Sadly I think Biking and Bikers as we know them are on the way out. Legislation will kill what for for me has provided years of fun and a way of life since I was in my early teens. I support MAG and their protests but I really wish they would get more militant as the current protests get poor coverage and inconvenience only the odd Sunday driver but it does make for an enjoyable ride.
You don't have to turn out on the rides to show your support, you simple have to raise awareness of stupid European anti-bike legislation that has no evidence it reduces accidents amongst you family, friends and work colleges.
Right that's my 2 cents worth I'll go back into my corner until the next protest.
And no-one should feel guilty that they didnt or couldnt attend on Sunday, there are more ways than one to show support and theres more than one way to protest against the loons as pointed out by Gloom in the above post !!
The forum below was started in January in order to raise awareness with BM members.
http://www.bikermatch.co.uk/sites/bm/forum/posts.asp?to...amp;page=1
As a result at least 5 regional rides were displayed in the events section. OK the names that went down under events were small. However it appears that quite a number of BM members turned out across the country whose names were not down on the events. But any turn out is better than none. Wouldn't it be brilliant if all 60,000 BM'ers turned out. But that would be expecting too much I suppose.
I think that it would be more effective if the rides were done on a bank Holiday Monday, where there are usually lots more vehicles on the road. Although we have to come to a balance of effect against alienating other road users. I think at times we should be more like the French lorry drivers and block the ports etc. Unfortunately that is not the British way and it would probably make things worse for us.
The main thing is to carry on doing what ever we can, to display our disagreement with this proposed legislation.
Keep on biking and ride safe
in a previous incarnation (when i lived in england) i worked as a PA to an MP and later MEP - i had a lot of dealings with MAG, i was also a MAG member which gave me a little influence with said MP (who eventually took her bike test after i took her a spin on the bike and she realised what fun it was!).
There is no doubt that MAG and the other groups for that matter do a lot of work behind the scenes that most people dont understand or see. Legislation be it in the UK or Brussels is formed by interested parties lobbying elected members, ....its a shite system which usually means those with most money to spend are listened to.... unfortunately this IS the reality of politics.
However, pissing off the public by protesting on bank holidays is probably not the way to go...in actual fact you've more chance of getting noticed and listened to if you put pen to paper (and im not talking about a standard letter) and write to your MP/MEP. They are required as part of their remit to read and answer every letter. if you do a standard letter you likely get a standard letter back. The other alternative is to go to constituency surgeries and put your point across in person on a one to one basis. ( preferably not while youre shaking them with youre hands round their throat! lol) MP/MEP's are the ONLY people who will stop this happening and you dont need masses of publicity to make your voice heard.
Militant protests a la french lorry drivers IS very unbritish and will probably make you more enermies than friends.....we are as a race mostly very apathetic....while we were all enjoying the boom too much to care, europe & westminister between them eroded away most of our rights to protest...for MAG to have any credibility they have to play by rules ...to become more militant they would need some sort of leverage (ie large numbers) - you just know thats not gonna happen! feck take a look at the banking mess and we are still all sitting on our hands...is that because we look at the politics choices and think...no choice so why bother.
we all have choice (for now at least!) you just have to make it.
If you've been on this mailing list for a while, you'll be aware
that one of the issues MAG has with the proposed EU Type Approval
regulation, is what are called the delegated acts.
Because there are so many new laws coming from Europe, EU
Parliamentarians really haven't time to look at the details of them
(meeting in session as they do, only about 6 days in each month).
As part of the Lisbon Treaty which came into force December 2009,
more technical parts of regulations could be included in the Delegated
Acts, or parts of the legislation which is delegated to the
technocrats, who can continue to write them after the democratic
process has ended as they have more time then.
Our concern is that there isn't really any procedure, and certainly
no timetabling available, for these delegated acts to be scrutinised
by Parliament later. I know many MEPs say that they have the power,
but when we've pressed them on the specifics, I haven't yet found
one who's been able to tell me how, in practise, that would happen.
So why is this email entitled 'more good news..'?
Well we've just learnt, that after an EU
Commission/Parliament/Council (that's the national governments)
meeting at the start of this week, all the specifics of article 52
in the regulation, are now to be removed from delegated acts and
will become what are known as 'implementing measures'. Bear with me,
this gets good in a minute.
