Safe Speed Forums

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6505423.stm

Call for motorbike speed limiters

MPs have urged the government to carry out a study into the possibility of fitting speed limiters to motorbikes.

The House of Commons Transport Committee said accident rates are far too high and radical action is needed.

The report on government motorcycling strategy also said motorbikes were too polluting and that illegal use of mini motos was a problem.

The committee called on ministers to support the development of cleaner motorbikes to reduce pollution.

'Sensible debate'

The report said: "We recommend that the government commission...research on the viability of introducing speed limiters on motorcycles in order to stimulate a sensible debate of the options."

Cutting pollution was another argument for reducing the maximum power and speed of bikes, the MPs said.

The report noted that there was a massive increase in numbers of Motorcycles for Use on Private Property (MUPP).

The market was about 7,000 new bikes a year of this type in 2001, but an estimated 170,000 were imported to the UK in 2005.

There have been at least seven deaths involving mini motos since mid-2004, five of which were children under the age of 15.

Mini moto danger

The police have the power to seize mini motos being driven illegally off or on the road, or in an anti-social way.

The committee said police "blitzes" on the vehicles were effective short-term, but the long-term results were not so conclusive.

"We recommend that the government undertake a review of enforcement against mini motos to gauge whether police blitzes work to reduce anti-social behaviour in the longer term," said the report.

The MPs were concerned that the bikes were being bought by parents for their children "without understanding that they can be dangerous".

They concluded: "If the problem persists, the government should make the case to the EU trade commissioner to restrict the imports of these goods if they are of a particularly low standard, as the (motorcycle) industry appears to think is the case."

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Perhaps they thnk you can limit the speed of motorbikes to below a deadly level. Someone needs to remind them that 30mph is a deadly speed... Perhaps I will.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

They were talking about this on Breakfast this morning. They had Ian Munch (MAG) on saying what a load of cobblers it is. Interestingly, he said that since bike use in London has increased due to the congestion charge, bike accident rates have actually FALLEN due to increased awareness.

As for pollution, what a load of b*llocks. Where else can you get a vehicle that develops about 200 bhp/tonne and returns 53mpg?

I think its time to join MAG...

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Yet again, people with influence display utter ignorance of their subject. How on earth can a speed limiter make any difference to the number of motorbike casualties?
I really despair.

If they were even remotely serious or aware, why not consider government assisted Track School sessions. That is a brilliant way to teach people how to handle their bike. Corners are the problem – not straight-line speed.

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

There's a fair few issues all lumped in together there.

Mini motos would appear to be an issue that may need action to deal with. The article does say that Police have the power to seize them if not being used properly so I don't see what could be useful over and above taking them away without harming legitimate users. It is pretty hard to legislate against stupidity.

As for the speed limiting, and pollution by motorcycles in general..... utter, utter bollocks.

Mike.

If my riding style is anywhere near the norm, then limiters on bikes would kill people, fact!

One of the most important self-preservation tools available to a biker is the ability to not be there, dropping the wrist and escaping from a sticky situation quick-smart. Take that ability away and SMIDSYs will go through the roof, I guarantee it.

I suspect tha the majority of fatal accidents ocure below 70 miles per hour.....which is the minimum you could limit a bike to for motorway riding.

I wonder how many accidents there are on mopeds (limited to 30) or 125s which can just about get to 65 with a following wind.

We need to see more data and less prejudice......some hope of that!

Motorcycling is always a favorite for MPs wanting to make a name for themselves...usualy the name is TWAT.

What you will get is the same as happens with scooters. An underground industry emerges in de-restricition equipment.



Compared to what!.....most bikes do between 50 and 100 miles per gallon. That would make them VED exempt if they were a car.


As a foot note I recently de-restricted a Monkey Bike engine. Cost me £10 for a new CDI unit and a minor exhaust mod. The fuel consumption improved dramaticaly because it was not retarding the ignition and choking the exhaust to cut power. Speed limiting big bikes in the same way will cause exhaust emissions to increase at the limited speed.

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Speed camera policy Kills

For 2005, total casualties for bikes under 125cc = 11,485 ; bikes over 500cc = 10,841

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Ahh, but they are talking about the new improved safety bikes with side impact bars, roll over cage, airbags, extended crumple zones and stabilisers. With that lot you will be lucky to get 100bhp/tonne and 30mpg.

