How bikers take action to promote the cause

It is all too easy to assume that an organisation like the Motorcycle Action Group comprises stereotypical bikers on Harley choppers heavily into drinking and partying. Undoubtedly on occasions some members may live up to that image and it is true MAG evolved out of a protest against the law that made it compulsory to wear crash helmets in 1973.

Since those early days, however, MAG has grown from a single issue protest group into what is now a highly complex, well-organised body involved in protecting the interests of the motorcyclist at European, national and local levels, and numbering 10,000 members.

As an inevitable part of that process, safety issues find their way onto MAG's agenda on a regular basis, and it is no coincidence that the organisation's new campaigns manager David Short has had more than a passing interest in road safety during his previous career.

Passionate

As well as being a passionate motorcyclist, he is also a former Chief Superintendent, having served with the North Yorkshire Police for over 30 years. Much of that time he spent on traffic - or roads policing as it is now called - and was a senior investigating officer in a number of high profile collision investigations involving police officers which were supervised by the police complaints authority.

He was also part of the team which put together the ACPO Road Deaths investigation manual. And most significantly in the context of MAG, in 1997 he established the Bike Safe motorcycle casualty reduction initiative in response to the alarming increase in motorcyclists killed and injured on the rural roads of North Yorkshire.

Bike Safe represented a new approach, engaging motorcyclists in the policy making process and focusing on education rather than the traditional police tactics of 'clamping down' on bikers and prosecuting them for everything.

The success of Bike Safe spread and in 1998 he was awarded the Prince Michael of Kent special award for Road Safety for the innovative approach to casualty reduction. Bike Safe is now a national programme and going from strength to strength.

So where does MAG fit in with safety? Per se, the organisation does not exist to promote road safety, but many issues on which it is campaigning do impact on rider safety.

"For too long," said Mr Short, "politicians have focused on the wrong end of the road safety telescope. They look at the effect end, not the causation end. By this I mean that where the perception is that motorcyclists are at risk or dangerous they concentrate their activities on legislation which is prejudicial to the motorcyclist."

This is illustrated by the notion some years ago that because motorcyclists suffer from leg injuries in impacts bikes should be fitted with leg protectors, whereas independent research showed that these could actually be more dangerous. A vigorous campaign by MAG saw its defeat. "The politicians had completely missed the point. They should have concentrated instead on the primary cause of accidents, drivers of other vehicles!" said Mr Short.

This cause and effect telescope is still evident today, he feels. An example is the European proposal that all vehicles must display daytime running lights. "I am sorry, but if you can't see another vehicle on the road then should you really be driving?" he said.

A motorcycle is much smaller than a car and vulnerable to blind spots; there is therefore an issue about conspicuity and most motorbikes are now 'hard wired' so that lights switch on automatically as soon as the ignition is activated.

MAG's argument is that if every vehicle has to display lights of some sort then potentially the visibility of a motorcycle or indeed any other vulnerable road user such as a cyclist or pedestrian suddenly becomes less, putting them at more risk.

Shifted

Responsibility is shifted from the car driver and the onus put on to the vulnerable road user. Instead, says MAG, it should be the responsibility of all road users to look out for others and not for the vulnerable road users to have to take measures.

MAG ' and in particular Mr Short ' were also actively engaged with the House of Commons Transport Select Committee in the development of the Government's 'Motorcycling Strategy' which was published in 2005. This is a first in Europe, if not the world, and for the first time demonstrates the Government's commitment to recognising motorcycling as a legitimate mode of transport choice. The strategy provides the vehicle to ensure that motorcycling needs are considered in local transport plans and takes into account the positive benefits that motorcycling can bring in terms of reduced congestion, reduced pollution and greater social mobility.

MAG has come a long way from its radical 1973 roots to a point where it is now at the centre of parliamentary debate on the full spectrum of issues affecting motorcyclists. Although this intellectual shift has taken place, MAG still remains true to those founding principles of defending the interests of motorcyclists and the right to choose a motorcycle as a means of transport.

For more details on MAG visit www.mag-uk.org

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