The BMF has recently been engaged in the following Lobbying & related activity:
Transport for London [TfL] consultation: Anna Zee [Political & Technical Services Director] responded to the 150-page consultation. The motorcycle provisions are generally welcome (funding for training, street design guidelines) but outside road safety motorcycles are not really fully integrated into the strategy.
The Mayor of London has, as part of the TfL road safety strategy, asked the DVSA to improve the standard of motorcycle training. Jim Freeman [Chairman] has signed the letter, on behalf of the BMF.
AZ has also represented riders at the Greater London Assembly [GLA] Transport Committee inquiring into the work done by TfL to improve motorcycle safety. A video of the committee meeting will be available on the GLA website for a few weeks.
AZ has attended various meetings & working groups of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety [PACTS] which advises the All Party Parliamentary Group for Transport Safety[APPG]. AZ is part of a working group formed to provide a briefing to the PACTS board on policies which could improve motorcycle safety.
AZ has also been representing the BMF in meetings with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents [RoSPA] Road Safety forum.
AZ has also been representing the BMF at various Highways England meetings, particularly the Motorcycle Working Group, primarily focussed on road safety. The BMF’s former Government Relations Executive [GRE], Graeme Hay, has also been representing rider’s interests in a dedicated Highways Engineering working group on infrastructure & road design guidelines.
AZ has also been working with the Motorcycle Crime Reduction Working Group [MCRWG] as BMF representative.
Europe
AZ has been a member of the EU’s Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems [C-ITS] Phase II Platform, as a registered lobbyist with relevant technical expertise, representing the Federation of European Motorcycle Associations [FEMA], of which the BMF is a member, the only rider’s right’s representative to do so. The Plenary session delivered its report, in September 2017, the culmination of 3 years work & dozens of meetings, almost all of which have been attended by AZ: ec.europa.eu/transport/sit es/transport/files/2017-09-c-its-platform-final-report.pdf
AZ felt that she had particularly managed to get 2 road safety recommendations included:
Regarding the assessment of risks of connected & unconnected vehicles sharing road space.
That while full Type Approval [TA] of C-ITS functionality might not be immediately applicable – too slow and likely to impede development, such functionality will nonetheless be subject to a proper, rigorous compliance process.
The bulletin can be downloaded in Portable Document Format here.
Thank you for your continued support of the BMF in our work, pursuing, protecting and promoting the rights of motorcyclists.