Why Do We Ride?
Riders choose to ride for a wide range range of reasons, including cost effective transport, traffic congestion, environmental reasons, fashion, ease of parking, convenience, to name a few.
Motorbikes and mopeds travelled 5.1 billion kilometres in 2002 (figures privided by DfT).
Commuting accounts for two thirds of all motorbike hourneys (figures privided by DfT).
Travelling by motorbike can reduce journey times by up to two thirds.
Up to eight motorbikes can fit in the same parking space occupied by one car.
Car drivers with a full licence obtained prior to February 2001 are automatically qualified to ride a 50cc bike on the road.
Safety
Motorcycle road casualties fell by almost 60% between the early 1980's and 2000, improving on the government target for road casualty reduction of 40% over the same period, the best results fir any riad user grouo.
Motorcycling is as popular now as it was 20 years ago, but rider casualties for every mile travelled are 30% lower compared to the early 1980's
Research proves that other road users are primarily at fault for around 60% of all bike crashes
In 2002 there were 609 riders killed in the UK, up 4% compared with 2001, although the numbers for car drivers actually fell. Essex police keep a record of the country's fatal accidents on its website, www.responsible-rider.com and 2003 has been the worst since 1999. At the time of writing 23 riders have been killed, all were men, the vast majority were between 26 and 54 years old almost all accidents occured on dry roads. In a third of all cases no other vehicles were involved and two thirds occured in broad daylight.
As a result, Transpost Minister David Jamieson is looking to bring in new legislation to make motorcycling safer.
Ian Owen – Webmaster and Editor