You might get an LSIS to match that but then it would not have much crash protection either. Though generally 300bhp/tonne and 40+mpg is preferred.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

So the greatest number of accidents are with bikes that

a:- already cannot achieve NSL on dual carriagways

b:- are already restricted in some way or another (either power or speed).

so remind me..what was the argument "for" again.

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Speed camera policy Kills

If you take into consideration the hydrocarbon and NOx pollutants then bikes are far worse than cars, and it's these compounds that are hazardous in terms of air quality. CO2 is largely irrelevant here.

If you've ever sat behind a bike without a catalysed exhaust, you can smell what I'm talking about!

Yes, and it smells GOOD! *Ehem...*

I wonder how much of the concern is actually down to 2 strokes...?

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Yeah, but it's the killed figure which ain't so good

<125cc = 84
>500cc = 410

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

And do we know the ratio of whether the biker was at fault, location etc?

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Pecunia Prius Equitas et Salus

Allocation of fault is not something I can find........but we do know the location in the sense of: type of road, day of week and time of day. We also know the age of the rider.

Loads of interesting stuff.

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Also <125 are mainly for city commuting (although I did do a 400 mile ride on a 125 a few years ago) where average speeds are probably less than 30. I expect that bigger bikes are used more on out of town roads. I would still like to know how many accidents are as a result of speeds over the NSL and how many are due to other road users, road condition or rider error (taking a turn too fast).

Raw statistics mean nothing.



Yep..I am with you on that one. Beats the rotten egg smell you get from a cold cat.

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Speed camera policy Kills

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/29032007/325/motorcycle-top-speeds-capped.html



This must be a guy that has NEVER EVER ridden a bike. Otherwise he would not be such a wanker.

oooh hold on here is the tosser again..
http://www.brake.org.uk/index.php?p=847


The bottom line is that if all new bikes were restricted to 65 I would never ever buy another new bike. With what is left of my riding life there will never be a shortage of existing bikes that can go faster, And I will always own one. Our kids will have to grow up in this super sterile world that will attempt to protect them from the act of living its self. They will be forced to tiptoe through life only to arrive tediously but safely at death.

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Speed camera policy Kills

We can make many assumptions, and the stats become a little less helpful here. What we do know is:

Bikes < 50cc : 65% of killed riders occur in built up areas
Bikes > 50cc : 42% of killed riders occur in built up areas

Also, 64% of total mileage travelled by all motorcycles is on minor roads. Seeing as we travel much faster on country roads I would think that motorcycles spend more time in towns, but a huge amount of those must be the scooter mob.

Interestingly, only 3% of motorcyclist deaths happen on motorways; It’s 6.4% of car driver deaths.

It’s a commonly held belief that the big killer on bikes is the 30ish year old male, on a sports bike, on a rural A road, who loses control with nobody else involved. But I don’t know how true that is.

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It's tricky doing nothing - you never know when you're finished

Last week a boy I know was hit by a motorbike of some kind. I have read that it was probably doing somewhere around 15mph. As far as I know he is still in intensive care. What bloody good would a speed limiter do?

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Andrew.

My learner bike, Suzi GP100, would do about 75mph down hill with a tail wind, on the flat it would do about 65mph in fourth and when put in fifth would gradually slow down to 55 over a mile when I would drop it back into fourth and thrash it back up to the redline. I regularly got less than 50mpg on a run and going on dual carriageways could be pretty scary. My FZ750 would get the same fuel consumption cruising at 100mph and 55-60mpg at 70mph. You could maybe get away with a top speed of 100mph but 65mph is just stupid.

0-60 in 25s is also daft, your car would be left standing by cyclists up to 30mph. I also doubt the fuel consumption and engine life would be very good as it would spend most of its life with the throttle nailed to the floor. Drivers would avoid slowing down at all costs making the roads more dangerous.

I wonder if this guy leaves the plastic wrapping on his furniture?

Is it just me or does not all this targeting of what are basically small groups of people, dare I say minorities, by the PC mob smack of discrimination? Motorcycling could be said to be a lifestyle choice much like travelling or religion yet attacking it is somehow OK whereas slaughtering animals in contravention of animal cruelty laws cannot be touched.

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Driving fast is for a particular time and place, I can do it I just only do it occasionally because I am a gentleman.
- James May

Not according to the lib "Dims"

http://www.greenlibdems.org.uk/articles/30.html



Remember that come election time...

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Speed camera policy Kills