Leeds MAG Newsletter – December/January 2019

Welcome to the latest Leeds MAG newsletter
The Yorkshire Political reps, Steve and Ian, have been working their socks off to get a better deal for the bikers of West Yorkshire.
As anyone who has ever had dealings with their local council will know, getting anything done is akin to wading through treacle. Dealing with five separate councils is like hearding cats, so I thank them for their tenacity.
We had several responses from the plea in the last newsletter for suggestions for secure parking locations in Bradford. This is brilliant as the five West Yorkshire councils have all been given £16k per year for the next four years to pay for secure motorcycle parking. If the money isn’t earmarked for this use it is absorbed into other projects, so it’s important that we tell them what we want and where. If you have any suggestions within West Yorkshire, get in touch with me or your local rep.
I’ve sent a couple of emails off to the lead member for transport in Leeds City Council but have yet to receive a response – it turns out that your local councillors don’t have to respond to contact from their constituents. This is worth bearing in mind when it comes to election time!
Here is the link to the current “Network” which will keep you informed with MAG happenings around the country. https://wiki.mag-uk.org/images/8/8e/Network_2018-12.pdf
Last Saturday was the December National Committee meeting in Warwick. This is attended by Lembit and Colin, all the board members and the regional reps.
Here is the national campaigns update.
The recent online survey gleaned lots of useful and relevant information with over 950 respondents. This info will be analysed and used appropriately. Central office has taken a Survey Monkey subscription out so we can do as many surveys as we want including more local/regional ones
Vision zero is now being pushed as a concept in London. The aim is zero road deaths by 2040. Motorcycles have no place within the vision zero model – for the London statistics, cycles have been excluded from the figures! As with all these things, what starts in London is often quickly jumped on by other local authorities, nationally. This is a very worrying development.
A report called “The Atkins report on 20mph zones” has been published and has found that there is no difference, nationally, to accident statistics where areas have been changed from 30mph to 20mph. It is stated though that by reducing road speeds it will push more people towards cycling.
The push towards CAZ’s has hit problems with full funding for Leeds been denied by central government and Nottingham has decided not to charge. The group of “environmental solicitors” behind this CAZ/ULEZ push is up in arms about current developments so expect this one to rumble on.
London MAG met with the London mayor Sadiq Khan and his team. The ULEZ rules are to charge all pre Euro 4 internal combustion engine vehicles – regardless of engine size. They have agreed to look at our arguments regarding motorcycles easing congestion thus lowering emissions which is a turn up considering we’ve been stonewalled throughout this process. The mayor also wants our help to try get bikes in bus lanes throughout the capital so things are starting to look up.
The Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) is rebranding and their new head wants to concentrate on “L category vehicles” rather than motorcycles. These are all the strange things like, leaning three wheelers, micro cars, 2/3/4 wheelers up to a given weight. The director of the MCIA has gone on record to say that he’d rather not be associated with motorcycles! We discussed approaching Triumph/Norton etc to find out their feelings on this debacle.
Autonomous vehicles are being discussed at FEMA with the FIM. It was pointed out that a lot of vehicles now have “smart” cruise control and in the handbooks it states that “smaller vehicles may not be seen by the systems in certain situations”. These vehicles are currently on the road and nothing is being said!
There is a consultation for the lower Thames crossing currently going on. They are currently looking at charging motorcycles and also classing it as a motorway so learner riders can’t use it. If you have time you can fill it in here http://www.lowerthamescrossing.co.uk/haveyoursay
Next year we’re going to have a big membership drive with the aim of raising membership by 15%. The message will be “your right to ride” and will be aimed at sports bike riders, commuters and born again bikers
Membership continues to rise steadily. NEC was a great success and they want to use more grass roots members to man the stand in the future. If you fancy helping out next year, get in touch.
Locally…..
Wakefield MAG hosted their annual Biker Quiz on 21st November. There were plenty of teams fighting it out for the coveted title. Steve Travis had outdone himself this year with some especially fiendish questions but the eventual winners were Leeds MAG A team, closely followed by Leeds MAG B team and the VJMCC in third. The booby prize of the “fat bird on a scooter” trophy was won by Lorna’s Wakey MAG team with a truly pitiful score of 12.5 points out of 60. Funds were raised for MAG and a great night was had by all in attendance. Well done Wakefield MAG.
We’ve got a few events coming up in the next few months that you may want to add to your diaries.
Tuesday 22nd January – Leeds MAG’s “Owl with laughter” 7th Comedy night @ The Royal Hotel LS28 8PR from 8. Limited tickets available soon. First come first served.
Tuesday 29th January – Leeds MAG AGM from 8pm upstairs at The Royal Hotel, LS28 8PR. Don’t forget your membership cards if you want to vote.
Sunday 17th March – Yorkshire MAG and MAP meetings at The Royal Hotel LS28 8PR from 10am. All MAG members welcome.
Saturday 23rd March – Leeds MAG presents An Evening With Ed March! Following the success of our previous motorcycle travel talks, we’ve managed to secure madcap C90 adventurer Ed March to come and talk to us. Check out his exploits on YouTube then come and meet the man himself
Finally if you want to get more involved at a local level (and to really get the most out of your MAG membership, I strongly recommend that you do) here are the meeting details of the Leeds MAG group – though we are looking to expand with more groups so if you haven’t got one close by and fancy getting together with like minded bikers, get in touch with me at manny@mag-uk.org
Leeds MAG meet every 1st and 3rd Tuesday from 8pm at The Royal Hotel LS28 8PR
Ride safe
Manny (Yorkshire MAG rep)