Article 52 is the bit of the regulation that wanted to ban any after
market component, system, or technical unit which may alter
performance or emissions on a bike. The list of what components were
to be specifically effected was to be in a delegated act, meaning we
couldn't see the list and couldn't try to alter what may be on it,
until it was too late.
This week, that list has been removed from the hands of the
technocrats and placed instead, in the hands of our DfT and
accountable EU Parliamentarians. Yes, feel free to raise a pint this
weekend.
All the campaigning, every letter you've written and the demos we've
had in September and last week, when we estimated 10,000 rode across
the country, is making a difference. The parliamentary vote is now
timetabled for October 25th 2012 having been put back again.
We may not win everything, but bikes over 47bhp are now being
exempted from the anti-modification element of this regulation and
we will continue to fight for the best deal for riders, so thanks
for being a part of it.
Paddy
--
Paddy Tyson
Campaigns Coordinator
Motorcycle Action Group
www.mag-uk.org
01926 844064
_______________________________________________ mag-uk-activists-list mailing list mag-uk-activists-list@mag-uk.org
If the "can't be arsed" brigade had joined the protest ride
It could have been 20,000
But at least we are making an impact
Thanks for posting that zzrbabe
Nice to see the younger generation picking up the baton
"If a few thousand football fans held a protest I believe it would get more press coverage than the MAG ride did (not that difficult)." Good point Richard.
Do a 40 mph protest ride on the M25 at 7.30 am on a Monday morning and it will be noticed. It won't make you any friends but it will get you noticed. A protest ride on a Sunday is just another ride out like any other Sunday and no-one else on the road will know it's a protest. A pointless waste of time if no-one is aware that it's a protest or what the protest is about.
Simon. nobody seeing the ride out may have known what it was about at the time but part of the idea was to get edia coverage that would THEN explain it to anybody that had witnesed it
Simon, doing a 40mph protest, 7.30am, M25, Monday morning, "It wont make you any friends". No, it would really get everyones back up and I dare say, wipe out any support/sympathy for the cause. General public in britain are not the "enemy".
At Charnock Richard on sunday, loads of motorists etc, were asking what it was all about. As centurion said, when it was explained to them, it made them aware. Not one vehicle came past, as I said before, so, I don't think it was a pointless waste of time really.
I don't think anyone confused it with a Sunday ride out either mate
As I said I also had a positive response from the motorists I talked to and I also pointed out that if it becomes law for bikes than it may also become law for cars
when we set off from Coalville, there were no motorists to chat to nor at the destination, though I did get to chat with a very supportive lorry driver on the M1 (very slow section). I doubt that made much difference. I know no motorists that have the faintest idea what is going on. And sadly I know a number of motorcyclists that had no idea what the run was for or what the EU is/was proposing. Equally we have 2 primary organisations supporting the motorcyclist in this country, given the apparent lack of support/knowledge from motorcyclists and motorists can we afford to worry about a few hurt feelings? Don't we need to make a noise?
Has anyone seen any press coverage? I have seen a couple of you tube clips, but nothing from the national press.
I didn't do this EU protest ride but I did the one last September from Greenodd near Ulverston. There were a couple of hundred riders taking part and it was covered by our local rag who took several photos, yet nothing appeared in the paper. The headline news in the paper however was a spate of pet rabbits being stolen from hutches, or fly-tipping or some other pulse-quickening must read....hhmmm, strange that?
Does anyone know what motorcyclists in other EU countries are thinking or doing regarding this legislation? Are any of them demonstrating against these issues? If so would it not have been better to combine forces and ride to Brussels in mass from all corners of the EU. Contact all media and display some sort of noticeable banner, so that people know what it is all about. I am not in favour of of being a member of Europe, but having been lumbered with it, why not turn it to our advantage.
As I said I also had a positive response from the motorists I talked to and I also pointed out that if it becomes law for bikes than it may also become law for cars
Bikers in Europe are protesting too David, especially in France....and of course as with many issues when French people are riled enough to protest about something they do it damn well (vive La Republic and all that)
Entente cordiale is happening too as bikers form other European countries are joining forces. This link covers a protest in Brussels
http://ukfrancebikers.com/2011/11/24/french-and-british...-brussels/
It all may make no difference in the end of course but one thing is for sure, if riders do nothing and are apathetic and offer no resistance then these changes (and more) will definitely happen
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![MAG Protests...What's your view? (3) - Forums [Biker Match]](/images/backgrounds/strips/8desktopLQ.jpg)
