9 July 2014

MAG National Demo - Saturday 23 August 2014

How much is a life worth?

Every day, a motorcyclist is killed or seriously injured on the road due to the actions of a driver who didn't pay attention, or even look out into the road. Nine times out of ten, the driver receives a pitiful sentence for careless driving, or worse still, nothing more than a driving ban; meanwhile, a family loses someone who cannot be replaced. 

Sorry mate, I didn't see you!…is the most common excuse for a driver when a rider has been knocked off. It doesn't matter if the rider is wearing hi-viz, with headlights on or not. It's time that this changed!

The purpose of the demo is to raise awareness on the theme that too many riders are being knocked from their bikes; that drivers are being mildly punished or getting off free, and that we – every day – see that the errors of other road users are putting our lives at risk, while we are being popularly held up to blame. 

This year there have been even more deaths than usual, and it's our perception that the majority are due to driver errors and poor planning/maintenance. Our best political lobbying efforts on key issues have received lip-service and duplicitous underhandedness so it is time for action.

The demos will take place in at least nine cities, including London, Glasgow and Belfast. An event will be created on the MAG Facebook page shortly and more information will be available from this page and the MAG website in the next few days. Also, your Regional Reps will have more details in due course (other cities are being sorted out as we speak). These will not be the usual demos you've seen from MAG recently. Every year, thousands of bikes gather in Brussels to protest at the EU parliament's scant disregard for riders' rights. (at the demo attended by MAG Chairman John Mitchell in 2012, over 7,000 bikes parked along the Rue de la Loi, outside the EU Parliament HQ) and it wasn't a silent protest. It's time us brits took a leaf out of their book.

Now you see us!

August 23, 2014
The Motorcycle Action Group – www.mag-uk.org



1 comment:

Trobairitz said...

One can only hope it helps reduce the amount of incidents.

Distracted driving is such a huge problem on the roadways, but for some reason the masses seem to think it is okay to multi-task while driving.