Greater Cambridge Partnership calls motorcycles a noisy safety risk BMF News 31 October 202223 December 2022 Cambridge justifies high charges for a Sustainable Travel Zone by calling motorcycling a noisy safety risk. BMF says these proposals are a poorly justified move against motorbikes. A new consultation from the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has suggested that motorcycles are a safety risk, are noisy and that they conflict with cyclists. They have therefore proposed a charge of £5 a day for motorcycles travelling in and around Cambridge (please see the map for the area affected). The GCP is formed of Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council, South Cambridgeshire Council and the University of Cambridge, and aims to bring powers and investment from central government to improve Greater Cambridgeshire. Their new consultation, ‘Making Connections’, proposes to transform transport in and around
FEMA Committee BMF report October 2022 BMF News 12 October 202212 October 2022 The Federation of European Motorcyclists’ Associations (FEMA) Committee, consisting of the delegates from all the member organisations, the FEMA staff, and invited guests, took place on 2nd October 2022. The meeting was generously hosted by IVM, the German industry Association, in their conference room at Koelncongress, Cologne, Germany. There were 16 delegates and 4 guests, plus the staff, attending physically, with a further 5 delegates joining virtually, via Teams. The meeting was opened by the FEMA President, Anna Zee, also the BMF’s Political Technical Services (PTS) director, welcoming everyone, and listing the apologies. Due to transport problems, a number of delegates registered could not attend; with the unluckiest being MCTC’s Soren Bendtsen who was delayed at the airport for 4 hours, flown
The BMF Annual General Meeting 2022 BMF News 10 October 2022 The British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 10th October 2022, at 10.00. The event, held on Zoom, for the third time, was a great success with members taking part, from both Clubs and as individuals. Regular business was dealt with briskly, before moving on to wide ranging discussions on a number of topics. The meeting heard reports from the Chair, Jim Freeman, and fellow Directors: Howard Anderson, Finance Peter Laidlaw, Membership Services Sheonagh Ravensdale, Communications Anna Zee, Political & Technical Services The meeting was run by Jim Freeman, who managed the polls and voting, with help from Helen Hancock, the BMF’s Administrator, particularly monitoring the lively chat board. Jim Freeman was re-elected as Chair with 89% of the votes cast on a
BMF response to remote driving consultation BMF News 2 September 2022 The BMF is responding today, September 2nd 2022, to the Law Commission's consultation on remote driving. Some limited forms of remote driving are already employed, usually in industrial context such as mines and quarries but there is interest in employing it more widely; for example, to move rental cars between hires. One topic in the consultation is examining current legislation as to whether some of it is hindering development of remote driving. It is probable that not all of us will think hindering this development is a bad thing, but we have taken the opportunity to point out some of the issues we see around automated driving as well. You can read more about the consultation here And you can read our response to
Hackney riders protest parking plan BMF News 31 August 202226 August 2022 Save London Motorcycling (SLM) is organising a mass ride out to protest against proposed new parking charges from 2023 for powered two-wheelers by Hackney Council. The Council is planning to charge motorcycles and scooters £6 per hour to park in a marked bay, with a maximum stay of four hours. The charge applies equally to mopeds, litre-plus adventure tourers and even to electric motorcycles and scooters. In response to a question from the BMF, Hackney Council provided this statement: “As a Council we are committed to improving local air quality and tackling the climate emergency. As part of this commitment, and following a full public consultation in 2020, Cabinet agreed in February 2021 to place motorcycles on the same footing as
BMF & Weeble have teamed up to support mental health BMF News 25 August 202226 August 2022 BMF & Weeble have teamed up to support mental health. We asked our friend Weeble of Weeble's World to come up with a new design to symbolise our ‘for all’ ethos and we are blown away by it…. We think it's a great design and really gets the message across that BMF is for ALL RIDERS, whatever you ride... Each shirt is ethically sourced, made, printed and packaged, 10% of all sales will be donated to Mental Health Motorbike We have an established relationship with MHM and feel it is important to support them in the work they do. We ran an article in Motorcycle Rider Spring 2022 and previous article on our website Available in unisex sizes Medium to 3XL MEDIUM 38 – 40” LARGE 41 – 43” XL 44 –
