Fifty thousand fewer learners take test in eight months

Fifty thousand fewer learners take test in eight months

Fifty thousand fewer riders took their test in the last eight months
of 2009 than in the same period the previous year.The figure signals
there has been no recovery from the impact of a new test introduced last
April. Eighty-one thousand riders took the test in the last eight months
of 2008. But in 2009 the figure was just 31,000, a fall of 62%. The
number of riders to pass is just as worrying. In the last eight months
of 2008 the figure was 53,000. In 2009 the number was 22,000, a fall of
58%. Nich Brown, spokesman for rider lobbyists the Motorcycle Action
Group (MAG), said: “The DSA has been saying that test bookings are back
to normal and we have been saying we don’t believe it. This shows we
were right.“If this carries on long-term then we will see motorcycling
shrink."The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has previously blamed the
fall in tests on a surge before the changeover, saying there had been
40,000 extra candidates during the old test’s final two years. But the
latest figures show that surge has already been outstripped inside the
new test’s first year. A DSA spokesman nevertheless again cited the same
explanation, saying: “The 2008 figures may be inflated due to the number
of candidates trying to pass the test before the changes.”

Fined £1700 for bus lane mistake

A rider racked up £1680 in fines in four days because he didn’t realise only some of London’s bus lanes are open to motorcyclists.By the time Chris Ardern realised his mistake, he’d already notched up 14 penalty charges of £120 each. Now the London Borough of Barnet has rejected his appeal even though the penalties were issued as little as one minute apart – the time it takes to get from one enforcement camera to the next. On a single journey home from work on his Ducati 851 in September, Ardern, 40, earned six £120 fines, including five within eight minutes. A year ago London Mayor Boris Johnson launched a trail allowing motorcyclists to use bus lanes on the capital’s “red routes”, identified by parking restriction lines painted red instead of yellow.On other roads it’s down to individual London boroughs to set the policy.But in the fanfare of publicity some motorcyclists appear to have missed this detail and believed all bus lanes had been opened. Nich Brown, spokesman for the Motorcycle Action Group, said many riders had been caught out.“When someone gets multiple fines like this you have to say that it’s not fair that there is this inconsistency,” he said. In a letter rejecting Ardern’s appeal, the London Borough of Barnet said: “Please note that every time you enter a separate bus lane even on the same day, it is considered a separate contravention.”It said bus lanes open to motorcyclists carried signs showing a motorcycle symbol.The council said in a statement: “All these penalty charge notices were issued correctly in bus lanes not located on red routes. In fact, there are no red route bus lanes in Barnet."It is clear, however, that there has been a level of misunderstanding by Mr Ardern and as a result we are reviewing his case and will contact him in the near future with a final decision.“It is our understanding that there have been similar occurrences across London.”

Police to issue thousands more riders with hi-vis vests

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Police to issue thousands more riders with hi-vis vests

Thousands of motorcyclists could be stopped by police for not wearing high-visibility clothing as more forces adopt the policy.

Riders will be stopped and given lectures on “being seen” as well reflective vests to put on over their jackets or leathers.

Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire are the latest areas to join Sussex in issuing the kit.

Nottinghamshire Police plans to hand out 3000 packs containing hi-vis vests. Riders are invited to collect them from police stations but will also be stopped and given them at the roadside.

In Lincolnshire, motorcyclists can collect the kit but are not being stopped at the roadside, according to the force.

A spokesman for Nottinghamshire Police said: “We’re putting together high-visibility packs at the moment and will start to hand them out in March. They contain a high-visibility jacket or bib and rucksack, as well as leaflets which are designed for all road users but contain messages relevant to motorcyclists in respect of speed.”
The Motorcycle Action Group says the tactics are a step towards compulsory hi-vis clothing or reduced insurance pay-outs for riders in dark kit.

A spokesman for the group said: “We’re advising all riders stopped without obvious cause in order to deliver these lectures to make a stand by lodging formal complaints.

“We advise riders to use the web to contact local police forces by keying ‘police’ and the neighbourhood where you got stopped. If police time is tied up too much they may soon drop this tactic.”

Find more on complaining to each of the forces here:

The Triumph jacket that could 'get you hurt'

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A reader has warned of his fears a new Triumph jacket could invite trouble for its wearer.

MAG member and West Midlands resident Carl Lolley says he believes the logo on Triumph’s Marlon Brando jacket is too similar to that of notorious biker group the Outlaws.

“This is the area where the guys who killed [Hell’s Angel] Gerry Tobin came from. It’s still very touchy. Wearing something like that could get you hurt”.

Both logos feature a skull and crossed pistons, though Triumph says its jacket is solely a tribute to Brando’s character Johnny Strabler from movie The Wild One (the letters stand for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), and has nothing whatever to do with the Outlaws’ infamous emblem, known as Charlie

Motorcyclists are uncongenial”

A website moderator for a national cycling body has exposed the irrational depths of anti-motorcycle bigotry in the group with an unintentionally comical rant.

In a searingly smug denouncement of all traffic except for cycles, the moderator for CTC brands us irrelevant to the future of transport.

Using the name Simon L6, he goes on to say we are uncongenial and even suggests we somehow defeat the purpose of the roads.

A cyclist has said motorcyclists are 'uncongenial'

“Cyclists matter,” he declares. “They are the future of London's commuting. Motorcyclists are an irrelevance. They are not numerous, and the environmental benefits of motorcycling are nothing or less than nothing.”

His ravings have appeared in a forum row over motorcyclists in bus lanes which started when someone posted a story copied from this website onto the forums of CTC’s site.

The story revealed crashes between cyclists and motorcyclists fell 40% in the first four months of their sharing bus lanes in London.

The moderator - effectively a content regulator for the site – said the fact cyclists might see us as a threat to safety was reason enough to boot us out, even if they were wrong.

Asked “Should we ban one group of road users from a road space because of the unfounded fears of another group?” he replied: “Yes - although I don't accept that it is unfounded…

"If the presence of motorcyclists in bus lanes discourages people from cycling that's good enough reason to ban them.

"That may be unfair, but streets serve a purpose, and if motorcyclists, for whatever reason, defeat that purpose, then they're going to have to join the rest of the traffic outside of the red tarmac.”

In a separate post dismissing motorcycles as inefficient, he adds: ”My measure of efficiency encompasses safety, noise reduction, sustainability and, most of all, congeniality.

"Motorcyclists do not offer any benefits by any of these measures.”

Thankfully users of the forum don’t appear to have taken him too seriously.
One comments: “The purpose of the streets are to afford people transport from place to place and I don't see how you can argue that motorcycles defeat that purpose.”

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