. Educate motorcyclists that reckless overtaking is not filtering.

One if the biggest things I have noticed over the last 20 + years that has made motorcycling more dangerous is day time running lights on vehicles. Half the time bikes are lost in the back ground clutter of headlights


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