Where's all our parking gone?

Motorcyclists in Oxford have been left circling the City looking for a space after the County Council suspended vital bike bays on Broad Street without letting them know about the alternatives.
Parking bay suspended with just five days’ notice; the bay was suspended on 6th September to provide a bus set-down point for gas main maintenance in Magdalen Street East. It remains suspended until 23rd September. The County Council gave only five day’s notice and has not told riders about alternative motorcycle parking.
Motorcyclists left in the dark; Mark McArthur-Christie, a motorcyclist with the Oxford Area Group of Advanced Motorists said, “The motorcycle bay in Broad Street is the largest in Oxford. We accept the need for its suspension, but it has suddenly deprived us of more than a quarter of central Oxford’s dedicated bike parking and left riders not knowing where to park. It took us a special request to find out that riders can park in every carpark in Oxford except Westgate and Gloucester Green free and without a permit. The Council doesn’t currently publicise this. We think they should.”
“Because they simply don’t know about this, motorcyclists are at risk of parking fines as they struggle to find somewhere legal to park. At least one rider has received a parking ticket for using the suspended bay in Broad Street. In the circumstances this is a bit harsh and his fine should be waived.”
Motorcycle parking already inadequate; Dan Sager, whose PR agency represents many of the UK ’s motorcycle and scooter companies, added, “ Oxford is acutely short of motorcycle parking and parking information. Most of Oxford’s dedicated bays are hard to find unless you know the city very well, and some are far too small. The County Council provides no direction signs to motorcycle parking, and its website gives no information at all about where motorcyclists can park.”
“Motorcycles are part of Oxfordshire’s Local Transport Plan. It’s a real shame that some motorcyclists avoid Oxford because they simply don’t know where they can park legally. We don’t ask for much, but we’d really welcome County Council just telling us what’s going on and publicising the parking that IS there.”

Scooter Security Survey

Government statistics show that mopeds and scooters are at much higher risk of theft than large capacity motorcycles. Acumen, the UK's only independent manufacturer of electronic security for 2-wheelers, is asking scooter riders to help develop new anti-theft devices by taking a couple of minutes to answer some quick questions. You won't need to give any contact details so you won't receive any junk mail as a result of participating, but you might just help to reduce scooter theft!

Click Here to take survey

Get thee behind me

Amidst all of the fuss in the media over the motorcyclist who was jailed for riding at 122mph with his 14-year old son riding pillion there has been much talk with scant regard for the facts. On BBC Radio 2’s flagship Jeremy Vine programme on Monday 2nd March listeners were invited to discuss whether children should be allowed to ride on the back of motorcycles. The fact that the 14-year old in question had emerged unscathed seemed to have eluded many contributors.

So just how dangerous is it for children to ride pillion? FACT. Children under 16 accounted for less than one percent of motorcycle KSI [killed or seriously injured] casualties in 2007. The overall road traffic picture is similar; 1.5% of all children killed or seriously injured on our roads in the same year were riding motorcycles (DfT). To put that in context, child pedestrians were 67% of the total child KSI victims on UK roads.

According the mortality statistics, which make depressing reading, especially where children are concerned, pedestrians constituted 46% of road fatalities, followed by car occupants (30%) and cyclists (11%). Fewer children died riding motorcycles in 2005 than on watercraft and riding on agricultural machinery (DH4 No.30).

Government encourages us to walk and cycle and school children are rewarded for using healthy transport. However, parents should be far more concerned about the dangers their children face crossing the road or riding their bicycles than about the occasional trip on the back of a motorcycle.

Right van man launches but motorcycle industry fails to get on its bike

The Motorcycle Industry Association (MCI) states on its website that one of it three aims is "developing a position of strength derived from consumer and government demands for reduced emissions, congestion and costs". However, search their website and you'll find precious little information about the environment. This is a serious omission because (a) the industry claims environmental benefits for bikes and (b) anti-motorcycle groups (like the London Cycling Campaign and some local councils) attack motorcycling as damaging to the environment. Which is precisely why TWB published "How green s my machine" in December 2008.

The automotive industry has graped the significance of green credentials. On 26 February the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) launched a new guide - Right Van Man - which aims to give individual van buyers and drivers top tips on van choice and use to help cut running costs and CO2 emissions from light commercial vehicles. This is claimed to be the first stage in increasing public awareness on the issues that affect van CO2 emissions. Produced jointly with the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) and the Department for Transport, Environment this campaign is effectively endorsed by the Government. That's a result.

The motorcycle industry (as represented by the MCI) needs to act quickly to demonstrate its green credentials otherwise the only green motorcycles will be the lime green Kawasaki racing machines!

Airbag jackets - are safety claims over inflated?

"Dozens of motorcyclists' lives could be saved every year if air bag jackets were made compulsory, accident and emergency doctors have said" according to Radio 1's Newsbeat on 13th February 2009.

Just six days later Motorcycle News reported that; "The A&E doctor [quoted in the Newsbeat report] admitted having virtually no experience of the jackets, which inflate in a crash, and no evidence they work". He claims that he was quoted out of context.

Evidence is certainly scarce when it comes to airbag jackets. By law, all impact protectors for motorcyclists must be independently tested and approved to the relevant European standards (EN1621-1 for limbs/chest and EN1621-2 for the back).

In spite of "CE-approved" logos appearing on most manufacturers' websites, none of the airbag jackets advertised make any reference to their airbags meeting these standards (although some may contain CE-approved armour in addition to the airbag).

Interestingly the following statement appears on the website of a company manufacturing airbag jackets for horse riders; "The .... air jacket offers additional protection, but we recommend it to be worn with traditional protective riding wear such as the EM13158 (sic) body protector." Apart from the mis-print (the standard for equestrian protectors is actually EN13158) it seems that manufacturer advises riders to wear their airbag jacket in addition to body armour. Not exactly a vote of confidence.

Before making claims about the protective qualities of airbags fitted to motorcycle clothing, first manufacturers need to demonstrate that these products meet the basic legal requirements for impact protectors, particularly as there is a substantial price premium for this technology. Until then, their claims are little more than hot air.

UK Motorcycle Market Overview (2008)

Registrations of new motorcycles fell by 3.4% in 2008 (source: http://www.mcia.co.uk/). However the devil is in the detail and closer scrutiny reveals that sales of mopeds (powered two wheelers >50cc) and scooters remained unchanged, sales of new motorcycles fell by 6%. There has also been a shift towards smaller capacity machines – according to British Dealer New five out of the ten top selling models were 125cc machines (i.e. ‘learner’ bikes). In terms of the market mix, 2/3rd of the 139,725 new PTWs registered in 2008 were motorcycles – the remaining 1/3rd were scooters or mopeds. In terms of brand share, Honda continues to dominate, although with Yamaha and Suzuki hot on its heels. These three Japanese manufacturers account for nearly two out of every five new machines registered. However, just like the Japanese in the 1960’s, the Chinese are beginning to make inroads with smaller capacity PTWs. In December 2008 the best selling moped, and scooter were both Chinese brands (Baotian and Wuyang respectively).
Sales of scooters and mopeds held firm compared to a 6% fall in motorcycle sales during 2008.
So how does this compare to the car market? Sales in 2008 fell by 11.3% (source: http://www.smmt.co.uk/), which is a more dramatic decrease than for PTWs. However, diesel cars accounted for a record 43.6% share of the market and that is over three times the share recorded in 2000. Meanwhile the mini segment saw the only growth in 2008 and the market share for superminis rose to 33.4%.
So both the PTW and car markets experienced similar fluctuations - an overall decrease in sales but an increase in bemand for smaller 'utility' vehicles.