Bike groups slam safety report
Added on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
A report has called for restrictions on the use of motorcycles in certain areas and for limited in engine capacity.
A road safety report which has called for motorcycles to be banned from certain roads has been met with furious reaction from motorcycle groups.
The BMF have accused the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) of “scaremongering” after it called for motorcycling to be banned from certain areas of the country in evidence that it submitted to the recent House of Commons Transport Select Committee report, entitled “Ending the Scandal of Complacency: Road Safety beyond 2010″.
The report has recommended a “rethink” on the use of motorcycles in the UK, with restrictions on engine size and the creation of “protection zones” proposed as possible solutions to reduce the number of deaths on Britain’s roads.
The report read “There is a need for radical thinking in respect of motorcycles, including consideration of engine capability and the creation of protection zones where all motorcycles other than those specifically permitted, would be prohibited.”
The report has been poorly received by various groups and has been widely discredited after several factual inaccuracies appear to have been found.
The call for restricted engine capacities and power limitations as a safety measure goes against substantial independent evidence that there is no correlation between a motorcycle’s power output and its likelihood of being involved in an accident. Such a belief has been established in various studies, with the EU Motorcycle Accidents In-Depth Study (MAIDS) in July 2004 being one of the more recent examples.
Further inaccuracies were found in the reports claims over motorcycle top speeds and vehicle excise duty evasion rates.
The ACPO report claimed that, “Production machines are readily available for use on our roads with top speeds in excess of 200 miles per hour.” At present however, there are no production bikes available on UK markets capable of more than 200mph, even without considering the motorcycle industry’s voluntary 186mph speed limitation.
The report also referred to outdated claims about road tax evasion, citing an already discredited report issued at the beginning of the year claiming that VED evasion for motorcycles was as high as 40%.
Following the publication of that claim, Commons public accounts committee was forced to apologise and admit that tax evasion rates were actually at a rate of around six percent - comparable with the current evasion rate for cars.
The BMF responded to the report angrily, accusing ACPO of “scaremongering”.
On the claims of VED evasion, the BMF claimed that the figures were “totally erroneous” and that “ACPO of all people should have been aware” of the recently withdrawn claims.
The suggestion of “prohibition zones” was dismissed as an issue addressing illegal off-road riding and, as a result, had “nothing to do with road safety.”
The BMF also slammed claims that motorcycles were “vehicles of choice rather than necessity” as “inaccurate, derogatory and irrelevant.”
Commenting further, BMF Government Relations Executive Chris Hodder said: “Whilst we respect the fact that ACPO is entitled to its opinion and that as a whole ACPO may not wish to ban motorcycles, we still remain concerned that this may be the view of a significant minority of its members.
“As the ACPO submission was largely based on misinformation, we want to know what has or is being done to correct this view and so avoid a repetition of this damaging opinion of motorcycling.”
Following the criticism, ACPO released a statement which appeared to back down on some of the claims made.
“ACPO does not advocate the prohibition of motorcycle use on public roads,” it claimed. “It is nonsense to suggest that ACPO is seeking a ban on motorcycles, given that most police forces in the UK actively deploy and consider motorcycles to be a key part of their transport infrastructure.
“ACPO’s evidence to the Select Committee referred to consideration of restrictions on the use of off-road motorcycles in environmentally sensitive areas where noise and environmental damage have arisen as a significant concern to local communities. This evidence was given in response to a specific request for ideas for potential future consideration and has not been developed into a formal ACPO position.
No Comments