. News on drug's. a push is on the cards for taking driving liecence away as a punishment. even if you are not; Driving.
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Biker fined £1700 for bus lane mistake
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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
| 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.
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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.” 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:
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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”.
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| 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 | |
| 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. |
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| “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. |
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| If you’re planning a biking trip to the Isle of Man this year, make sure you’ve taken out adequate travel insurance. As of April 2010, the reciprocal health agreement between Britain and the IoM is ending, so UK visitors to the Island will be liable to pay for any healthcare they receive outside of A&E departments. This means any rider unlucky enough to be in an accident requiring overnight hospitalisation or longer could be in line for a big bill unless they have travel insurance to cover it.
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