22 March 2018

MAG welcomes GLA Transport Committee bike safety report but slams.....

MAG welcomes GLA Transport Committee bike safety report but slams 'Third World roads in a First World capital'

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) has praised the Greater London Authority (GLA) Transport Committee for their intelligent assessment of the shortcomings in London Mayor Sadiq Khan's attitude towards motorcycle safety in the city.

London's Regional Representative for MAG, Tim Fawthrop, clarifies the riding community's concerns: 'MAG has actively worked with Transport for London (TfL) and the GLA to assist with creating a coherent safety agenda for motorcycle and scooter riders. While some of the recommendations have been accepted, others have been either ignored or apparently agreed to but subsequently not actioned.

'For instance, the Urban Motorcycle Design Handbook, which was a great piece of work to which MAG actively contributed, appears to have created no urgency amongst TfL officers. In addition, the opening of all bus lanes to bikers across London is a proven life saver. Why haven't we seen any effort by TfL to persuade Boroughs to do that?

'Cycle schemes receive hundreds of millions of pounds in funding, even though their safety figures indicate far fewer fatalities and injuries than for motorcyclists. Yet TfL's own data shows that the fatality rate amongst motorcyclists in 2016 was four times greater than that for cyclists. Compared to just eight cycle users, thirty-three bikers lost their lives. Yet a number of the changes that TfL has implemented are making motorcycling riskier: for example, narrowing lanes so the perfectly legal process of filtering by motorbikes is made more dangerous. Also, the state of the road surface in places is shocking; something the Chair of the Committee, Keith Prince, and his team, have rightly included in the report. There are locations where we've got Third World roads in a First World capital.

'MAG once again offers to work with TfL to help secure the training, the road policy and to get the attitude towards the hundreds of thousands of bikers in the capital right. It's not difficult. They just have to listen to the advice they've repeatedly been given. They've done it for cyclists. If they're serious about Londoners' lives, they'll do what it takes to reduce the unacceptably large number of motorcyclists' lives which are being lost too. To not do so is a breach of their duty of care towards an economically important community of road users in London.'

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