Visordown and the MCIA needs you!
The Government has again ignored motorcycles and scooters as a traffic solution in the testing times – we need you to help us change that!
ON Saturday the transport secretary, Grant Schapps, delivered his briefing and outlined forms of transport that would make suitable alternatives to taking public transport.
During the speech, he didn’t once mention using a motorcycle or scooter as an option over catching the tube, bus, taxi or driving.
In these precarious times, as we look towards moving out of the COVID-19 pandemic and to what will come after, a motorcycle should be near the top of the list when it comes to social-distance-approved modes of transport. Instead, the government yet again overlooked motorcycles, instead pushing walking and cycling.
While both are suitable methods of getting around for those that live a mile or two from work, for many that must commute longer distances, a motorcycle is the most convenient and safest method.
The MCIA and the UK motorcycle media are joining forces to try and stop this kind of short-sighted thinking from the government and are asking all motorcyclists, regardless of what you ride to contact your local MP and set them straight on the benefits of motorcycling at this time and after.
Below is a sample email that all you need to do is download and change the name at the top. Once done, head to - https://members.parliament.uk/ - and enter your postcode in the search bar at the top. This should tell you who the local MP for your area is along with a contact email for them. Copy and paste the letter into the email and click send.
If you receive an email back from the MP, the MCIA asks that you forward it onto them at: covid19support@mcia.co.uk.
Thank you for your help
The Visordown team
*Copy the contents below and send to your local MP*
__________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr/Ms (INSERT YOUR MP’s SURNAME HERE)
I am writing to you as one of your constituents who is a user of a Powered Two Wheeler (PTW) who would like to know why Government is not endorsing their use as an alternative to public transport.
PTWs, in the form of low and zero emission scooters and light motorcycles, are a clean and efficient transport mode that require little road space for travel or parking and which can meet the needs of a variety of commuters, while at the same time fulfilling their social distancing and environmental obligations.
In the current climate they are the perfect alternative for those who would usually use public transport, but for whom walking and cycling are not viable options. Access to small PTWs is straightforward, with most requiring just the completion of a one-day training course, called CBT.
With so much going for them, it could be assumed that they would be heavily promoted by Government, as the country works towards easing lockdown, but unfortunately that is not the case.
In his briefing on Saturday, 9th May, the Secretary for State for Transport, the Rt. Hon. Grant Shapps MP, when promoting alternatives for public transport, extolled the road congesting private car and fast-tracked the consultation on un-regulated e-scooters, but ignored PTWs, even though they are already the choice of more than a million road users, like me, who are legal and regulated.
Consequently, I would very much appreciate your assistance in encouraging Government and others to promote PTWs as a valid alternative to public transport and beyond.
Yours faithfully
(INSERT NAME AND ADDRESS)
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
