I was talking to a rep from the
British Motorcyclist Federation yesterday on the proposed testing regulations which will make it increasingly difficult for people to use motorcycle and scooters as an alternative means of transport..
I won't go into detail about all the proposals, but use this extract to highlight the issue..
Qualified instructors highlighted that there is no difference in the skills required to ride a category
A2 or a category A motorcycle. However, the proposed compromise requires "a test or at least seven
hours of training", in order to move from category A2 to category A. Effectively, the compromise will deter
people from progressive access to motorcycles, or even deter people from taking up motorcycling at all by
introducing constraints on the citizen which, as evidence has shown elsewhere3, do not bring about any
road safety benefits.
Anyhoo, it occurred to me that Governments have been paying lip service to eco friendly transport measures for years but consistently placing obstacles in the way.
What we are seeing in the UK every year is every increasing numbers of people taking to bikes and scooters in order to reduce their daily commuter run to a fraction of the time and using a fraction of the fuel..
it's common sense when you can spend two hours every day practically standing still in your car.Now you'd think that the Government would applaud this reduction in carbon emissions, but instead we see them making it increasingly difficult..and there's a very good reason for that,
Revenue!
The last thing they want is for everyone to start using £7 worth of fuel a week instead of £50 or at a lesser level paying only £15 for their Road Tax instead of £150, it would cause a huge financial black hole at the treasury. (Look at the state of your roads to see where your motorist tax 'dollars' are going..it certainly isn't on them is it?)
Sure they'll de-regulate the buses and flood (and pollute) the city centres with them even though there's only a few people on the things most of the time, sure you can pass your driving test at 17 and go out and buy a 5litre Nissan Skyline, but if you're 45 years old, held a driving licence for the best part of 30 years and decide you want to run a wee 125CC to work every day, you're going to be pretty much fucked.
It get's right on my wick..so an it diz!
