BMF Club new roundup for December

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BMF NEWS ROUND UP – December 2023

The monthly news round-up, brought to you by the BMF

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Meetings attended for the BMF in December



Anna Zee:

RIS3 Stakeholder Group

Some progress being made in defining where funds for the next five-year investment plan will go. However, like so many other things, ministers are required to set priorities; the recent Cabinet reshuffle will not speed things up. As the government has promised additional money schemes on the Major Road Network may be better funded. There will be an emphasis on maintenance and renewal rather than new road building.



Westminster Energy Environment and Transport Forum on developing EV rollout and charging infrastructure

This provided an opportunity to feedback comments from Craig Carey-Clinch after the Maudes Trophy Challenge, made on electric bikes. Some of the issues – e.g. too many apps & ways to pay, not knowing what chargers are installed, having to pay VAT – are already issues for the charging infrastructure providers but only one has even started to consider providing shelter/refreshments.



European Transport Safety Council

The ETSC does include UK representation – it is not a purely EU body. This meeting was about PTW safety. While not immediately relevant now to the UK it is worth knowing what is being recommended in the EU. Several of the recommendations made in the ETSC’s report of last March (e.g. basic training for all riders, standards for post-test training are already standard practice in the UK. The FEMA report of the conference can be found here: www.britishmotorcyclists.co.uk/road-safety-wish-list



Paul Morgan:

1. Vision Zero (Transport for London):
Stock take of Vision Zero initiatives to reduce road accident KSI. Good progress but more to be done.
TFL Meal and Grocery Charter launched in 2023 to address high motorcyclist KSI rates in the fast food delivery industry. In London motorcyclists represent 2.6% of distance covered but 27% of KSIs – 80 times more likely to be involved in a KSI than car drivers.

2. Motorcycle Law Scotland (MLS):
BMF is a key partner supporting the MLS road safety campaign ‘Take Another Look’ which focuses on educating motorists to ‘think bike’ particularly at junctions using data and educational videos to make motorists more aware of motorcyclists as vulnerable road users. In Scotland motorcyclists represent 8% of all road deaths but are only 1% of road users. Situation needs urgent action.
Of motorcyclist injury compensation claims taken up by MLS in 2023, 100% were as a result of no fault of the rider, 66.7% occurred at road junctions and 15.5% were as a result of road surface defects, including potholes.

3. Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety (PACTS):
Reception for Parliamentarians and stakeholders hosted by Barry Sheerman MP (jointly hosted with PACTS) attended by Department for Transport Minister Guy Opperman MP and senior officials. Project Edward is key to raising awareness of road safety issues across the UK and promoting good practice. Key messages from the newly appointed Minister were that all accidents are preventable and he is keen to work proactively with key stakeholders in support of Vision Zero. Chief Constable of Sussex Police said that of motorists stopped in pre-Christmas Police road operations across Sussex, half were found to be either under the influence of excess alcohol or illicit drugs. This is a worrying trend.







In Other News:



What’s in a name? Well if you’re Vespa, it’s worth over Euro 1 billion. And that’s not the value of factories, machinery and work in progress owned by the world’s best-known scooter manufacturer, just the name. Which begs the obvious question, what are the other global motorcycle brands worth? Harley-Davidson, Honda, BMW, Triumph? Another few quid there, at least...

Talking of names, when is a Diavel not a Ducati? The answer (if you can afford it) is the ‘Bentley’ special edition with tweaked bodywork in British Racing Green – yours for £58,000, or make that £71,000 in a colour to match your own bespoke Mulliner Bentley. The world is mad.... especially when it’s also home to ‘boda bodas,’ African motorcycle taxis whose riders scrape a living. Some African countries have seen a sharp rise in motorcycle casualties in recent years, and poor-quality helmets get some of the blame. British charity Transaid provides training and access to decent lids.

Maybe self-driving taxis are the answer? Not according to former Tesla employee Lukasz Krupski. The whistle-blower, a former service technician at Tesla, told the BBC that even part-autonomous driving technology is really still a work in progress. “It affects all of us,” he said, because we are essentially experimenting on public roads.”

Goodwood’s Festival of Speed is certainly looking to the future, ditching fossil fuels in favour of what it says is sustainable fuel. This puts it in line with the FIA’s current stipulation, which is that all racing cars or bikes must use a fuel containing a minimum of 70% “advanced sustainable components.” So maybe we can still watch Manx Norton’s doing their stuff in 2050, but they may not be using unleaded.

Meanwhile, Yamaha is hoping to pioneer a new class of powered two-wheeler with the battery-powered Booster. It’s not a moped (it’s got pedals which you have to use to get power); nor is it a restricted electric bicycle (it’ll top 30mph and looks far chunkier than any ‘pedelec.’) Just the thing to tempt sixteeners onto a PTW? We’ll see.

At the other end of the electric scale, a team of riders has won the historic Maudes Trophy on a pair of Zero DSR/X adventure bikes. First awarded 100 years ago, the Trophy is awarded to manufacturers completing observed endurance challenges – the Zero crew, which included the NMC’s own Craig Carey-Clinch, rode almost 1200 miles in 60 hours...and it was below freezing.

And finally, if a lack of gear changing is putting you off electric motorcycles, then Toyota may have the answer. It’s working on a simulated manual transmission which gives all the sensation of a conventional ‘box to the driver/rider – the latest version has 14 gears...





Written by Peter Henshaw – Editor BMF editor@bmf.co.uk



Anna Zee – Political Technical Services Director anna.zee@bmf.co.uk



Paul Morgan – Government Relations Executive paul.morgan@bmf.co.uk