The National Motorcyclists Council has called for action from the government to address a number of motorcycle-related issues.
The National Motorcyclists Council (NMC) has called on the government to take action on a number of motorcycling issues that it says have been pushed to the side during the recent Conservative Party leadership campaign.
The new Prime Minister Liz Truss’ new government must “start making progress on several issues relating to motorcycling,” the NMC says.
These include a new road safety strategy, the launch of which was cancelled before the summer recess. The NMC says it “is keen to see progress on motorcycle safety and in particular seeks better support for motorcycling in a new strategy.”
The issue of decarbonisation is also an important one, and the NMC says it wants the Department for Transport (DfT) to drop its plans to phase out non-zero emission motorcycles by 2035, as it is out of line with the development of the market on an international scale. Additionally, the NMC says it wants the government to take a technology-neutral approach, rather than its current path which considers battery-powered electrics the end goal and all other technologies - such as synthetic fuels or fuel cell electrics - simply a path to that end.
The NMC also raises issues such as the right to use green roads; the transport of bikes between the UK and EU (particularly through France); and the rising prices of motorcycles, services and parts.
NMC Executive Director Craig Carey-Clinch said: “Although clearly the Government’s attention will by urgent necessity be on energy prices, inflation and the cost of living crisis, ministers in specific departments still have a responsibility to end the inertia of the last few months within various Government departments and get policy work moving again.
“The issues the NMC have raised today are just a snapshot of a wide range of areas where motorcycling deserves a far more positive and proactive approach from Government.
“Many do interlink and illustrate the strong need for a more strategic approach to motorcycling in transport and other policies - as the Council set out in its publication ‘Motorcycling and the Future of Transport Policy’. Which is why we are today calling for the Government to start delivering.”