Record Motorcycle Tests & Passes BMF News 21 August 202219 August 2022 A record number of people are taking, and passing, their motorcycle test, according to the latest figures from the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). Undeterred by the spike in fuel prices and the ever-rising cost of living, 65,711 riders took their Module 2 (on-road) test between April 2021 and March 2022, more 2000 up on the previous record set in 2012/13 – 50,000 a year is a more typical figure. Of those who took their Module 2 in 2021/22, 72% passed the test to receive their full licence, slightly bettering the previous pass rate. This impressive increase is partly down to the efforts of Driving Test Centres to catch up on the backlog of tests which built up during lockdown –
New Research into Motorcycle Usage in the UK BMF News 8 August 20228 August 2022 We have been asked by a bmf member to help with his research into motorcycle usage in the UK..... Have you ever commuted by motorcycle or scooter? Have you ever thought about commuting by motorcycle or scooter? Is it something you do every day, or a few days a month? Or are you thinking no way, I’m not doing that! What stops you, what spurs you on? What are the pros and cons, the barriers that prevent more people from doing it? This is the subject of my latest research. There is lots of evidence to suggest that there are many benefits to a wider use of motorcycles and other forms of powered two-wheeler for commuting to work. From environmental benefits, to reduced road congestion, to improved
Motorcycle Trailer – Vehicle Towing Guide BMF News 23 July 202221 July 2022 The Auto Cycle Union (ACU) has launched a guide to towing a motorcycle trailer – that’s a trailer towed behind a car or van, carrying a motorcycle, not a trailer towed by a motorcycle! The guide covers the law surrounding trailer use, safety checks, and hints. It’s all good common sense information, the sorts of things we probably assume we know, but maybe don’t in practice. For example, the licencing laws changed in December 2019 and you can now tow a trailer without a towing licence. For driving licences received before 1st January 1997 the maximum authorised mass (MAM) is 8250kg – for post-1st January 1997 licences, it’s 3500kg. Other legal restrictions cover size and weight of the trailer and its
Petrol mopeds & 125s could be banned by 2030 BMF News 21 July 2022 The UK Government has proposed banning new sales of petrol-powered mopeds and 125cc machines by 2030, with all bigger-engined motorcycles and scooters following suit by 2035. The ban could come sooner “if a faster transition seems feasible,” according to the long-awaited consultation document, which was launched on 14th July. It covers all L-category vehicles, from L1 to L7, including mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles. “We have already committed to phasing out fossil fuel use across road transport,” said Trudy Harrison MP, Minister of State for Transport, “with sales of new petrol and diesel cars and vans ending as early as 2030…It is therefore important that L-category vehicles do not remain fossil-fuelled as the rest of the transport fleet cleans up.” The UK
Parking fines! Don’t get caught out.. BMF News 13 July 202228 March 2024 We have recently had a couple of issues around parking restrictions and fines brought to our attention. Some fuel stations, BP & Shell have been mentioned, have started restricting parking time, to half an hour. One of our region 7 reps found this out at a BP station which has a little rest area. These parking charges are usually put in place by a separate parking companies and signage can be very hard to spot, especially at night. It is worth checking when parking up on any restrictions, even if the place is well known to you, as sometimes changes are not well publicised and you could end up with a hefty fine. Also, in motorway services you are generally not supposed
BMF working for you BMF News 1 July 20224 October 2022 The PACTS working party event held on Wednesday 29th June was the first held in-person since 2019. It was great to attend and meet the other members of PACTS, after only ever meeting them virtually. The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport (PACTS) promotes safe transport for all and these working groups provide an insight into research on different areas of road safety, so it is important that the BMF are involved to ensure that the views of motorcyclists are heard. Others in attendance included representatives from the Department for Transport (DfT), Transport for London (TfL) and the Institute of Traffic Accident Investigators (ITAI) among many others. The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) gave a presentation about updating the Manual for