MAG applauds Birmingham bus lane decision

MAG applauds the decision by Birmingham City Council to open its bus lanes to motorcycles. In an effort to make more effective and efficient use of its roads, Birmingham City Council recently completed an experiment allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes. The policy allows motorcyclists to see and be seen in congested traffic.

The Birmingham experiment confirmed the experience of other towns and cities, that allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes was beneficial to motorcyclists, with no disadvantages to other road users.

MAG in Birmingham and nation-wide has been campaigning on this issue for years, first winning access to bus lanes throughout Bristol in 1996.

London opened all of its major route bus lanes to motorcycles recently and now the second biggest city in the country has followed suit.

MAG President Ian Mutch said ‘There seems to be an outbreak of sanity among local authorities all over the country, this is great news and shows how MAG’s campaigning is helping to produce real results for riders.


Further information:

Ian Mutch theroad@mag-uk.org

Nich Brown: nich.brown@mag-uk.org

For more on MAG’s bus lane campaign see http://www.mag-uk.org/en/index/a6296


The Motorcycle Action Group – Protecting motorcycling

Gerrymandering – No Bikes in Bus Lanes

The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG UK) condemns today's announcement by London Mayor Ken Livingstone that motorcycles would not be permitted to use bus lane on roads controlled by Transport for London.

In a report published today, Transport for London rely on the Tanner Test to 'prove' that there would be no safety benefit to either motorcyclists or other vulnerable road users if motorcycles were allowed to use Transport for London bus lanes. This same Tanner Test was described in internal documents, leaked to MAG, as unreliable and incapable of delivering sound statistical analysis.

The published report is strikingly similar to a much discredited early draft, published in October 2006, that was withdrawn by TfL. A more comprehensive report, prepared in April 2007, demonstrated that there would be clear safety benefits for all vulnerable road users, and not just motorcyclists, if motorcycles were allowed to use bus lanes. This report was suppressed by TfL, although a copy has been seen by members of the Motorcycle Action Group.

Motorcycles are permitted to use bus lanes in Bristol, Reading, Swindon, Hull, Northern Ireland and many other towns and cities in the UK with no perceived problems.

Greater London Regional Representative, Gerard Livett, said: “The report finally published today contains the same woeful statistical analysis as the one that was rejected by TfL in October 2006. A more comprehensive analysis of the data, which was never officially published, clearly demonstrated that there would be safety benefits for all vulnerable road users if motorcycles were permitted to use bus lanes.”

“'Successful trials from elsewhere in the country demonstrate that motorcycles and bicycles can share bus lanes safely. In this regard, London would appear to be lagging behind the rest of the country and not leading the way forward.”

'The timing of this report, and the nature of the contents, would appear to be a form of gerrymandering (political manipulation) aimed at securing the votes of cyclists at the expense of motorcycle safety and motorcyclists lives.'”

Notes

1. The report can be found at http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/transport/streets.jsp#p2ws

2. Greater London Region Contact:

Gerard Livett

Email: greater-london-region@mag-uk.org

Trevor Baird
Email: general-secretary@mag-uk.org

The UK's Leading Riders' Rights Organisation

www.mag-uk.org

London Mayor’s Dithering puts Road User Lives at Risk

The Motorcycle Action Group, (MAG UK), is very concerned that the safety of vulnerable road users is being put at risk by the procrastination of London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone and the blocking by the Mayor’s office of the publication of the ‘Transport for London PTW in Bus Lane Study’.

The report was completed in April 2007 and was first due to be published in October 20007, then January 2008. It has still to be released.

The study looked in detail at the effects of allowing motorcycles to use bus lanes on certain streets in the Capital and has proved conclusively that there are significant net road safety benefits for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and bus passengers.

The study showed that despite concerns by cycling groups that cyclists would be put in danger the results showed that cyclist collisions reduced by 39%, motorcycle collisions reduced by 44% and pedestrians by 24%.

During the last 11 years motorcycle access to bus lanes has been successfully trialled or introduced as a permanent measure in a number of locations in the UK. A growing number of European towns and cities deploy this measure for road safety purposes. Motorcycles have been allowed in Sweden’s capital city Stockholm since 1986.

No trial of powered two wheelers in bus lanes, anywhere in the UK, or anywhere else in the world has ever been rejected on road safety grounds.

David Short, MAG Campaigns Manager says,” The blocking of this report and the subsequent delays in introducing proven road safety measures for vulnerable road users is inexcusable.”

“It is beyond comprehension that political interference is putting lives at risk, especially when the Parliamentary Transport Select Committee have announced a scrutiny into what further measures can be put in place between now and 2010 to achieve the Government’s casualty reduction targets.”

“I am seeking legal advice on behalf of MAG on the culpability of the Mayor’s office in the event that a motorcyclist, cyclist or pedestrian sustains injury which could have been avoided had the measures recommended in the report been introduced”.

Notes

1. For further information contact

David Short

Campaigns Manager

Motorcycle Action Group

Telephone: 01347 822214

Mobile: 077389 48080

Email: campaigns-manager@mag-uk.org

The UK's Leading Riders' Rights Organisation

www.mag-uk.org